A Way With Worlds, hosted by Seventh Sanctum, is a collection of articles to help you world-build and otherwise structure your story. It's pretty easily understood and have over 56 articles to chose from on specific topics of world-building. I don't have anything particularly in depth to say about it. The site is pretty even, average quality.
Usefulness: 3 out of 5
These articles are all useful. Technically, that makes it 5 out of 5. However, I'm grading based on the usefulness as a world-building tool. As such, there are some articles that are totally useless. Specifically, the fan-fiction articles. Like fan service? Totally not worthwhile. Not even a little bit.
Fun: 2 out of 5
I find it fun because I like learning >.< The fan-fiction articles are definitely funny and some of the world-building articles can be as well. Nothing overwhelmingly interesting for other people though.
Hipster: 4 out of 5
You really would only know about this if you troll around Seventh Sanctum. It's another one of those "hidden in the sidebar and you probably won't notice it" kind of things.
Showing posts with label usefulness=3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label usefulness=3. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Review: One Page Per Day
First of all, hello everyone. Sorry I've been gone for a little while. I had a bunch of tests and papers to get done, and I had to pick between the blog, the mini-Nano and the rest of my work. I'm on a 6 day streak on 750 words, which is awesome. I'm loving the cute little badges they give me :)
This is for a 5 day streak.
Cute little penguin!
Second, and most importantly, my review of One Page Per Day! It's touted as an "online typewriter". You are only expected to write one page, hence the title. Supposedly "you are free from the tyranny of the infinite page".
Usefulness: 3/4 out of 5
Now, technically I could just say 3.5. But if I start using decimals, my "search by score" tag list will be way too long. Plus, the different scores are under different circumstances.
I gave OPPD a 3 for use during NaNoWriMo. Writing only one page is not entirely useful when you need to write 1667 words a day. (Which, by the way is 6 pages long in Courier New size 12 and 5 pages in Times New Roman, size 12). Writing one out of 6 pages online doesn't seem particularly valuable.
However, I do think this site is totally worthwhile for year-round use. Writing one page a day would be great to keep you in practice, something that practically every article about writing suggests you do.
Fun: 1 out of 5
Yeah, so, there isn't much fun about this site. In fact, it kind of makes me angry. At the bottom of the front page are the "Rave Reviews". These are lies. The quotes from Toni Morrison, Mark Twain and Norbet Platt have nothing to do with the site, but instead are about writing in general. This is cheating and I do not approve of it. If you want to include reviews, include real, actual reviews from your users, so people can have a complete understanding of how this is supposed to work.
Hipster: 2 out of 5
Another one of those "I have no idea what this is, but someone suggested it, so I'm gonna review it!". It seems quite nice and, like I said, a 4 for anything outside of Nano. But you have to find it first.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Review: Written? Kitten!
"Written? Kitten!" is sort of the ideological opposite of Write or Die. They are both word processors that incorporate motivational tools. While Write or Die is about scaring the crap out of you and threatening to ruin all your progress, Written? Kitten! is about rewarding your good work with pictures of adorable kittens. (Blogger doesn't let me put exclamation points in the tags, which I find infuriating. Just a note.)
Usefulness: 3 out of 5
This is, again, a biased post. I believe Written? Kitten! is less useful than Write or Die, because I believe the threat of destroying your work is more motivational than the gift of a cute kitten. However, for those of you who prefer positive motivation, this will be great. It plays right into the Internet's love of cats. Like Write or Die, it does not have an export button or any kind of formatting. Personally, I believe copying from Written? Kitten! is a little easier, because it doesn't take you to a new page like Write or Die does.
Fun: 5 out of 5
Kittens. Seriously, do I need to say anything else? Mrroow.
Hipster: 2 out of 5
About as well known as Write or Die. Really, these two sites are sort of tied to each other by their contrary natures.
Usefulness: 3 out of 5
This is, again, a biased post. I believe Written? Kitten! is less useful than Write or Die, because I believe the threat of destroying your work is more motivational than the gift of a cute kitten. However, for those of you who prefer positive motivation, this will be great. It plays right into the Internet's love of cats. Like Write or Die, it does not have an export button or any kind of formatting. Personally, I believe copying from Written? Kitten! is a little easier, because it doesn't take you to a new page like Write or Die does.
Fun: 5 out of 5
Kittens. Seriously, do I need to say anything else? Mrroow.
Hipster: 2 out of 5
About as well known as Write or Die. Really, these two sites are sort of tied to each other by their contrary natures.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Review: Fractal World Generator
This is a really cool generator I get to review today. This generator creates planets. Yes, readers, whole planets! Combine with, say, Chaotic Shiny's culture and constellation generators and you could have a home for your novels for the rest of your life.
Usefulness: 3 out of 5
I think this generator has a limited popularity. Yes, it's crazy convenient to have a world map generated for you in seconds, with the option to adjust certain parameters. However, any WriMo who needs an entire planet created for their novel is probably going severely overboard.
The generator has multiple different style planets as well, which means you can create your home world and the planets in the system, which can be incredibly useful for SciFi writers who may need a plethora of planets to discuss.
