As suspected after my poll, I'm creating a resource central for writers.

From my poll, we've realised a few things:

• There are quite a few writing-related resources on deviantART, although not enough.
  
• Many of those who are new to writing and/or dA don't know about these resources.
  
• Some of the more experienced writers are aware of these resources, but agree that there need to more.

So my GD friends (^StJoan, ^GeneratingHype and ^LadyLincoln) have agreed that there needs to be place where all our lit resources can be found, and this journal shall be it, for the time being at least.

is simple enough. This journal shall be filled with links to various lit resources (in neat little categories) and you can help yourself to what you need. If needed, I will expand this to two or more journals.

What I mean by "resource"

Is it just me or does "resource" sound like a very government-y word? Anyway, here's my own simple definition:

A writing resource can be a news article, a journal entry or a deviation designed to inform people about aspects of writing, revising, critiquing, publishing, etc. Deviations could be under the "literature > prose > non fiction > essays/editorials", "deviantart related > tutorials" or "tutorials and resources > miscellaneous". Some poll and forum discussions also make good resources.

(I'm never going to be a lexicographer, looks like.)

Send me a resource! Do you know of an article or discussion that isn't in my list? Link it to me in a note or comment.

Create a resource! The only reason we have the resources we do is because people put in effort and wrote them. We can always do with more resources, so if you think you can help us out with something, feel free to write a news article, journal entry or deviation, so that others can benefit from your expertise. And you can link me to it, too.

Overlap is okay, but while there are so many gaps in the resource field, it would be great if we filled those up first. Here are some topics which don't seem to have much written on them:

• Different (especially new) forms in poetry
  
• Specific genres in prose (e.g. romance, horror, mystery, science/speculative fiction, fantasy, etc)
  
• Publishing
  
• Creating portfolios
  
• Anything else I should add?

Note that I've also marked where I don't think there are enough articles.

Offer a suggestion!

What do you think about creating a resource dictionary? A list of words with short definitions and links to more information?

• Writing: General
  
• Writing: Poetry
  
• Writing: Prose
  
• Writing: Scripts & Screenplays
  
• Critique & Revision
  
• Grammar, Punctuation & Formatting
  
• Publishing
  
• Writers
  
• Literature community on deviantART
  
• Suggesting Daily Deviations

The Writing Process by ~LaMonaca
Write Better: Read More by *WordCount
Behaviour, Part 1 by ~writers-in-progress
Behaviour, Part 2
-ROAD CLOSED- : Writer's Block by *SweetBlueSoul
Writer's Block by ~writers-in-progress
Active and Passive Voice by ~onewordatatime
Showing by ~onewordatatime
Cliche by ~onewordatatime
Choosing Words by ~writers-in-progress
The Best Writing Resources In Print by =illuminara
Advice for a Young Writer, a journal discussion initiated by ^lovetodeviate
(Even More) Advice for a Young Writer, a forum discussion by ^lovetodeviate

The following are articles writing for Project Educate: Literature. They deal with the basic differences between kinds (forms and genres) of writing and how to categorise them correctly while submitting deviations on deviantART.

Poetry, Prose: Who Knows?
Truth & Lies: Nonfiction Prose
Who needs reality? We have fiction!
Poetry Pickles

General

Tips For the Novice by !suture
How to write poetry by =Flutterings
The Linebreak (also known as "enjambment") by ~PoetryLibrary
Show and Tell by ~PoetryLibrary
Abstraction by ~PoetryLibrary
"Poeticks: On Imagery" 1 of 3 by `poeticks
"Poeticks: On Imagery" 2 of 3 by `poeticks
"Poeticks: On Imagery" 3 of 3 by `poeticks
"Poeticks: On Angst" 1 of 2 by `poeticks
"Poeticks: On Angst" 2 of 2 by `poeticks

Rhythm, Rhyme & Metre

Rhythm by ~onewordatatime
Metre Learning Guide by `darkcrescendo, posted at ~PoetryLibrary
Lesson 1 - Basics of Meter by ~Professor-Flare
Handout 1 - More on Scansion by ~Professor-Flare
Lesson 2 - More Meter by ~Professor-Flare

Forms of Poetry

A Guide to Visual Poetry by =darkdescartes, posted at ~PoetryLibrary

Not enough articles!

