Why Write with yWriter

A few posts back I mentioned my intent to start plotting my next novel. Being the non-plotter than I am, I devised a somewhat complicated albeit colorful method for figuring out all the 'what happens next' of my manuscript.

Then I got some wonderful comments from all of you. You people are fabulous!

I was reminded to check into Scrivener (something I had looked at previously but dismissed in a wash of pantsing). So I decided to check it out again. One thing can be said for Scrivener...it's pretty. All the fancy buttons and note cards that look like real note cards on the screen. The geek in my cheered. But I couldn't pull the trigger.

Forty dollars is not a crazy price to pay for some software that has the potential to make my writing life vastly improved. I don't have anything against paying for software either. Just like writers, programmers gotta pay the bills, too. But here's my thing. If I buy the software and then don't use it, it will haunt me. Spending money. Fine. Wasting money. The epicest* of all fails.

So then I found this fancy website. www.alternativeto.net.  It's amaze-balls. You can type in any program you're interested in and it tells you where to find free-ware versions. Please note that freeware doesn't mean someone copied the software and is now pirating it. Freeware is legitimate software created by folks who just like to share stuff with people. Think of it as a free ebook. Happy dance!

On this fabulous new website I found yWriter**. This little gem was created by a programmer who is also a novelist. So he gets what is really needed and what's just something flashy that will become a distraction.

I started outlining my next book and so far I love it. I can input scenes with as much or little detail as I want. Then put them into chapters and move them around as I like. I can type the scene right into the software and then easily save to my computer or a thumb drive.

My favorite feature so far is the timeline. I can tell the program how many words the whole project should be and then input the date I expect to complete the first draft (or second, or third, your choice). The system then tells me how many words I need to write every day. If I don't hit that goal, the timeline automatically adjust to spread the extra words across my remaining days.

It also has some other cool features. One I'll need to play with is the synopsis feature. Using the general notes you enter for each scene, the program compiles them into a single document. Obviously, you'd never send this off to an agent as it is. But for those of us who hate writing these, it's a great place to start.

I'll let you know if I continue to use the software as the project continues. For now I'm continuing to plod through the plotting process.

*epicest is not a real word. However, it should be.
**yWriter is only for PCs operating on a Windows or Linux system. The programmer actually recommends you use Scrivener if you have a Mac.

My Plotting Conversion

If you read my last blog you know why I've decided to plot my next book. Hot, scary mess are the words that come to mind. But even scarier is the thought of doing a complete 180 to become one of those writers with wonderful notebooks filled with detailed outlines.

Not to say anything bad about those writers. Secretely I wish I could be one of them. But whenever I try to plot that way I end up about three chapters in before losing steam. So I started to wonder if there's a happy mid-point where I can live.

I need a bit more structure to my plot but without all the hoops.
So here's my plan:

First I need to make a list of all the things I want to happen. This is going to be really rough. Things like Character A meets Character B at track meet. These will be the clear action points of the story. All of these go on a sticky note in a single color.

Once that is done, I'll determine what new information will be revealed during this action. Sticking with our example, Character B is really a talking pig in disguise.* All these new pieces of information go on a new color of sticky note.

Next, I want to plot out my character's emotional states because my particular story is very driven by the extreme emotions of being a teen. So in this case I would write Character A is dissapointed and disgusted. And, you guessed it, these go on a new sticky note.

I'll have other colors to represent the goal of the scene, the tension/conflict, any foreshadowing, etc. You get the idea.

Now that I have all my pretty notes I will commandeer a blank wall somewhere in my house and get to sticking.

The nice thing about sticky notes is that you can move the order around however you want. For example, let's say I don't want the reader to know Character B is a pig until later in the story. Easy! I just move the sticky note to the new action. Plus, now I know I need to cut the track scene or I need to add something to it. 

So the real question is: will this work? Unfortunately the answer is: I don't know...maybe. I'm going to give it a try and I'll let you know. I'll try to take some pictures as I go so you can see my madness in all its glory.

If you're looking for a new plotting technique, why not give this a try and then let me know how it works for you. Do you have another technique for the outline weary? I'd love to hear about it. Now I'm off to the office supply store.



* I want to be clear that this is not my story. Although teenage boys are often confused for talking pigs, so maybe it is my story.

A Pantster's Tale

So now that I am nearing the end of revisions (quietly doing the happy dance) it's time to start really thinking about book 2. I know what the book is about and I have tons of scribbled notes, but that's not what I'm talking about. It's time to decide how I'm going to write this book.

With my current MS I wrote with wild abandon, never knowing what scene was coming next or what crazy capers my characters would get into. Seriously, I didn't even know how I wanted the thing to end. Unfortunately, I got about halfway through and ran into a serious block.

I didn't know what to write next!

I wrote a lovely start to a book that didn't seem to be going anywhere. After that I did a very (very) rough sketch for the rest of the book and that helped to guide me home. By rough sketch I mean I wrote one line for every scene with random extra details peppered in for fun. I ended up only using about half of those scenes.

The result was a rough draft I wouldn't show my dog (If I had a dog). I had way too many characters and plot holes you could drive a semi through. Let me be perfectly clear: it was a hot mess.

This has led to a lot of revisions on my part. I slashed around 20,000 words and had to re-write entire chapters. I guess this was about half revision, half scrap and start over.

I should have known better than to write this way, but when the idea hit I didn't stop to think about it. I just wrote. Which is fine. However, I should have used a break somewhere to map some things out.

In my 'this is how I pay the bills' world I'm forced to be analytical. While marketing sounds like a very dreamy, creative type job it's really only about 10% creative with the rest of the time spent pouring over numbers of all kinds to see if your creative works. If it works in marketing it just might work in writing, right?

So for book number dos I plan to do things a little different. I'm going to road map my book and we'll see how it goes. It could be an absolute failure. It could be the key to writing a book without the need to write half of it over again. Just like when reading my favorite books, the mystery of what will come is the best part.

Next time I'll talk about how I intend to make the switch to plotting.

So what about you? Are you a plotter? Do you write as you go? Are you somewhere inbetween? Have you ever switched styles and how did it go? I'd love to hear your tales.