Website Review:

Charlotte Dillon's Resources for Romance Writers

Reviewed By Valerie Comer
Copyright © 2009 by Valerie Comer, All Rights Reserved

http://www.charlottedillon.com/WritingRomance.html

Charlotte Dillon's website, Resources for Romance Writers, has frequented Writer's Digest Top 101 Best Websites for Writers page. I can see why! She has one of the most comprehensive sets of links and informative articles I've seen anywhere. If you're not interested in writing category romance, you'll still find much on her site that will be of use.

On her Links for Writers page, Ms. Dillon offers many links to grammar sites, online dictionaries, and reference guides. Here you will also find tax info and postal info for American writers. She lists some free newsletters and various pro writing organizations, as well as links for writing and organizational software downloads.

Books on Writing lists a number of her favorite books on craft, some geared for romance and others more general. She also provides links to several trade magazines.

There are a lot of ways to create the folks who will lead off in your stories. Ms. Dillon's page Building Characters provides links to a number of books on the subject, as well as offering her own detailed checklist. Then there are dozens of links to various websites that give advice in this area, as well as quite a few character name sites.

Writers new to the scene often have questions about formatting so Ms. Dillon added a page for Manuscript Preparation. In 2004, she surveyed a number of publishing houses regarding their preferences and posted this information here. She also defines many terms and acronyms, and provides links to other sites.

Along a similar vein, there are pages for Writing a Synopsis and for Writing a Query Letter. Here she provides hints, samples, links to other sites and books on these subjects.

First Sales by First-Time Authors provides information about various romance books that were first sales by certain authors. This page is still valid, though the sales are not recent.

The section entitled Articles on Writing lists many of Ms. Dillon's own articles on various writing topics, including email lists and how to determine whether to submit to contests. Many articles are on more traditional topics such as characters, setting, etc.

Research Links contains vast Internet links on topics such as the police, medicine, witches, werewolves, buggies, and boats.  There are sections on the Civil War, Middle Ages, the Old West, and more. Research Books covers books on similar topics.

Although many of the articles and links on the previous pages will be of interest to all writers, whether romance or not, Other Genres of Writing is Ms. Dillon's attempt to group additional information specifically on writing non-fiction and writing for children at this time.

The Publishers & Agents page lists various publishers' and e-publishers' guidelines. There are links to a variety of agent information sites and agent blogs.

Ms. Dillon has compiled answers from published authors on the page Writing Questions & Answers. Answers to what? Questions such as how they keep a schedule, how they model characters, how to write humor, their first sale, research, etc.

How to Promote Your Book covers what authors can do to help their new books find an audience, from book review sites to building a website to banner ads and where to purchase promotional supplies.

Three pages deal most specifically with romance writers: Romance Writers Community On-Line Group, info on RWA Chapters, and Romance Writing Contests.

Writing Prompts can be a lot of fun for writers who are stuck. Ms. Dillon provides many of her own.

She also shares The Call--First Sale Stories from more than a dozen romance authors.

Can you think of any topics Ms. Dillon hasn't covered yet? She has a Writing FAQ page to deal with various other questions.

If you find the website helpful, you can sign up for her Free Newsletter. If you're primarily a reader, you might enjoy the Romance Readers Community. And if you're just in need of A Little Inspiration, Ms. Dillon has a variety of quotes. As you can see, there is something for just about everyone on the Resources for Romance Writers website.

Charlotte Dillon writes Southern Romance under this tagline: Where heroines strong enough to stand on their own meet heroes special enough to make them weak in the knees. She is seeking her first publishing contract.

Valerierco@yahoo.ca