[Aliventures newsletter] How to Find Free Writing Help and Support: Five Places to Look

Published: Mon, 02/26/24

Hello!

One of the best ways I've found to move forward with my goals is to pay for help of some kind. When it comes to writing, I've paid anything from a few pounds for a writing-related book to thousands of pounds to take a Master's degree in Creative Writing.

But you might not be in a position to pay for help and support, or you might have maxed out your budget for writing-related expenditure. And that's fine too! There's loads of practical advice and encouragement out there for writers, completely free.

In fact, I'd always suggest starting out with free resources, and then seeing where it might make sense to pay for something. I used to swap manuscripts with writing friends for feedback before I paid a professional editor, for instance. You get an entirely different level of feedback from a professional ... but just having that free support helped me to develop so much as a writer, and showed me how useful it would be to have someone else's eyes on my work.

How to Find Free Writing Help and Support: Five Great Places to Look

Whatever type of writing you do, these are all ways to learn and develop for free.

#1: Read Free Blogs and Websites

There are an incredible number of blogs out there, some run by individual enthusiasts, others run by whole businesses, that offer advice on writing.

Just a few you might try are:

Copyblogger for help with copywriting and content marketing

Make a Living Writing for freelancers of all kinds

Helping Writers Become Authors for in-depth discussions of the craft of fiction

The Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) for academic and business writing

The Creative Penn for loads of advice on self-publishing (being an indie author)

Many sites also offer free ebooks if you sign up for their newsletter lists (you can always unsubscribe after downloading the freebie, though you'll likely find the newsletter articles useful too).

#2: Borrow Writing-Related Books from Your Local Library

I love libraries, both for their unlimited supply of books, and as lovely spaces to read and write. Your local library almost certainly has some writing-related books, and even if it's a tiny one, you'll likely be able to order books from a larger branch nearby.

There are so many fantastic writing books out there. Some offer general advice and give you insights into a writer's own experiences, like Stephen King's On Writing. Others deal with the nuts and bolts of particular aspects of writing (e.g. dialogue, setting) or with specific genres like David Gerrold's Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy.

You might also want to try books that don't give writing advice as such, but that cover common issues that writers face: things like lacking confidence, finding good time management techniques, and setting & meeting goals.

#3: Look for Free Writing Courses and Seminars

You might think you'd have to pay if you want to take a writing course ... but that's not necessarily the case! Some people run short free courses (or webinars, which are online seminars) to introduce you to their paid courses, but you aren't obliged to buy anything. Plenty of people attend free courses or webinars and never go on to buy.

There are also organizations like universities and charities that offer free courses. You might like to check out:

Start Writing Fiction (The Open University) for an introduction to character, setting, and genre

The National Centre for Writing (UK) for a range of free courses, including ones on poetry and science fiction

#4: Join a Free Writing Group Online

There are a dazzling array of writing-related groups and communities online, on sites like Facebook and Discord. If you've ever bought anything from the Aliventures Shop, you've also got free membership of the Aliventures Club, a supportive and friendly group on Facebook:

facebook.com/groups/aliventuresclub

If you haven't bought anything before, don't feel you need to rush and buy something in order to join, that's rather against the point of today's newsletter! You're very welcome to be part of the group too: just pop in a note when you apply to join and let me know what you might be thinking of buying in the future.

In-person writing groups normally charge a small fee to cover the costs of a room booking (and potentially to pay speakers), though your local library may have a free group.

#5: Swap Manuscripts With a Friend to Beta-Read

The best way I know of to improve as a writer is to get specific feedback on your work. You can do that by hiring a professional editor or paid beta-reader ... but a free alternative is to find a writer friend who's happy to swap manuscripts with you.

That could mean sharing your work chapter by chapter, or finishing a whole draft then each going through one another's manuscripts, making suggestions. Having the perspective of another writer can be invaluable in helping you see areas where your writing isn't quite clear enough, and they may even have ideas or responses that help you see an aspect of your story in a new light.

If you've got some money to spare, buying a good writing-related book, taking a class, or even paying for a professional edit can all be great ways to grow. But don't let a lack of money put you off: all the ideas above are fantastic options for staying motivated and furthering your craft entirely for free.

You might also want to take a look at my post on free writing-related software:

The Eight Best Free Writing Tools to Help You Write More and Earn More

What I've Been Reading

I'm aiming to read 100 books (50 fiction and 50 non-fiction) in 2024, and I'm reviewing them all on my Goodreads account. Here's what I thought about a couple that I read recently:

In a Single Moment

This beautifully written novel details its characters and worlds with real skill, drawing us into the busy family life of working-class Michelle, and the rather stilted life of artistic Sylvie, who never wanted a child but is now having one for reasons that are slowly revealed during the course of the novel.

Michelle and Sylvie both give birth to a daughter on the same day in 1976, and the novel tracks them and their families over the course of the next 16 years. Perhaps from the title and blurb, I'd expected the story to be a bit faster-paced (and the mystery of whether or not the daughters were accidentally switched to be resolved sooner) ... but I really enjoyed the slower unfolding of this story, as the lives of the characters develop in parallel.

Some reviewers have suggested that there are problematic things being said here about children from certain parents being characterised in a certain way, due to genetics. I felt the author was careful to tread a line where, arguably, the two daughters' characters are being shaped by their upbringings: particularly by Michelle's worries that her daughter was switched at birth and by Sylvie's maternal ambivalence and struggles to bond with her daughter. I perhaps liked the first half more than the second – I didn't feel that teenage Donna's perspective added a lot, and it seemed odd not to pair it with Leonara's – but overall, this was a really engaging and enjoyable read.

The Art of Life Admin

A rather strange book, and not quite what I expected from the title. There are some good practical tips, and an interesting delve into different approaches to admin, what makes admin "stick" to one person in a partnership, and a less gendered approach than some admin advice (the author was married to another woman – their divorce is mentioned multiple times in the book).

At times, this does read more like a memoir than an advice book: I'd have liked longer case studies of the people Emens interviewed about admin, more of a focus on practical tips (though there are some good ones towards the end of the book) and perhaps more suggestions on how to discuss admin in a relationship. Eve Rodsky's "Fair Play" is a much more systematic approach and a considerably better read.

The chapter where Emens imagines a sort of admin-minimal utopia is particularly bizarre: much of it is complete fantasy and clearly not possible or workable, so I'm not really sure what value it adds! I don't know if Emens needed to hit a wordcount or just got a little carried away. That chapter could really have been much better spent on practical, actionable suggestions.

Happy writing,

Ali

P.S. If you missed last week's Aliventures blog post, here it is:

Seven Useful Tasks to Tackle as a Freelancer When You’re Waiting for More Client Work

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