Writer's Resources

I found a few good places to go for writer's reference. Go figure. Some are internet, some are not. Maybe I'll put other things on here later. Who knows? To quote Shakespeare in Love: "I don't know. It's a mystery."

If you discover dead links, please let me know so I can fix them or remove them.

World Building
	World Building - Although it's listed for RPG world-builders, it seems like it may work for writers (after all, gamers are about as creative as writers are....and many writers, especially in the realms of speculative fiction, happen to be gamers on top of it).
	SFF World Building (Building a Science Fiction Universe) - Usually don't go wrong with SFF.net resources (for everyone who doesn't know, SFF.net is a favored resource and is an "official home" for writer's associations such as the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America^®, the Horror Writers Association, and the World Fantasy Convention), but this one is very limited -- it gives an OK exercise at the end of the FAQ, so it's actually pretty good for someone just starting out, but if you're experienced...
	Astrofantasy World Building - These guys offer you a step-by-step guide to fantasy world building, for writers and for gamers but is currently incomplete. I'll give word when the webmaster updates. Some decent links to world building sites, though.
	Fractal Worldmap Generator - I haven't actually checked this out, but from what I understand, this fractal map-builder is actually really cool.
	iG-Tools - As every starting writer knows, free is nice. This site offers free tools for map building.
	Discordia Inc. - This is a really good breakdown on regional types for various cultures...if you can't understand that, just look at the site. Maybe it'll make more sense.
	World Building Questions - This site has downloads of some of the best world creation questions I've ever seen in my life. I'm still trying to figure out where the list originated. It offers them in several formats.

Art and other related miscellany
	Baka Neko - "Stupid Cat" is what the name translates to, and this is an manga style tutorial site with a gallery. It's really cool.
	Dreamer's Ink - My friend Allen actually runs this site, also an animish/manga style site. He's got some pretty neat stuff -- for a while, he was doing an online manga, but that kinda died when he went to college.
	Elfwood - Elfwood actually contains more than just pictures, and not all the artwork is great quality, but there are worse sites for art...yes, I swear there are.
	The Heaven of Fantasy Pictures - Some of these images may be very familiar -- they're by major artists, and many were featured as book covers, ect., but they can still be quite inspiring.
	Epilogue: Science Fiction and Fantasy art at its best - This has better quality artwork than what's found at Elfwood. No joke -- it's great stuff.

Costuming and Costuming Resources
	Sofi's Stitches - Renaissance costumes, mostly.
	Arcane Lore Designs - More Renaissance costumes.
	Sir Clisto's Tome (Costume and garb) - Renaissance and medieval costumes.
	Elizabethan Costuming Page - Elizabethan costumes (for those of you who don't know, that's late 16th century England).
	Sew Knightly - Garb and stuff.

Miscellaneous Internet Resources
	#Authors - This is a writer's chat on IRC's Undernet where I'm an op (you can usually find me there as Indy or Tag). We idle a lot, but it's worth sitting around in from time to time.
	MysteryNet - A site "for everyone who enjoys a mystery." The site includes information about books, television, and movies, and offers resources and a community.
	Mystery Writers of America - One of the premier mystery writers' sites, this site offers various resources and connections. It is also the home of the Edgar Awards.
	Writers-group.org - A writer's message board where I have been told I've been doing an ongoing crusade to keep it alive. Contrary to popular belief, when someone posts, people actually answer.

Names
	BabyNames.com - Certainly not the best site I've found, but I use it pretty regularly because it's name is easy for me to remember, and quick to punch in.
	BabyNameLocator.com - This site is nice because you can get random lists of names here.
	Baby Names - A site that doesn't make you change your search options to search for a name or the meaning of a name. Convienent! It also offers top name lists for the UK and a couple other regions.
	Baby Names from Parenthood.com - This is a WONDERFUL engine -- search by name, gender, origin, meaning...or a combination of them all!

News
	BBC - The British Broadcasting Corporation, an excellent news source.
	CNN - CNN, a US news media company owned by AOL/Time Warner.
	National Geographic News - News from the National Geographic Society about all sorts of things -- I love this site for news about archaeology and all sorts of stuff.
	The New York Times - The web site for the print media newspaper -- not a bad news source, but I like it better for book reviews, ect.