Special Thanks To
Proofreading by Christopher Xander. I hope more people don't find out about him so he's always available.
Numerous names generated by Mithril and Mages. Truly an amazing number of generators for more random things than just person names. Like natural geographic features or perhaps a modern business. Different time periods too. Really, really cool.
Writing Resources
(A collection of writings on writing)
Check out my explanation post here if you're so inclined. As I state in it, this is roughly my process for writing a screenplay/ novel. I hope you find it useful in your own writing.
First thing's first, you need your Hook/ Core Concept, which is summed up here in Loglines.
Then it's time to make a Treatment to sum up your ideas on a conceptual level (ignore the section on bibles for now).
But before you write your Treatment, you'll need to really nail down your Characters, their Roles, Conflict, and Villains.
And while we're still at the conceptual phase, this checklist from Terry Rossio is invaluable (PDF download).
Now on to Structure, which we'll cover more than once.
If you're writing a standalone novel/ screenplay, you can jump ahead to your bible (second half of second link above), but if you're doing a series, you might want to check out some ideas as to Trilogies vs Series and using structure on a macro scale.
Now time to turn that Treatment into a Bible if you haven't already.
Time to consider how to introduce your characters.
Finally we can start the Beat Treatment...
...which is the last step before the Rough Draft, Editing, Beta Readers, Copy Editing, Marketing, and Review Hunting...
...all of which are topics I haven't hit upon yet. But I promise I will soon.
Some additional resources related to:
MASSIVE dialogue database (Excel download).
Neil Gaiman's Writing Advice (includes a tip for getting over writer's block).
Some thoughts on Fantasy Magic.
Kindle Free Giveaway Case Studies one, two, three, & four.
A Goodreads Ads Case Study.
Just some cool and helpful sites:
Word origins from Etymonline helped create dozens of my words from Ayr. I also strongly suggest looking up "hobbit."
Discover what words came into being each year going all the way back to the 12th century from Merriam-Webster at Time Traveler.
Where all the cool Fantasy kids hang out on reddit.