Totally Radical Links for Writers

I just wanted an excuse to use the words "totally radical" in a title.

Character charts can be pretty good when you're first creating a character. Naturally, not all the questions have to be answered. They're just to make you think and get your creative juices flowing. I've been using this one recently.

http://www.eclectics.com/articles/character.html

World building can be just as detailed a process as character building. Sometimes your setting is as much of a "character" as the main cast. If you're building an original fantasy world from the ground up, I suggest using this site. I also suggest at least looking through all the chapters. There's plenty of things you haven't thought of, I'm sure, and these questions will help your world feel more real.

True story- for a fantasy novel involving dragons, I created this world and at first wasn't much into it- electing instead to have most the action take place on earth. Then I did some world building on a whim, and after a while realized that I loved the fantasy world and was coming up with excuses for the characters to there and explore it more.

http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/fantasy-worldbuilding-questions/

I love different names, and so I have a bunch of name websites on my bookmarks list. This one is pretty in depth and has a easy accessible design, as well as a randomizer for when you're feeling especially braindead.

http://www.behindthename.com/

Same site, but for last names:

http://surnames.behindthename.com/

This is a good site for when you're looking for theme names, say for elementals or animal people, names with a hidden meaning, ect.

http://www.20000-names.com/special_categories.htm

This site has a lot of randomizers and stuff, it's a lot of fun to click around when you're bored, and who knows- something there might spark your creativity.

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

A fun little time waster, a character test to see if they're a Mary Sue/ Gary Stu

http://www.ponylandpress.com/ms-test.html

This site is a lot about the different cliches and patterns stories tend to fall into, all the while being quite entertaining. Encourages you to be more original. To be honest, I've gotten a lot of ideas from browsing this site- I don't know that's a good or a bad thing.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage

This list should expand. If you can think of something you think I should have on here, let me know.