Software To Support Writing My New Novel

The mechanics of writing isn't something I've ever bothered much about. At times the technology has been irritating. Do you remember when Microsoft Word used to fall over and die when a file became large, or when PDAs and hand-held computers used to have file size limits? I certainly do and it was a pain, but I coped and it wasn't so bad. It is probably because of the technical inadequacies of older software (things like Word's 'master document' features being so flaky, the inability to do a search or 'find and replace' easily across multiple files, etc.) that I've learned to write book-sized documents in a single, linear lump - keeping the plan in my head rather than in software. It has meant that I tend to do a lot of planning up-front and have a pretty clear idea of how the whole book unfolds before I start writing. Once I start, I can start at the beginning and keep writing to the end.

Yet, lately, I've been tempted by reviews of software that purports to support writers, things like Scrivener (Apple Macs only) which is raved about by one and all. These tools let you plot, write research notes, structure the book, describe characters, include arbitrary background materials, images and so on, track progress, produce final copy, and much, much more, all within a single, integrated environment. It's the kind of thing I could really have used when I was at work, writing ginormous proposals, consultancy reports, and software designs. But would it really help me with writing a book?

To find out, I downloaded yWriter, a free writing tool with many of the features of Scrivener that was developed by Australian author and programmer, Simon Haynes. I've just started writing a new novel (Timesplash!) so it seemed like a good time to try it.

I'm not going to review yWriter (sorry) except to say it did everything it promised to, did it well, and played nicely with all my other software. My only quibble is with the user interface which was a bit non-standard in places - but then, as a usability specialist, I always find fault with user interfaces. So, my congratulations to Simon for a well-made application. If you want novel-writing software, you should definitely try it out.

Having said all that, I didn't get along with it at all. yWriter (and, by extension, Scrivener and all the others) was way too structured for my taste. I found myself putting so much effort into the structuring, it was keeping me from the writing. Maybe it's because I've become so used to working it all out in my head - for example, knowing who my characters are, what motivates them, where they're headed and why, etc. - that explicitly describing it feels like a burden, an unnecessary overhead.

But the experience of using yWriter did make me think about just what tools I do use and do need to get a novel written. Essentially, it comes down to this:

A good word-processor. This must cope with very large files, allow me to navigate around the book using a navigation panel that shows any headings I've used (typically just chapter headings), give me control over formatting through the definition of character, paragraph, page and section styles, and support check-as-you-go spell-checking. It must also do file format conversions, supporting at least .DOC, .RTF, .ODT, and .PDF (different publishers require different file formats and I must also have the ability to save in formats that will last for decades to come - I've lost work in the past because the format it was written in became unreadable after fifteen years!) It must also allow me to set up templates for different kinds of manuscript. I use sWriter from OpenOffice.org - which is not only a good word-processor but also free.

A good browser. I do a lot of research on they fly while I'm writing. I like to have my facts straight. So I tend to check things online all the time (people's biographical details, town layouts, historical facts, foreign words, science and technology, etc.) I use Firefox, which is free, fast, tabbed (I often have five or ten different pages open at the same time), and handles bookmaring well (I set up bookmark folders for the various projects I'm working on to keep all my research handy.)

A spreadsheet. This doesn't have to be fancy. I only use it for keeping track of my progress. I have got into the habit lately of giving myself a words-per-day target. For my new novel, the target is 1,000 words per day - and I'm already slipping (which is OK - there tends to be far more research going on in the early stages of a book than in the later stages.) When I worked, I used to run projects a lot so I like to see where I am against my plan. For a novel, that's just columns for plan, actual, to go, forecast and what I'll need to achieve to catch up - plus a nice chart to make me feel good about progress. For this I use sCalc from OpenOffice.org - which is overkill but its the spreadsheet I use all the time these days.

As for notes about characters and such, I put a table at the end of my novel with the names of characters and places and a one-sentence description of each - just to remind myself (mostly of the names of minor characters and settings). Being a sci-fi writer, I also include the names of invented technologies and any neologisms I've come up with. I sort the table alphabetically and it does me just fine. I give it the heading 'Glossary' so I can quickly jump to it from the nav panel.

The plot is typically done on paper, with a pencil, before I ever start typing. Nothing else is flexible enough (and, yes, I've tried 'mind-mapping' software.) For the new novel, I've typed in some plot notes at the top of each chapter but I'm finding I don't use them. Once the book is plotted, I pretty much know it.

So no purpose-built software for me - I just don't work that way - but I do require quite a bit of software support for my writing. In fact, I also like some hardware support. I like to have a very small, very light computer to carry around with me when I'm away from my home office. For this I use the Asus EeePC running the same OpenOffice.org software and Firefox browser I use on my desktop.