66 best writing tools and tips 2021

Links to the best how tos, lists, videos, blog posts and writing tools that I've plucked from the internet over the last 12 months.

Iain Broome

31 Dec 2021 — 5 min read

Photo by Markus Winkler / Unsplash

Just in the nick of time, here is your final edition of the Draft Mode newsletter of 2021 sent by me, Iain Broome, author type, content bod and festive fatigue sufferer.

I hope you’ve had a good break of some kind. Our holiday period has been mostly lovely and completely full on for about two weeks solid. There’s been barely enough time to do anything but eat, sleep and tend to the needs of many, many children.

Anyway, I’ve just about mustered the strength to go back through every Draft Mode from the last 12 months and pull out the bestest articles, videos, tools and tips. You can see them all below – just the titles, no comments from me. There should be plenty that tickles your fancy.

I’ll be back soon with your regular programming, but for now I wish you a happy new year and all the time in the world to write your thing and make good progress.

Iain

Links of the year

Every issue I collect and share the best advice, apps and other shenanigans that I find on my internet travels. Find something useful? Subscribe for free.

How tos

Lists, lists, lists

Best of the rest

Tools of the year

Tweets of the year

Tweets are but unpleasant days in a year of many challenges. But some of them are quite good. You can follow @iainbroome and @DraftModeHQ on Twitter.

Writing a novel? Be sure to make it *about* something.

Here's some writing advice the inimitable Fay Weldon once gave me: "Novels are just essays to which you have attached names and characteristics to warring themes. Nothing special, just more work and a degree of chutzpah."
— Nathan Filer (@nathanfiler) February 1, 2021

I will never recover from today reading a review of one of my books that says “I just don’t feel the characters would be friends in real life”.

The characters in question are:
A PENGUIN
A KUNG FU EXPERT SPIDER
AN 80 YEAR OLD WOMAN
A PIGEON.
— Alex T Smith 🇪🇺 (@Alex_T_Smith) June 21, 2021

Trying to assemble a reading list for a Non-Fiction Creative Writing MA course. What would be on yours? pic.twitter.com/IMNhAdT7KL
— Jonathan Gibbs (@Tiny_Camels) June 30, 2021

My dad always reads the first draft of my chapters, and I mentioned how weird I felt sending him the current one since there's a sex scene. His response?

"Loved it! Passionate but not overly porny."

The 'overly' killed me. 😂#amwriting #WritingCommunity #romanceauthor
— Casie Aufenthie (@CasieAufenthie) July 8, 2021

Bought a used Charles Bukowski book and the best part are the notes in the margins from a woman who clearly was having none of this shit. pic.twitter.com/YfVjvJ1Ua5
— Melissa Turkington (@Leftovers_Movie) July 23, 2021

FYI: the slush pile is not ‘dreaded’ by any of us, it is our job and our privilege to look through submissions that authors have worked very hard to get ready and send us. Keep going, be patient, do your homework and you’ll get there!
— Megan Carroll (@MeganACarroll) August 5, 2021

‘I never know what I’m really writing about until 2/3 of the way through. Having an outline never made sense to me … how can you know what the outline is until you know what you’re doing, and how can you know what you’re doing until you’ve done it?’ –Alison Bechdel
— Lisa Owens (@lamowens) September 7, 2021

As writers, we should support each other. Although it may look like we're in competition, we're not. Publishers need a steady stream of books my multiple authors. And every smash hit bestseller keeps the industry in business and provides the funds to publish many other books.
— Gareth L Powell (@garethlpowell) October 4, 2021

Something just caused me to realise that I had the idea for my current novel 7 years ago. Sometimes ideas take a long time to percolate and we need to grow and change in real life before we can find the right direction. And sometimes life gets in the way. And it's all ok.
— Beverley Ward (@beverleywrites) December 19, 2021

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I'm the author of the novel, A is for Angelica. Every week, I send Draft Mode, a newsletter full of tips and tools that help you improve your craft and promote your writing.