As I said in my About page, I am a teen writer. One of the things about being a teen writer is that there are a lot of resources out there that you can use. Over the five years that I’ve been writing seriously, I have found many of these resources, and I’d like to share some of my favorite ones. 

Gail Carson Levine

I was debating spotlighting her blog or her books, and then I figured why not do both? Gail Carson Levine is an author who primarily writes fairytale retellings, such as her book Ella Enchanted which is a Cinderella retelling.

Her blog is a wonderful place for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry writers to visit. She has many writing tips and writing prompts for all three of those genres. And I can’t recommend her two books, Writing Magic and Writer to Writer high enough. One of my favorite current work-in-progresses was based off of one of her writing prompts.

Spilling Ink

This is a book about writing written by authors Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter. The book is a handbook for young writers filled with encouragement, writing prompts, and tips on the core elements of storytelling. The target audience for this book is writers between the ages of nine and fourteen.

Go Teen Writers

Go Teen Writers is also both a website and a series of books. It was created by two friends, Jill Williamson and Stephanie Morrill, who were both published as teenagers or young adults. Jill is the author of the Blood of Kings trilogy and the Safe Lands trilogy. Stephanie is the author of The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet, Between These Lines, and The Lost Girl of Astor Street.

Together, they launched the Go Teen Writers blog, which you should absolutely check out. They also co-wrote the book Go Teen Writers: How to Turn Your First Draft Into a Published Book and Go Teen Writers: Edit Your Novel. Along with their friend Shannon Dittemore, author of Winter, White, and Wicked and Angel Eyes, they wrote the book Go Teen Writers: Write Your Novel. Jill also wrote a book for fantasy writers called Storyworld First. All of these are amazing books, and they’ve given me so much more insight into the writing world.

One Stop for Writers

One Stop for Writers was founded by Becca Puglisi and Angela Ackerman. They also have a series of books made up of writing tips, and a blog, but what I’d like to talk about is their website.

They have a website where you can create timelines for your storyworlds, fill out character questionnaires, and create detailed descriptions for your settings. There’s also a thesaurus page filled with tips on how to show character motivations, how to show your character’s emotions, sensory descriptions for settings, etc. They also put the thesaurus content into a published book series. You will need a subscription, but I can promise you that it’s worth it.

The Young Writer’s Workshop

The Young Writer’s Workshop may have just been one of the best things to ever happen to me. It is an online writer’s community for writers between the ages of thirteen and twenty five years old. It was founded by Brett Harris, author of Do Hard Things, and Jaquelle Ferris, author of This Changes Everything.

There are multiple spaces on the community where you can ask questions relating to characters, worldbuilding, and even a space where you can ask questions when you need to research for your story. There is also a monthly course that covers everything from writing middle grade to handling character trauma sensitively to public speaking. And there are multiple other young writers who you can connect with, as well as the instructors.

Instructors on the Young Writer’s Workshop include Josiah Degraaf (A Study of Shattered Spells), Anna Rose Johnson (The Star That Always Stays), Millie Florence (Honey Butter, Beyond Mulberry Glen, The Mage Pocket), and Rachel Scheller (Extension Squad).