The Writer’s Ultimate List of Online Resources for Mind and Craft

Note: this post is updated whenever I find something to add.

Hello all! Today I have a massive list of resources for the young Christian writer. Most of the time, I am the type of girl to have five backup plans and a overstuffed folder full of bookmarks and resources — and if you’re like me, I hope this writer resource list will be helpful to you. If there’s any great resources I’ve missed, let me know in the comments.

Now, here they are, in no particular order, my top resources for growing in craft, soul, and critical thinking. Order is simply most recently added at the top. (Note: not all of these are Christian, and I do not necessarily agree with every view presented. However, there’s nothing like a little critical thinking and a little understanding of others’s viewpoints to better address real-life issues in one’s writing. Plus, a knowledge of theology and philosophy is something every writer should cultivate no matter what they write, as they are fundamental to the human experience.)

How I Write Podcast – a guy just interviews authors, poets, and songwriters, asking them about their writing process and picking their brain for tips and tricks. In an interview with John Lennox, he said he was a Christian himself, though his guests often aren’t – so beware language and the occasional rude remark.

The Collision – culture articles and movie reviews. I especially appreciate the detail of their movie reviews, addressing not only the content but also the goods and bads of the actual execution and story. They just don’t review secular stuff either, they also review Christian shows and movies, and have a pretty comprehensive selection, not just hitting the big blockbusters. It’s not afraid to be scathing and a little sarcastic when necessary as well.

Allie Beth Stuckey — a podcaster who speaks on politics, Christianity, culture, education, gender, and more. Interesting conversations, relevant news, and always brought back to what Scripture says.

The Story Fortress — a blog run by a fellow Ydubber and her cousin, featuring all sorts of useful articles on storycraft and how popular entertainment demonstrates, or fails to demonstrate, the good use of various techniques. I found this very interesting and helpful myself, as I always like having an example of how a certain concept is pulled off in fiction to understand it myself.

The Daily Wire — for Christian and conservative insight on news, politics, culture, and social issues. A writer needs to be able to think critically and speak eloquently on whatever topics he or she plans to address. Even if you’re writing fantasy or something that has nothing to do with the modern-day world, you need to have your soul and your mind in the right place, and every issue we see today stems from principle issues that have been around for millennia. In a similar vein to this is PragerU, Mike Rowe’s The Way I Heard It (with more of a focus on culture and work ethic) and Tim Pool’s Timcast (funny and thought-provoking, but not always clean.)

Canon Plus — an educational resources for writers, bookworms, and students of all kinds. Features podcasts and material from N.D. Wilson, and discussions of culture, social issues, and classic literature from Douglas Wilson and others.

Also available for free on YouTube are Stories are Soul Food and Help Help We’re Being Repressed, podcasts run by N.D. Wilson and Brian Kohl, and N.D. Wilson’s daughters, respectively. They do excellent story analysis and provide good book reviews. SASF has also been recently critiquing fan-submitted pitches.

Author K.M. Weiland’s Helping Writers Become Authors — articles, videos, and YouTube videos on the writing craft, detailed analysis of everything from archetype to story structure, concise writing and helpful examples, a great go-to resource for anything and everything storycraft.

Story Warren — a resource from S.D. Smith for parents, homeschoolers, and bookworms of all ages with book reviews, articles on current topics in the entertainment world, and short stories. The Green Writer course available for a fee.

Story Embers — blog, forums, yearly summits, and a podcast tackling countless topics in Christian storytelling, helpful pdf resources, detailed craft articles from Josiah DeGraaf, Daeus Lamb, Hope Ann, Sarah Baran, and several other skilled professionals.

Kingdom Pen — craft articles, short story submissions, and community forums for Christian teen writers.

The Young Writer — blog, virtual summits, the Young Writer’s Workshop, the Author Conservatory, programs and resources for teen and young adult Christian writers of both fiction and nonfiction run by Brett Harris and Jacquelle Crowe Ferris, teaching and lessons from the likes of S.D. Smith, Bryan Davis, Anna Rose Johnson, Kara Swanson, Steve Laube, and more! (I’m a part of the Young Writer’s Workshop, and it’s fantastic. I have grown massively in my time there. There’s a path called Academic for high school credit.) A great place for beginning writers is also Jonathan Rogers’ courses on Compass Classroom, which lay a lot of groundwork and introduce you to concepts such as show-don’t-tell and Chekov’s Gun.

