10 Free Online Resources to Improve Your Writing

In this guest blog post, Sharon Crosby shares 10 great websites that can help you improve your writing skills

It often seems that there are not enough online resources for writers. There are many good books on the subject, but they cost a lot of money because the writing community is a relatively small niche. Here are 10 resources you can use whether you are a professional writer or a young content manager to improve your writing, to make your content more interesting or to get published. All the websites have something different to offer writers.

1. Writer’s Digest

Get your hands on lots of writing and research advice. The homepage is a little too crammed with links for most people’s liking, but once you get used to how the website works you can find plenty of tips and lots of pieces of advice on writing. The great thing is that there are many different types of help available on the website. If you want help with your spelling, sentence structure or use of words, then there are resources for that. If you want to be published, improve your blog traffic, or write for websites, then the Writer’s Digest will help you as well.

2. Positive Writer

This is probably one of the best-put-together blogs on the Internet. The formatting, setting and visuals are perfect for the type and style of blog the author has created. Get on this blog and read the advice given on how to become a good writer. Sign up for the RSS feed and read the new posts every week. So if you want to both get practical tips on writing and enjoy website navigation start reading this blog.

3. Guide to Grammar & Writing

Although it is such a hard website to love because it is poorly constructed and has a terrible navigation system, it is crammed with very good information. It is like a gold nugget that has dropped in a muddy bog. If you really want to learn from it, then use the text-only functions to get rid of most of the old-fashioned design and read the sections and categories as if they were chapters in a book. If you can find a way of getting to the information you need, you will be far better off as a writer.

4. EssayMama’s Writing Guide

This guide has a wealth of information you can use for free, and there is plenty of advice for both budding and experienced writers. Though it gives tips mostly on writing essays, all pieces of advice are general and can be used by anyone who deals with writing on a regular basis. If you are writing for fun, for profit or for your education, then the EssayMama’s Writing Guide can help you.

5. Pro Blogger

This is a blogging website that has posts relating solely to writing, and the writer is clearly good at marketing his or her writing skills. Some of the posts are so enticing that you have to respect the fact that the blogger knows something about how to keep his or her readers – and that sort of advice can help you when you are writing. Check out the website and prepare to both love and hate the content (many posts will be worth your while reading).

6. Write to Done

This is a website with truly helpful articles about writing. It is worth a look when you have some free time. The paid functions are not worth your time. It is better if you use this website when you have an hour or so to kill and you want some easy-but-educational reading.

7. Writing.com

This website is lauded by a minority of students, and it would have far more followers and users if it did not insist on making people sign up and buy memberships. Signing up for a paid membership is not worth your time and money, but the free content is worth reading if you want to improve your writing skills, so take a look at this resource.

8. Writing Forward

Writing Forward is a great resource for writers to get creative writing tips and ideas. There you can find lots of articles on general writing and grammar and many exercises to ‘keep your pen moving’. If you are looking for inspiration you need to try this resource – maybe it is just what you are looking for. Besides, the website has quite easy navigation and pleasant design.

9. Grammar Monster

This is another website that part of you will want to hate and part of you will love. The grammar lessons it provides have been split into very small sections, which has over-simplified the process a little too much. On the other hand, if you need a simple grammar question answering, then all you have to do is look through the categories listed and find the one that is the most suitable. This website is perfect for young and experienced writers.

10. SpellCheck Plus

If you are a writer, you will know there are no perfect spelling and grammar checking programs on this planet (paid or otherwise). Many of them are based on the Ginger database, and there are few that are able to improve your writing by a large degree. Many spelling and grammar checkers will miss things that you really need fixed. One of the most common things that spelling and grammar checkers miss is the misuse of words, and that is why SpellCheck Plus is on this article. It is one of the few spelling and grammar checkers that highlight possible misuse of words for you to check.

Sharon Crosby (pictured above right) is a young writer and language tutor with 6 years of experience. At the present she is working on her first science fiction novel.

More writing tips can be found in our post about how to write a good English Literature essay, though we’d also recommend our memory techniques for how to remember things for exams and these recommended online resources for creative writers.