Japanese Concepts in Poetry

Haiku exercise for beginners by ~Wudang-mountain
A word about haiku by Michael James by *MSJames posted at ~Wudang-mountain
Tanka! by *MSJames
April Tanka Month: Discussion 1 by *Laurence55
April Tanka Month: Discussion 2, Aesthetics by *Laurence55
April Tanka Month: Discussion 3, Pivot Points by *Laurence55
Senryu by *Laurence55
Haiku form by *Laurence55
Observation and Haiku by *Laurence55
The Spirit of Haiga by *Laurence55

Other Concepts in Poetry

Ekphrasis by `PoeticWar
Lipogram by ~TheHungerArtist
Non fiction poetry by ~EveningDownpour

General

How To Write by `Bringa
Step-by-step Writing Processes, a list of resources compiled by *ProsePlease

Story Elements: The Middle by ~writers-in-progress
Story Elements: The End by ~writers-in-progress

Types of Prose

"How to" do Specific Genres and Types of Prose, a list of resources compiled by *ProsePlease
What is flash fiction? by *SRSmith and ~sovegna-vos

Not enough articles!

Characterisation

Character Development: Physical Description by ~writers-in-progress
Character Development: Past, Motives, Personality by ~writers-in-progress
Character Development: Speech/Voice by ~writers-in-progress
Rounded Characters are Flawed by ~writers-in-progress
Rounded Characters Make Decisions by ~writers-in-progress
Rounded Characters Change by ~writers-in-progress
What is in a name? by `Beccalicious
What IS a Sue Anyway? (For Beginning Writers) by *bloodrose83

Dialogue

Tag Lines by ~writers-in-progress

Narration

Point of View: 1st and 2nd Person
Point of View: Third Person Omniscient

Not enough articles!

Scriptwriting- why not start? by `Beccalicious
Writing a Short Film script by ^deviantartfilm

Not enough articles!

According to `tangledweb:

A critique is an honest, subjective opinion about another’s creative work that covers a variety of issues including, but not limited to, subject matter, representation, and technique, with the intent of: a) assisting the artist in his or her personal development, b) helping to develop the attitude and discerning eye of both artist and critic, and c) beginning or continuing a constructive discourse beneficial to the general art community.

Critique is also called constructive criticism. Here are some resources related to giving and receiving critique/constructive criticism:

CRITIQUE by `tangledweb
A Guide to Good Critique (Literature) by ^lovetodeviate
A Verbose Guide to Critiquing by ~Mavyrk
What makes critique good by `SparrowSong and *diamondie
When does Constructive Criticism become a shark attack?, a discussion initiated by *Amberlouie
Critique: How to, a list of more critique resources compiled by ~rowenabrennavart

The focus of the month of May, 2008 is revision. In his first article for the month, ^GeneratingHype writes:

Revision is when you look at text for its content (ideas), organization, and style. Often confused with proofreading or editing, especially in formulaic and commonly-taught writing processes, revision is not immediately concerned with common conventions such as spelling, punctuation, grammar, capitalization, or formatting. Its first priority, despite contrary belief, should be content development: the reach for a good, clear, fully-explored idea.

Here is the full article: What is Revision? by ^GeneratingHype

Revision is also called editing (erroneously), redrafting or rewriting. Here are some more resources that should be useful:

Tips for Editing Poetry by !suture
The Art of Refining Prose by *ProsePlease
Editing by ~writers-in-progress

Grammar

A Prosist's Guide to Self-Editing by ~Mavyrk
Wrath of the Grammar Nazi by *WordCount
Grammar and Spelling by ~writers-in-progress

Punctuation

Punctuation Dialogue: A Guide by *WordCount

Formatting

Giving Prose Visual Appeal by *WordCount
The Portable Document Format and You by ~apocathary

Publishing Novels

On Writing - Getting Published by =mree
Hot to Get a Literary Agent by =mree

Submitting to Magazines

Resources for Young Writers (Part 2) by =WineWriter
Rough Guide to Submitting to Literary Journals (by email) by ~PoetryLibrary

Not enough articles!

Other

Tips on Self-Publishing by !suture
So You Wanna Be a Writer? by *WordCount
On the topic of publication, a poll discussion initiated by *Negated

Not enough articles!

