When I was first interviewing about my first book, I often talked about how I used to write while I was on the subway during my commute. This was possible because I started writing on my phone, a practice that many people I've met would balk at, but truly "created" time in my day to write, especially when I was working. The only rule: write as you have a thought and don't you dare tell yourself you'll "remember it later." You never will. Write, if you can, at the moment that you are thinking, and don't stop until you are done thinking. The resulting draft you write may be absolutely ugly. But through revision and patience, I turned most of those drafts into the poems that comprised my first collection. Simplenote is a cloud-based notes app that syncs across all my devices. I switched over to it after the Notes app on my phone completely lost a draft I had written. It has synced things very well since I've been using it—there's even a history feature that allows you to see different drafts that have been saved over time.
The second tool, Scrivener, was introduced to me by screenwriters and novelists and generally people who write things that require order. However, I've found it to be a very useful tool in just organizing my myriad notes and transcriptions. I still use InDesign to finalize my book manuscripts (really idiosyncratic to me), but it's so easy to move things around in this app, set chapters, etc, that it's been totally worth the money it initially cost.
I adore Notion, because it allows me to catalog all my random thoughts and get to a place of order. It's also a really great, free sub tracker.
I also use a private twitter that has 0 followers to start some drafts. I realized awhile ago that because I spend so much time on Twitter, maybe I should work with my technology rather than against it and transform that time into writing time! I love this interview that also talks about this strategy: https://www.shondaland.com/inspire/books/a34277128/rumaan-alam-leave-the-world-behind-interview/.
Pinterest and Spotify have done wonders for my prose writing! The process of making playlists and moodboards is so helpful in figuring out the mood of a piece, bringing ideas/visuals into conversation with each other & hashing out various configurations. It really helps crystallise a vague idea into something more vivid and exciting.
Microsoft word was very annoying + laggy. Scrivener lets me work non-linearly and move around scenes. Plus I love having two docs open side by side (say when rewriting) and Scrivener makes that incredibly easy.
Not an app, but tool-esque: my printer (and some fun color pens). I write on my computer because I type faster than I write by hand, but nothing beats editing a hard copy. It creates a medium-based separation between the writing and the editing that I've found helpful for self-editing.
I've actually stuck a piece of lined paper onto the fridge and numbered each row. Whenever I write a new poem, I write the title down there! 33 rows for 33 poems. I've noticed I really like visual/tangible rewards of writing, which is missing when I write on my computer!
The site blocker SelfControl has helped me stay on track during my precious writing time! I no longer escape down distraction hatches, instead sitting with problems that arise on the page. I've gotten in a good habit of setting the site-blocking timer the moment I sit down to write.
I love this question because I am an evangelist for the Ulysses writing program! It’s a subscription service but I honestly like paying for it because the makers so deserve it. It’s beautiful, seamless, and is the only program I’ve ever used that makes organizing fragmentary or non-chronological work convenient and painless.
Post-Its!! I'm not kidding, right now I have a bunch of post-its on the wall behind my desk. One idea & illustration per post-it, a la design thinking. I've got each of my characters, what they want and what they're afraid of, what my big themes are, the way I want readers to feel, and some encouragement and ideas of things to do when I get stuck. Post-its are cheap, plentiful, easy to move around.
For poetry and whenever I’m writing shorter prose scenes I’ve liked Ommwriter! It’s a very minimalist/distraction free writing experience and the typing sounds are incredibly satisfying!
That said, on the more technical side, I used Trello's Kanban boards (designed for engineers) to plot my first 'proper' book: having everything in one place, from plot points to indicative character images, helped me create something more cohesive than I'd ever managed before.
