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Resources for Fiction Authors

December 16, 2021 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com

This post contains some great resources for fiction authors to help with regional words, idioms, and other tools for your writer toolbox! 

Do you have dinner or supper?

Do you drive on a highway or a freeway?

Do you drink pop, coke, or soda?

Personally, I have dinner, drive on freeways and highways interchangeably, and drink coke. Unless I remember that I’m actually drinking Diet Dr Pepper, never Coke.

All that’s fine–until you go to write a character who lives in a particular state where they would drink pop where you are writing soda. Or they might say y’all when you say you guys.

This post chock full of resources for fiction authors will not only address regional variations (those are all in the United States) but other helpful things we may need to build our characters and stories!


RESOURCES FOR FICTION AUTHORS

Map of Regional Words by State

Y’all, have a Coke while driving down the highway.

 

Idioms with Racist Roots

This is SO important to consider. Idioms are familiar, yet we don’t always know the connotations or associations.

 

Names for Animal Groupings

I love these so much! A murder of crows is my favorite. For the record, we decided for our family, we are a horde of Oliphants.

 

British Swear Words in Order of Offensiveness (this is super helpful to those of us NOT in the UK)

I’m not sure if these are ALL accurate in their order, so you might want to ask a British person. I know we don’t want to talk about our fanny packs or our wind pants unless we’re hoping for a chuckle.

 

How to Write Skin Tone (from Writing with Color–this WHOLE Writing with Color site is great)

If you’re writing diverse characters, this is hugely helpful. The whole site is fantastic.

 

Legal Fiction FB Group

Have legal questions? This is a great Facebook group to ask some of those questions!

 

Cops & Writers FB Group

Have questions about police procedure? Guns? Crime scenes? This is where you go!

 

100 Most Commonly Spelled Words

Who DOESN’T need this?

 

 75 Most Commonly Mixed-Up Words

Compliment or complement? Everyday or every day?

 

Writing Good Sword Fights

I am not left-handed…

 

Writing about Horses

I encourage–neigh, I DEMAND that you read this before writing horses.

 

681 Cliches to Avoid in Your Writing

Don’t jump the gun and put all your eggs in one basket with an overused phrase.

 

11 Commonly Misused Phrases

For all intensive purposes, you should drink an expresso while reading this.

 

Tips for Writing Fight Scenes

This one without swords…

 

How to Write a Great Sex Scene

No explanation needed for this one.

 

How to Write a Perfect Kissing Scene

When sex is just too much…

 

How to Write Different Religions 

Find out about the faiths you may not be familiar with.

 

Writing Tips from 40 Experts

Good things to know from the start…

 

How to Vary Sentence Structure in Your Writing

Because you don’t want them all to be the same–do you? Huh. Maybe I’m wrong.

 

A Writer’s Guide to Flowers and Herbs

This is a short list but will get you started!

 

A History of Technology 

To make sure you’re not using a floppy disk when you should be using a compact disc.

 

I hope these are some helpful links to save you time researching those little (but important!) details in your books!

 

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Hey, I'm Kirsten!

(Rhymes with BEER-sten.) I am the author of Email Lists Made Easy for Writers and Bloggers and the host of the Create If Writing podcast. My goal is to help writers, bloggers, and creatives like YOU turn readers into raving fans and learn to make a living doing what you love...without being smarmy. Questions? kirsten at kirstenoliphant.com

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