31 Days to Surviving NaNoWriMo - Finding Space To Plan
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Like I mentioned yesterday, planning is an integral part to coming out of November with your sanity still intact.
Here are some different methods you can use to help plan (and later write):
- Good old-fashioned paper and pen. Whether you want a list, a web, or an outline, paper's up to the job. Another plus is that you can literally take it anywhere, so if inspiration strikes in the middle of an elevator, you can be sure to write your ideas down.
- A word processor, such as Microsoft Word or Open Office Writer. If you want to use a computer, but don't have internet access, this is a good option for you. Word processors are simple to use, and you have full rein to edit your ideas.
- Online writing software. This is what I personally use for writing and planning. I use Yarny, and I LOVE it. It's free, it saves automatically (and if you do something dumb, like accidentally delete everything like I did, you can go back to how it was at a specific time to recover it!), and it has a bunch of categorization options. There are specific places to input information for different characters, places, and things. You can add tags to your writing. You can write in different snippets if you want to keep things separate (I like to use snippets to separate chapters). Plus, you can use it for multiple novels. I'd also recommend Lit Lift. There are several other options available (everyone's best pal Google can help hook you up with some others).
2 comments
Thanks for the Yarny rec! I've been using Scrivener but it's not very conducive to my writing style. I'm going to try out Yarny.
ReplyDeleteScrivener was the one I couldn't remember. I kept wanting to say Scribbulous, but knew that wasn't right :)
DeleteI do LOVE LOVE LOVE Yarny though. I can't imagine using anything else.
Hi!
I appreciate you taking the time to comment. I read and respond to each and every one. Thank you so much!