PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

Novlr(novlr.org)isanother
cloud-basedsubscription,costing
$100peryearor$10permonth.Like
Scrivener,itoffersasidebarviewfor
organisingchapters,andalsoincludes
in-appwritingcourses,extensive
statsandtheoptiontosetdailyor
monthlytargets– useful if you’re
tryingtoputdowna minimumword
counteveryday.Itworksbothoffline
andonlineandcansyncyour workto
GoogleDrive or Dropbox.
Ifyou’rea Linuxuser,checkout
QuollWriter(quollwriter.com):
version3 is currentlyin betaand
workson Debiansystems(including
Ubuntu)as wellasWindowsand
macOS.Inuse,it’snotdissimilarto
theother optionshere, witha sidebar
fororganisingthedocuments that
comprisethevariouspartsofyour
novel,plusspecificsectionsfor
characterandlocationnotes,
researchandmore.It’salsofree,
althoughdonationsarewelcome.
Manuskript(pcpro.link/
326 manuskrip),also forLinux,is
anotherbinder-basedtool,with
dedicated sectionsforoutlining,
plotting,characterdevelopment
soon.Youcanaddsummaries,sta s
labelsandnotes,andthere’sa
built-intemplatefor50,000-word
novels,whichmakesitanideal
jumpingoffpointforNaNoWriMo.

Agoodkeyboard
AccordingtoWolframAlpha,the
averageEnglish wordis5.1charact s
long,soifyou’reaiming to bringin
yournovelatexactly50,000words,
you’llbehittingaround 320 ,000 s
overthe month, allowingforspaces
andpunctuation.A decentkeyboa
isthereforea worthwhileinvest t.
Welikemechanicalkeyboards,
findingtheclatterofwell-built,
heavy-duty keys quite a motivator;
someusers feelthatthemoredefinie
actionhelpsthemtypebetter,too.
Personally,I switchbetweentwo
Matiasmechanicalkeyboards:the
TactilePro4 andQuietPro.Thelat r,
asitsnamesuggests,isbettersuited

toa sharedworkspace,whilethe

noisier,clickierTactilePro4 resides

ina privateroom(pcpro.link/

326 matias).Mechanicalkeyboards

generally aren’tcheap,soit’s worth

investigatingthedifferent mechanics

beforesplashingout.A varietyofkey

typesareavailablefromvarious

manufacturers,withdifferenttactile,

actuation,operating andrestpoints,

eachofwhichinfluencestheamount

ofpressureyou needtoapply,the

soundofthe keyboardwheninuse

andhowitfeels.

DasKeyboard hasanexcellent

guidetokeyboardmechanicsat

pcpro.link/ 326 keyboards; if you

searchYouTubefor“mechanical

keyboardswitches”,you’llfindvideos

demonstratingnumerousoptions.A

greatstartingpointisa videoentitled

“Whichkeyswitchshould youget?”

atpcpro.link/ 326 clicky.

Helpfulresources

Asidefrompanning,another

commonfacorinsuccessfulnvels

isfresh andengagingprose. Ifou

wantto improveyourownwriing,

startwithLoe theVery(losetevery.

com. ver-sng e wor vry n

yourwritingislazyandboring:why

saysomethig is veryusefulwen

youcouldlaelitessential? Wy is

a charactervryconfused,whn

perplexed,bffledorbewilderd

wouldbetterdescribetheir

emma ybeveryenhusastc

aboutyourbokwhenyou’re ore

likelyferven, exuberantorevn

fanatical?Thiswebsitehelpsyu

droptheverlazy“very” fromour

writing to prducemorelivelyand

expressiversults.

Don’tsto there,toug. Yur

readerswillrobablybecomig to

yourbookfoentertainment ad

relaxation;dn’tconfusethe

withjargon henyoucould

useplainEnlish.Most

publicationsandmanypublishers

developextensive styleguidesto

makesuretheworktheirwritersput

outflowswell;thePCProstyleguide,

forexample,runsto 41 pagesand

morethan3,500rules.If youwant

toadopta guideforyourown

writing,TheGuardianhashelpfully

putits guideonlineatpcpro.link/

326 guardian. Alternatively,youcan

perusetheBBCstyleguideatpcpro.

link/ 326 bbc, andtheteambehind

gov.ukhasa comprehensivestyle

guideatpcpro.link/ 326 gov.

TheUniversityofOxford offers

excellent guidanceon punctuation,

spellingandgrammarinoneofits

styleguides(ithasmorethanone)at

pcpro.link/ 326 oxford, alongwith

advice on “lessvsfewer”, “mevsI”,

differencesbetweenUKandUS

spellings andmore.Alsocheckthelist

ofalternative“human”words at

pp .nn 66 mmaannoorrss,

migt helpyoumake

yourwritingflow

mornaturally.

Oa related

note,Microsoft’s

styleguidehasa

hany pageon

remvingbias

fromyourwork

atpcro.link/

326 nobias, andit’s

well orthclicking

throghthe sidebarfogeneral

avie on captasaio,

gra marandpunctuaion

(espciallyapostrophe,

whichcaninstantlysearate

ABOVELEFT

Livingwriterlets

youorganiseyour

workinabrowser

ABOVEAdecent

keyboardisvitalif

you’llbewriting

thousandsofwords