Writers on deviantART, especially the more experienced ones, are often great resources themselves. In interviews, they have spoken about their own experiences with writing, its highs and lows, as well as publishing, critiquing and of course, reading. The following is by no means exhaustive; several writers have not (yet) been interviewed and some interviews I cannot find. But here are some that I did find:

in reverse alphabetical order of person interviewed

TheObviousChild, interviewed by ^lovetodeviate
StJoan, interviewed by *ProsePlease
paradoxicalshaman, interviewed by ^lovetodeviate
Laurence55, interviewed by ^lovetodeviate
IfrozenspiritI, interviewed by `bananaprincess
Esin, interviewed by ^lovetodeviate
conorschild, interviewed by *ProsePlease
Beccalicious, interviewed by ^StJoan and *damnLit members

During International Women's Week, ^GeneratingHype interviewed several women writers on deviantART and compiled their responses into two news articles:

How Important is Sex in Literature?
The Difference Between Women

Interviews with non dA writers

Terry Pratchett, interview transcript by `adrift
Michael Laskey, interviewed by :devbanaprincess: for ~mimesispoetry

Discussion on non dA writers

Sean O'Brien, a forum discussion initiated by *venturus
Franz Kafka, a forum discussion initiated by *tightwhitepants

is much bigger than you think it is. Which is why it has four literature Gallery Directors:

, a.k.a. Ali/Alicia
, a.k.a Bill
, a.k.a. Jenene
, a.k.a. Aditi

We report directly to the Director and Assistant Director of Artist Relations, $Moonbeam13 and $FallenRox. We feature Daily Deviation on the Today page and we also are in charge of cleaning up the literature galleries, meaning that we try to make sure that people are submitting their work to the right category and we move things around, if necessary. Another thing we do is make sure you guys stay informed, so you get regular news updates from us through ~litNEWS (actually, ^GeneratingHype does all the work there, but the rest of us help, really!). Sometimes, we take on monthly community projects, but not always. Remember that this is a volunteer position; we don't get paid to do what we do; and aside from DDs, miscats, and anything esle the AR Directors ask us to do, we don't other responsibilities. But we do our best to make sure there's always something exciting happening in the lit community. That's how "The Year of Lit" plan came about. This was a vague idea I had for the community when I joined in February 2008, and ^GeneratingHype fleshed it out and gave it focus. To find out how you can get involved, read his journal: Projecting.

Oh yes, and if you have any questions or suggestions for the community, feel free to note one or all of us.

Two club accounts you should watch

brings fortnightly updates to the literature community and is the best place to go if you're looking for contests and projects to take part in.
has a huge list of writing clubs that you can be a part of, so if you're looking for something in that vein, it's best to go there.

Literature forums

Unreal City: The Lit Forums

Literature chatrooms

#getlit is the official literature chatroom, but the GDs are not in charge of it. *getLIT is managed by an anonymous member of the community. The GDs are given updates and are consulted at times, but for the most part it's up to *getLIT and its team of moderators to keep things going. If you want to get involved, note the *getLIT account (and CC us if you want to).

#litgdoncall is where you need to go if you have a question to ask a GD or if you have a complaint or concern.

Poetry Daily Deviations, January - April '08
Daily Deviations: Prose 2007

As I said before, the literature Gallery Directors feature Daily Deviations on the Today page.

FAQ #61: What is a Daily Deviation?
FAQ #18: Who selects the Daily Deviation and how is it chosen?
FAQ #873: What do I do when I disapprove of a Daily Deviation feature?
Daily Deviations: How to Suggest by ~purpleblur

Pointers

The four of us (^StJoan, ^GeneratingHype, ^LadyLincoln and ^lovetodeviate) can accept only prose and poetry deviations.
Don't send your suggestion for a particular deviation to more than one GD. However, if you would like to send different suggestion to different GDs, that is perfectly okay with us.
Please remember that not all suggestions are featured on the DD page. It is up to the GD to decide what deserves to be on the today page, but we always appreciate suggestions.

Most importantly

It is best to read the DD guidelines of the GD to whom you are sending your suggestion before you click "send". This you can usually find on our front page or journal shoutboard. Please remember to send a link in the note and a short blurb on why you think the piece should be DDed. That's really the best way to go.

These articles have all been written by members or ex-members of deviantART and it took a lot of effort for them to do it. I'm not going to mention everyone's name again, but thank you!

Please note that most of these resources also have a home at 's list of resources. I'm one of the admins over there, along with `Beccalicious. I've been updating that list for the past six months and some members of our workshop have been using it regularly. But to bring these resources to a wider audience, Becca said it would be okay if I transferred some to this journal. There are some online (non-dA) articles there for those who are still looking for help.

Here are the clubs that are excellent resources (from where I handpicked these resources):



Yep, that's it, I guess.

Oh, =Deltabeta asked me to mention his new club in my journal: . It's for writers who also dabble in photography and it looks pretty interesting.