DE: Writing helpers

[cook_the_rude]

 What are your methods for writing, what sites or tools do you use, where do you look up canon info etc.? What extensions in your browser do you need, and what is generally useful?

Comments

[thewidewideworld]

LJ joggle, even if I keep having to fight Firefox not to upgrade and destroy it. Google Translate. My overstuffed bookcase for Jay and Olivier (I have tons of trade paperbacks and all of the Cadfael novels.)

But more than anything else - wikipedia for dates, ideas and the start of research.

I really worry what someone checking my search history must think of me!

Oh, and my smart phone. Even if I fail auto-correct more often than I should. Most of the time you'll find me tagging from my phone due to my antipodean time zone.

[sdelmonte]

Methods? I kind of just wing it when I write, though usually after a lot of thought.

But then I, like all other members of the human race, fall back on Wikipedia. For Kirk, I rely on Memory Alpha. For my other current pups, there are similar wikis, but nothing nearly as extensive as one for Trekkies and by Trekkies.

I have a new pup coming up, though, that will require more research into things like the history of Belgium prior to WWI, and just how a long series of books written over a period of 50 years with an ageless lead character was condensed to fit into one decade for TV. Of course, I have to decide how much I want to do such things, since it stops being fun and starts being a term paper. But I do like to get things right.

[just_cant_lose]

I just sit down and write, and when I need info I generally check wiki/do a random Google search. Also refer a lot to canon.

And then spoilers for the next series show up and KILL MY ASS DEAD, and I'm incapable of writing anything at all, wtaf. sa;ldfkjsa;dflkja

[crabbycustomer]

Fortunately, the text of Homestuck is largely searchable, and there are good wikis available too.

I mostly do my writing the DW itself, with the consequence that probably a year's worth of plot developments are lying around in plain sight in my journal. >.< I pre-write some threads in email depending on people's schedules; some people can't get on DW during the day. Batya and I have gotten pretty good at coding a pre-written thread into a pseudo-thread journal post using table HTML, complete with icons.

Playing Karkat has inspired me to push the limits of formatting, because that's pretty much the MSPA motto. In addition to the tabled pseudo-threads, I have done HS-style panel by panel click-through OOMs, graphic-heavy comics instead of narrative using panel and sprite edits, and lately I've been experimenting with using Twine to tell stories I would have done as OOMs in the past.

We did one OOM that took place basically in the margins of the site itself.

[bjornwilde]

LJ Juggler is a must.

Spellcheckers, though they don't save my ass nearly enough. ; p

Wiki's, whether Wikipedia itself, or fan run ones like Wookiepedia.

Google docs. I've started using them to write out the first draft of OOMs, experiment with outlines, and jot down ideas or timelines.

Beeline reader is great for helping to read long bits of text.

Imageshack for storing extra icons. Hollowart for finding icons (love their search function) or screen caps if the canon is a visual one.

For those canons that have then, Amazon and Google books for ebooks. I love being able to do a search for key words. Too bad it doesn't work for manga.

AdBlock to save me from all those ads in the fan run wiki's

[ceitfianna]

LJlogin though I think I'm going to finally give up and find an option as Firefox is unhappy with me for not updating and I like how it works. I'm considering trying one of those Firefox clones but I don't know.

A few of my canons have wikis for which I'm really grateful-the Discworld one, Vorkosigan, Old Kingdom, October Daye, Narnia and Marvel.

For historical canons, I rely a lot on starting with Google and all the wonderful people who have done more research than I have. There are some dedicated researchers out there about the American West and Jane Austen who have figured out the cost of living or what she would drink.

A big inspiration and help for Sameth is the entire steampunk community as a lot of what they make fits what I imagine he makes. Many of my icons for his devices come from steampunk stuff.

Wikipedia can be useful especially when it comes to dates like would someone know that spice, that reference, things like when correspondence schools started.

Google Books has been a huge help as at the moment all my copies of canon are in storage and sometimes I need to check a detail that's not in the wikis. Canonmates are great for this too as I know some details really well but there's always something I forget.

Tumblr's also become a wonderful resource with the amount of research and meta that goes on. It doesn't always pertain exactly to my canons but sometimes things overlap and inspire me.

[bringspeopletogether]

Lately? The Dragon Age wiki.

There is so much lore to keep straight, y'all. So much. ;_; (And I'm still only halfway through Inquisition to boot. Which is...not a huge deal for Alistair, since he's still circa the Origins era and, if he's king, he's only in Inquisition for like three minutes anyway? But still. EXTENSIVE WIKI-SCOURING FOR EVERYONE.)

I also have The World of Thedas volumes one and two hanging out on my coffee table, but I'm waiting until I'm done with Inquisition before digging into those. I like having old-school reference books on hand, what can I say.