There are prolific resources for fictional writing on the internet, but before you venture on the ones that could cost you, consider these resources which were personally useful to me:
#1: FREE ONLINE COURSES
-The Future of Storytelling, Free MOOC by www.iversity.org
Let me start by saying that I am not at all affiliated to Iversity and won't be earning a dime whether or not you take courses from there.
Anyway, being relatively new to writing, the course was truly an eye-opener to me. It discussed the basics of storytelling: how it evolved through history, current trends, story structures and the many industries where the storytelling/writing craft is needed and would probably be used more in the future. Some really exciting topics include storytelling in Game Development, Location Based/Augmented Reality, TV, Web and Transmedia.
Perhaps to the more seasoned writers, the course could be a source of inspiration. Several talented storytellers such as Cornelia Funke, author of Mirrorworld and Inkheart; Des Doyle, Director of Showrunners (A showrunner is the person who has the overall creative authority and management responsibility of aTV shows, from Wiki) and more were interviewed and they shared many valuable insights in their expertise.
The course basically ran from October to December in 2013 and certificates were given to those who were enrolled until the 20th of December 2013 and had completed 80% of the course. Prof. Christina and the rest of the FS team really did an excellent job keeping the lectures very educational, interesting and creative. The lectures consisted of 20-60 minute of engaging videos followed by creative assignments. There were also several ways to engage with the teachers and students: through email, through their official site's forums, and also through their facebook page.
Here is a link to their youtube channel, where their resources are still available:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPs44kHxzxzeR-a0ACvwR9w
Here are some tips from Cornelia Funke on Creating Stories:
https://youtu.be/tt5Ge9itttU
For those who may be interested on how Iversity certificates look like, they're basically PDF's stating your participation in a MOOC run by the University of Applied Sciences of Potsdam in Berlin, Germany. You can link it to your linkedin account if you think it might help you, but there is a clause at the bottom stating that your identity was not verified.
- Iversity: Future of Storytelling Certificate
-Writing for Publication Course by Mark Victor Hansen (Co-Creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul) at www.theweu.com
This course basically teaches new writers where to get inspiration and how to keep motivated when writing a book. Then, Mark shows you how to publish your book and how and where to market your book. It consists of 15 units and there are several assignments, but I guess the course is definitely worth the time if you need the certificate.
Of particular importance is marketing your book. They provide various ideas on how to plan and execute an effective marketing strategy (of course, there are also many blogs about this topic, but these are pretty thorough). If you don't need the certificate and just want to get published, you can always skim through the notes/videos to see which ones are useful to you.
They also have interactive forums which definitely enriches the learning process.
#2: Join a Writing Group Critique
After you've written a few chapters, why not consider being part of a writing group critique? If you don't have people around you who share the same passion about stories or perhaps they may be busy or are easily pleased, then consider signing up at www.scribophile.com.
The idea is you critique other people's works to get points (karma points). In turn, you can use those points to share your work (chapters at a time) so you too can get feedback. Again, it's completely free.
Here's a really nice blog about the benefits of being a member of Scribophile:
http://deaddarlings.com/review-scribophile-online-writing-group/
The site is not only helpful for novelists, even poets and bloggers can benefit from it tremendously. Keeping connected with other writers not only helps you with your craft; sometimes on the road to success, you may need inspiration, friendship or perhaps motivation :p. On a side note, for bloggers, they too have a group where you can share your posts too. ;)
There are several other critique groups besides scribophile, but I find this one have very active members and cover a lot genres. Besides, the people are generally helpful and hospitable, which is what we need when we're starting out.
#3: Dictionary & Thesaurus, Good Grammar, Idiom Ideas, etc
There are many excellent resources too for a writer's staple needs. And again, they won't necessarily cost you a dime, besides your electricity and internet bill, i.e.:
Start with...><
www.dictionary.com
ON GOOD GRAMMAR:
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/category/grammar-101/
http://www.grammarbook.com/
www.grammarly.com
MORE IDIOMS:
http://www.idiomsite.com/
#4: Free E-books :)
Well, we definitely have to do more reading than writing. :) Personally, I prefer paperbacks, but if you're on a tight budget like me, here are some excellent resources for free e-books:
www.free-ebooks.net
www.manybooks.net
www.digital.library.upenn.edu/books/
www.bookyards.com
#5: MORE BLOGS, HURRAY!
Of course, you can also always follow the blogs of successful authors or blogs that cover specific topics that you feel you need to research on. Just search away, but please do come back to visit. ;)
CONCLUSION
There really are many decent sources of information for all sorts of writers in the internet. However, covering all of them won't necessarily make any of us a great writer, but they are obviously very helpful nonetheless.
Sometimes more than knowing what to do, 'knowing why you do something and who you are with in the process' is what actually makes the difference. To end, allow me to cheer you on: "You can do this! God wants you to succeed!" :)
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