Fun: 3 out of 5
This is totally biased. In all honesty, I should give this a 1 out of 5. So, for those of you who don't care about my biases, just assume that's what it is.
However, I must say, it's really cool to just magically create a planet at the click of a button. I like to think I'm playing god and "Letting there be light" all throughout the universe. So, if, like most writers, you have a serious God complex, this can actually be pretty enjoyable.
Hipster: 4 out of 5
I have no idea what this website is. I have never actually looked into it until now. You can generally find a link to this generator on writers' forums, hidden in their somewhere, but only to the generator. However, the side links say that it has multiple generators involved (that I have never heard of anyone using). Obviously, this will involve a second review to determine the value of the rest of the site.
Usefulness: 3 out of 5
I think this generator has a limited popularity. Yes, it's crazy convenient to have a world map generated for you in seconds, with the option to adjust certain parameters. However, any WriMo who needs an entire planet created for their novel is probably going severely overboard.
The generator has multiple different style planets as well, which means you can create your home world and the planets in the system, which can be incredibly useful for SciFi writers who may need a plethora of planets to discuss.
Fun: 3 out of 5
This is totally biased. In all honesty, I should give this a 1 out of 5. So, for those of you who don't care about my biases, just assume that's what it is.
However, I must say, it's really cool to just magically create a planet at the click of a button. I like to think I'm playing god and "Letting there be light" all throughout the universe. So, if, like most writers, you have a serious God complex, this can actually be pretty enjoyable.
Hipster: 4 out of 5
I have no idea what this website is. I have never actually looked into it until now. You can generally find a link to this generator on writers' forums, hidden in their somewhere, but only to the generator. However, the side links say that it has multiple generators involved (that I have never heard of anyone using). Obviously, this will involve a second review to determine the value of the rest of the site.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Review: Serendipity
In keeping with the last (and my first) post, I'm reviewing another generator site today. Serendipity Generators, at nine.frenchboys.net, is a site you can find through the sidebar or Seventh Sanctum. Serendipity is similar to the Sanctum in that it is a conglomerate of different generators. However, Serendipity, unlike the Sanctum, is nowhere near as exhaustive. In fact, recently (like, as of 9/12/12), the site has been undergoing some changes that have caused the full list of generators to be unavailable.
Serendipity is probably best known for the French name generators, though they also have Japanese, Medieval (which is really more English) and Fantasty name generators as well. (Just a hint, the beginning of the word links to female generators, the end to male.)
Usefulness: 3 out of 5
Serendipity can be incredibly useful, in a limited scope. The naming generators are the best. They provide accurate sounding names that are not going to confuse your reader. The City and Stronghold generators provide a good chunk of text describing your possible locations. However, with some of the generators missing, this site is almost useless compared to the Sanctum. It eeks into a 3 solely because of the varied modern name generators it provides- a counterpoint to the Sanctum's primarily Fantasy ad SciFi namers.
Fun: 2 out of 5
Noooot really anything fun going on with the current selection. Not that that's a problem. All the generators do their job splendidly. It's just, nothing's funny, nothing's particularly interesting about the site. It's a generator site and that's that.
Hipster: 3 out of 5
This is a little hard to judge. Serendipity IS on the Sanctum's linklist. Therefore it cannot be completely obscure. Plus, the site explains that spammers took down the full generator list. This means that its got a following, for sure. However, because I have been unable to 1) google it (it is not present in the first page of a "serendipity" google search, which is partly due to an overused name) or 2) connect it to any big name websites (besides the Sanctum), I must assume that Serendipity is at least a little bit obscure. Writers may pass it around their inner circle, but it has a relatively small presence on the web.
Serendipity is probably best known for the French name generators, though they also have Japanese, Medieval (which is really more English) and Fantasty name generators as well. (Just a hint, the beginning of the word links to female generators, the end to male.)
Usefulness: 3 out of 5
Serendipity can be incredibly useful, in a limited scope. The naming generators are the best. They provide accurate sounding names that are not going to confuse your reader. The City and Stronghold generators provide a good chunk of text describing your possible locations. However, with some of the generators missing, this site is almost useless compared to the Sanctum. It eeks into a 3 solely because of the varied modern name generators it provides- a counterpoint to the Sanctum's primarily Fantasy ad SciFi namers.
Fun: 2 out of 5
Noooot really anything fun going on with the current selection. Not that that's a problem. All the generators do their job splendidly. It's just, nothing's funny, nothing's particularly interesting about the site. It's a generator site and that's that.
Hipster: 3 out of 5
This is a little hard to judge. Serendipity IS on the Sanctum's linklist. Therefore it cannot be completely obscure. Plus, the site explains that spammers took down the full generator list. This means that its got a following, for sure. However, because I have been unable to 1) google it (it is not present in the first page of a "serendipity" google search, which is partly due to an overused name) or 2) connect it to any big name websites (besides the Sanctum), I must assume that Serendipity is at least a little bit obscure. Writers may pass it around their inner circle, but it has a relatively small presence on the web.
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