This is a thread to post links to resources for writers.

If you have any more, feel free to post them here.

"tropes" for writing fiction:

tvtropes.org

Xenology - An Introduction to the Scientific Study of Extraterrestrial Life, Intelligence, and Civilization

http://www.xenology.info/Xeno.htm

Stardrives in Science Fiction:

http://www.projectrho.com/stardrv.txt

I have a packrat mind and my bookmarks show it. Below you will find a random mish-mash of links to various mythology, fantasy or SF resources which can be used for writing. Some of the things listed are to feed your mind with different ideas and some are ready to use utilities. Some may be more useful to you than others

Several of the items are physical books and some of the books are out of print. Check Ebay or Amazon... or if you live in a major metro area check out your local used book store.

If it is an on-line resource I have inserted the URL. 

Starting with Fantasy and Mythology:

The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature - Sumerian Myths, Proverbs, and stories  -- http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/catalogue.htm

This is Oxforn University's online repository for Sumerian writings / stories / poetry / prayers / and proverbs. If you are interested in mythology, ancient poetic forms, or proof that William Shatner learned to act by reading Sumerian poetry [Sumerian poetry tends to be repetative and"overact" to get the important points of the poem across to the listener], this is one of the places to find Sumerian writings from 4000+ years ago.

"A Dictionary of Angels including the fallen angels" by Gustave Davidson, The Free Press [paperback edition] 1971

The Fairy Mythology (1898) by Thomas Knightley -- http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/tfm/index.htm Sacred texts http://www.sacred-texts.com/ has some other interesting things on religion, magic and folklore...

Also consider looking at Andrew Lang's Fairy Books at Project Gutenburg.org
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Andrew+Lang+fairy+books

Science Fiction Reference Books:

Habitable Planets for Man
Written by Steven H. Dole  http://www.rand.org/pubs/commercial_books/CB179-1.html for the US Air Force in the early 1960s-- Free Download from RAND Corp  http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/commercial_books/2007/RAND_CB179-1.pdf  ---  This book is a condensation of everything that had been learned [at the time of publication (1961)] about the parameters that man needs for a planet to live on...

The information in this book is used as the foundation of many Table Top Sci-Fi Role Playing Game Rules such as GURPS Space by Steve Jackson Games and the original Traveller by Games Designer''s Workshop.

There is also available the "second Edition" which was slightly 'dumbed down" co-suthoted by Isaac Asimov entitled "Planets for Man"  http://www.rand.org/pubs/commercial_books/CB183-1.html

PDF Download: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/commercial_books/2007/RAND_CB183-1.pdf

"World Building"
by Steven L Gillet, Writers Digest Books 1996 I think it is out of print. Check eBay for Amazon.
A science book on planets and planetary systems written for writers to put the Science in their Science Fiction. Gillet is a geologist and a contributor to Analog SF Magazine.

"Aliens and Alien Societies"
by Stanley Schmidt, Writers Digest Books 1996 I think it is out of print. Check eBay for Amazon.
A science book on aliens written for writers to put the Science in their Science Fiction. Schmidt is a biologist and former editor of Analog SF Magazine.

SF Resources from Role Play Games

Building planets and their background the easy [and mostly scientific] way--

Game Designer's Workshop published in the early 1980's the first "Space" pencil and paper role playing game... and their rule books actually followed what was then known of planetary science. Drivethrurpg has low priced PDFs of the rule books which will halp you generate your own planets

"Traveller Book 3: Worlds and Adventures" http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=80179

"Traveller Book 6: Scouts" http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=80174

These books have the most straight forward of the world generation "rules" I have found and is pretty much scientifically accurate in its use of formulas [Scouts is a more in depth rules expansion of book 3]. It will save you time if you are looking to do "hard science fiction"

Traveller Book 7: Merchant Prince http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=80175&src=s_pi is good for Interstellar commerce simulation

Drivethrugrpg has a number of low price world building resources in PDF format:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?keywords=world+building&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=

Astroid Impact Simulator [a flash application] from Purdue University: http://www.purdue.edu/impactearth/

3D Star Mapping and simulation software
THE reference page on making 3D Star Maps is Project Rho http://www.projectrho.com/starmap.html created along ago by WINCHELL CHUNG whose real name is "Nyrath the nearly wise"  The sub page on mapping software is extremely helpful but be warned some of the links are out of date...