Go Teen Writers — books, articles, and resources from Jill Williamson, Shannon Dittenmore, and Stephanie Morrill.

BookFox — useful blog articles for writers. Not Christian and not always clean, but helpful. Cannot speak toward courses or other resources.

Jerry B. Jenkins Blog — craft articles and pdf resources, the occasional free video resource with email-sign up.

The Christian Writers Institute — conferences, articles, courses, podcast, market guide, owned by Steve Laube.

The Company — articles, critique groups, magazine, and courses for Christian writers of all ages, formerly the School of Kingdom Writers, growing and developing further. Critque groups helpful and honest, short story contests enjoyable and unique.

American Christian Fiction Writers — chapters across the country, conferences, contests, awards, blog, courses, and groups. Open to ages 16 and up.

Author Media — the ultimate resource for marketing, blogging, publishing, and navigating the industry. Articles, podcast, and conferences, founded by Thomas Umstattd Jr. Use personally. Very helpful.

The Rebelution — Brett and Alex Harris’s online publication encouraging teens to do hard things and grow in Christ. Articles, podcast, and videos on a wide variety of topics. Fantastic resource.

Abbie Emmons — blog articles and videos on writing craft. Not always language-free, but easy to understand, good tips, and helpful examples drawn from popular entertainment.

Cooper Stuff Podcast — commentary on media and culture from John Cooper, lead singer of Skillet, sometimes featuring guest speakers such as Charlie Kirk.

The Rabbit Room — articles, podcasts, and conferences for Christian artists, musicians, and storytellers, founded by Andrew Peterson.

Wretched — a YouTube channel run by Todd Friel discussing church culture, politics, and theology. Funny, and frankly shocking. Some of the stuff going on… yikes. In a similar vein are the other YouTube channels Ryan Pauly and Red Pen Logic with Mr. B. There are also similarly interesting, but less Christianity-oriented, conversations on Mike Rowe’s podcast.

FightWrite — blog articles, videos, podcasts, and classes on writing fight scenes. Featuring everything from info about wounds to techniques to weapons to psychological effects. (Do use discretion, as such things could be disturbing.) For similar articles on weaponry, historical warfare, and related topics, see Author Rebecca Shedd’s blog. For a useful guide on writing horses and horse-related things, check out Equine on the Mind.

A good writer is a good reader, and part of being a good reader involves discernment. There’s a whole lot of garbage out there — both in terms of poorly done stories that waste your time, or evil inappropriate content that will sully your mind. Unfortunately, there’s not some main hub for reviews on every single piece of fiction or film out there, but a combination of PluggedIn, Common Sense Media, Kids-In-Mind, Lorehaven Library, WorthItOrWoke, and Geeks Under Grace can usually help you find out exactly what’s in that book or movie you’re curious about. Sarah Mackenzie’s Read-Aloud-Revival website has some great booklists as well.

Finally, my friends, learn. Live abundantly. Study history, logic, and rhetoric. Examine human nature, explore philosophy. Learn to think critically, and read widely. Consume stories like food. There is no article site than can tell you everything you could ever want to know about writing a book, and there is no YouTube personality out there whom you should strive to be exactly like. Develop your own opinions and defend them, and be willing to be proven wrong. Hold everything up to Biblical Truth. And of course, write. There is no substitute for actual practice. But I hope that perhaps investigating some of these sources will give you handy tips and help you cultivate an abundant mindset. For further reading on this topic, check out Douglas Wilson’s Wordsmithy. For assorted free classes on everything from literature to religion to philosophy, Hillsdale has online material and podcasts, available to do at your own pace at any time and laid out very well. Additionally, if you want some physical resources, check out Chuck Colson’s How Now Shall We Live, the writings and essays of Lewis, Tolkien, and other masters of the craft, Just Do Something, and Ryken’s The Christian Imagination. All of these were instrumental and thought-provoking in helping me discover my place and how I can work for God’s glory as an author and writer.

And of course, the ultimate resource is the Bible. Be in God’s Word daily. It will serve you better than anything listed above.

That’s all for today, folks. Let me know if there are any great resources I should check out or add to this list! Have a wonderful day, and adios!

Cover image by wayhomestudio on Freepik