PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO NaNoWriMo

thestructurewithprose.Forthisyou
mightuse a spreadsheet,stickynotes
onthe wall,Trello– or a dedicated
toolsuchasWavemaker(wavemaker.
co.uk).Thisusefulwriter’stoolruns
ina browserandhasa three-act
templatebuiltin,soallyouneedtodo
isfillintheblanksas yougo.How
muchdetailyougointoisuptoyou:
youcan useittoholdan outlineof
yourstory,ortype your actualnovel
rightintoitsfields.It’shappywith
either,andtheresults canbebacked
uptoGoogleDrive.
Ifyourthoughtsaren’tyet
sufficiently structuredtoorganise
themintothreeacts,takea lookat
Scapple (pcpro.link/ 326 scapple).
Thislooksandworkslikea regular
mind-mappingtool,allowingyouto
drawoutsub-thoughtsfrombig
ideas,anddragthemarounduntil
theymakesense. Youcanthenexport
thecompletedmapasanOPML file
andimportitintoScrivener(our
writingtoolofchoice,as
we’lldiscuss below).
Eachnodeon
themap

becomesa documentinyourbinder,

soyoudon’thavetoworryabout

losingtrackofyourbright sparks.

Manystoriesonly work if they’re

underpinnedbya logical(and

extensive)timeline.Ifyoucan’tkeep

thisorganised in yourheadoron

scrapsof paper,tryAeonTimeline

(aeontimeline.com).Youcanuseitto

plotoutkeyeventsinyourstoryand

thelivesofyourcharacters,searchfor

events,groupeventsby locationor

character, make surecharacters

aren’tintwolocations at

once,andmore.

TOPLEFTScaple

simplifiesthe

processof

organisingidea

Writingsoftware

Scrivener(pcpro.link/ 326 scrivener),

fromthesamedeveloperasScapple,

countsa lotofprofessionalauthors

amongitsuserbase(seepcpro.link/

326 testimonials),and it’snothardto

seewhy.Yourbook-in-progresstakes

theformofa binder,andeachchapter

orsection is an individualdocument

insideit.Therearemultiplewaysof

viewingthosedocuments:youcan

navigatethemonebyone,arrange

(andrearrange)themona cork

board,or stringthemalltogetherin

anend-to-endviewof your novel.

Withcolour coding,

tagging,word-count

trackingandplenty

ofspacefornotes,it

putseverythingyou

needinoneplace

notonly fordoing

yourwriting, but

alsofordeveloping

plansandkeeping

everythingorganised.

Evenbetter,

Scrivenerisn’tsolely

aboutthecreativepart

oftheprocess.Ithas

anextensivesetof

export options,

includingePuband

Mobipocket,which

makesiteasytouploadyour workto

Amazon’sKindleDirectPublishing

platform,andpromoteandsellitin

ebookformat.Ifyouwanttodothis,

ourrecommendationistoexportas

ePubandprocessyourbookin Kindle

Previewer(pcpro.link/ 326 previewer)

beforeuploadingatkdp.amazon.com.

Scriveneris availableforWindows

andmacOS(£47each,orbothfor£75)

andiOS/iPadOS(£18).

Ifyouprefertoworkinthe cloud,

Livingwriter(livingwriter.com) is a

subscriptionservicethatcosts$96a

yearor$9.99permonth,andusesa

similardocument andbindermodel

asScrivener,allowing youtoskip

betweenyourvarioussections

asideascometo you.Yourworkis

savedonAmazon’sserversevery

tenminutes so,shoulddisaster strike,

youshouldn’tlosemanyofyour

finely craftedgems.

LEFTAeonTimline

focusesonkeepping

yourstory’stim

framelogical

Thesecrettowriting

somethingworth

readingistoplaneach

stageofthestory

ABOVEScrivener

keepsthedistint

partsofyournoel

logicallyorganied