Read the reference work page: http://www.projectrho.com/smap10.html

take a look at the on-line version of accrete -- a solar system maker that was developed based upon Stephen Dole's work [he used a similar generator in the mid 1960s] http://www.znark.com/create/accrete.html Some of Dole's simulations appeared in Carl Sagan's Cosmos

if you know BASIC [programming language] here's a world creation program [i assume its qbasic compatible]  http://www.projectrho.com/world.bas

NBOS has a program named Astrosyntesis V3  that can generate stars, planets, and solars ystems as well as other things  http://www.nbos.com/products/astro/astro.htm

Cosmography of the Local Universe  -- http://irfu.cea.fr/cosmography [this is an actual cosmology project]

Online and Off Line Information Generators

Generators are a way to randomly create names, places, planets, words, and even plots [tho' the plots tend to be rather stilted].

On-line Generators

Chaotic Shiny --Generators are the links on the left  -- http://chaoticshiny.com/index.php

Seventh Sanctum -- One of the oldest online "generator" sites http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

donjon -- lots of fun stuff here including a planet generator http://donjon.bin.sh/

A list of links to various name generators / lists: http://www.rikkidonovan.com/?p=109

Name Lists

Ships, boats and planes and other things - http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/names/boats.htm

Millions of Names [yes, millions.] at Name-List -- http://www.name-list.net/

Ramdom Information Generator Programs

TableSmith - I've used this since probably version 2 [around 1998] and I personally have written a number to tables for it like a Sumerian word generator, A pulp title generator, a story starter, a  plot generator.  This is a low cost shareware application for PC. An iPad compatible version has been released.  http://www.mythosa.net/Main/TableSmith

InspirationPad Pro - A free generator from NBOS software http://www.nbos.com/products/ipad/ipad.htm not as much support as TableSmith but its a lot newer.

Namegame http://gamename.plasticwarriors.org/

A book about the Theory of Games
Remember the Cold War deterrant called "Mutually Assured Destruction"? "MAD" [as it was called] was the result of the application of "Game Theory".

The Compleat Strategyst
Being a Primer on the Theory of Games of Strategy - http://www.rand.org/pubs/commercial_books/CB113-1.html - "When The Compleat Strategyst was originally published in 1954, game theory was an esoteric and mysterious subject, familiar only to specialized researchers, particularly in the military. Its popularity today can be traced at least in part to this book, which popularized the subject for amateurs, professionals, and students throughout the world. It has been reprinted numerous times and has been translated into at least five languages, including Russian and Japanese. Now, more than fifty years after its first publication as a RAND research study, and to celebrate RAND’s 60th Anniversary, RAND is proud to bring this classic work back into print in paperback and digital formats."

--- and you can get it from free from the Publisher:

PDF DownLoad: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/commercial_books/2007/RAND_CB113-1.pdf

A summary of Simulism [The Matrix is real]

"The Matrix" was not the first story which proposed that the world / universe is a simulation. For more on the idea wander through http://simulism.org/Simulism_Home
See the links page here: http://simulism.org/Links for more on the background. Nick Bostrom's site http://www.simulation-argument.com/ has some interesting non-fiction articles on the subject

More Frebies from the RAND corporation

The RAND Corp Classics
The RAND Corporation has been advancing human knowledge for over 60 years. Certain RAND books and reports that stand out as classics are now available online in their entirety.  The RAND corporation is a quasi-governmental think tank founded in the 1950s by Douglas Aircraft. It is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA  Wikipedia history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAND_Corporation  Available free "classic" publications http://www.rand.org/pubs/classics.html

Plots
    
Propp's Morphology of the Folk Tale
Vladimir Propp studied the "architecture" of Russian Folk Tales.
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/plots/propp/propp.htm

Some general summaries of plots / plot types etc.
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/plots/plots.htm

"20 Master Plots (and how to build them)" by Ronals B. Tobias, Writer's Digest Books 1993 - There is a summary of this book on tvtropes.org

"Power Screenwriting,  The 12 Stages of StoryDevelopment" by Michael CVhase Walker, iFilm Publishing, 2002 - There is a summary of this book on tvtropes.org

This is a bit long so I'm going to stop here for the moment.

If there is interest or questions I'll dig in my bookmarks some more.

Just a couple things I use:             

Seventh Sanctum Name Generator

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

Oxford Dictionaries (has punctuation guides, super easy to use)

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/

The Purdue Owl (great free writing resource, lotsa stuff)

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

Books I keep on top of my desk:

Smithsonian Nature Guide, Stars and Planets

Secret Signs and Symbols by Adele Nozedar

The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures by Caitlin Matthews

The Writer's little helper by James V. Smith Jr.

Merriam-Webster's Guide to Punctuation and Style

Strunk and White, The Elements of Style

Books I keep under my desk:

7 Gazillion Manga books (graphic art comic books)

8 Gazillion Manga magazines (Otaku is my favorite)

Books I keep on the sides of my desk:

99 Gazillion Art books on every possible medium/subject there is.

Orson Scott Card's website.

http://hatrack.com/

He has a whole section on writing lessons. Very worthwile reading.