For me nothing has had a bigger impact than buying a cheap-ass fountain pen. I wrote all my books by hand, holding my ballpoints too tightly and finding myself in agony from tendonitis/RSI. It's been legitimately transformative.
zettlr + the digital garden format -- being able to hyperlink files and other notes to each other so I can stitch networks of thoughts together. I'm terrible at writing linearly so this is a way of overcoming that, and forcing me to review what I've written previously. Zettlr creates notes in markdown that are taggable and linkable, and those can be integrated super quickly into a basic website where I can follow a map of related notes & threads. Not sure how useful it would be for longer pieces of fiction, but I've really liked it for short essays, etc
I really like Bear (a note-taking app like Evernote and Simplenote) for jotting down random ideas, observations, quotes, etc. It syncs across all your devices so it's easy to add things to it on the go.
Great question! I recently used Ink & Inky–a scripting language typically used for narrative video games (https://www.inklestudios.com/ink/). I drafted a new section of my project in the scripting language, and it gave me a new perspective on how to approach the material. A lot of people have told me Scrivener is powerful and useful, but I haven't figured out how to leverage it.
For tools, I am now using a Keychron K2 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard and it has made a world of difference for carpal tunnel pain. Only downside is that it is a bit loud, but typing isn't so painful anymore.
Two quick answers: Simplenote and Scrivener.
When I was first interviewing about my first book, I often talked about how I used to write while I was on the subway during my commute. This was possible because I started writing on my phone, a practice that many people I've met would balk at, but truly "created" time in my day to write, especially when I was working. The only rule: write as you have a thought and don't you dare tell yourself you'll "remember it later." You never will. Write, if you can, at the moment that you are thinking, and don't stop until you are done thinking. The resulting draft you write may be absolutely ugly. But through revision and patience, I turned most of those drafts into the poems that comprised my first collection. Simplenote is a cloud-based notes app that syncs across all my devices. I switched over to it after the Notes app on my phone completely lost a draft I had written. It has synced things very well since I've been using it—there's even a history feature that allows you to see different drafts that have been saved over time.
The second tool, Scrivener, was introduced to me by screenwriters and novelists and generally people who write things that require order. However, I've found it to be a very useful tool in just organizing my myriad notes and transcriptions. I still use InDesign to finalize my book manuscripts (really idiosyncratic to me), but it's so easy to move things around in this app, set chapters, etc, that it's been totally worth the money it initially cost.
I adore Notion, because it allows me to catalog all my random thoughts and get to a place of order. It's also a really great, free sub tracker.
I also use a private twitter that has 0 followers to start some drafts. I realized awhile ago that because I spend so much time on Twitter, maybe I should work with my technology rather than against it and transform that time into writing time! I love this interview that also talks about this strategy: https://www.shondaland.com/inspire/books/a34277128/rumaan-alam-leave-the-world-behind-interview/.
Pinterest and Spotify have done wonders for my prose writing! The process of making playlists and moodboards is so helpful in figuring out the mood of a piece, bringing ideas/visuals into conversation with each other & hashing out various configurations. It really helps crystallise a vague idea into something more vivid and exciting.
SCRIVENER!!!
Microsoft word was very annoying + laggy. Scrivener lets me work non-linearly and move around scenes. Plus I love having two docs open side by side (say when rewriting) and Scrivener makes that incredibly easy.
It's an absolute lifesaver!
Not an app, but tool-esque: my printer (and some fun color pens). I write on my computer because I type faster than I write by hand, but nothing beats editing a hard copy. It creates a medium-based separation between the writing and the editing that I've found helpful for self-editing.
I've actually stuck a piece of lined paper onto the fridge and numbered each row. Whenever I write a new poem, I write the title down there! 33 rows for 33 poems. I've noticed I really like visual/tangible rewards of writing, which is missing when I write on my computer!
The site blocker SelfControl has helped me stay on track during my precious writing time! I no longer escape down distraction hatches, instead sitting with problems that arise on the page. I've gotten in a good habit of setting the site-blocking timer the moment I sit down to write.
I love this question because I am an evangelist for the Ulysses writing program! It’s a subscription service but I honestly like paying for it because the makers so deserve it. It’s beautiful, seamless, and is the only program I’ve ever used that makes organizing fragmentary or non-chronological work convenient and painless.
Post-Its!! I'm not kidding, right now I have a bunch of post-its on the wall behind my desk. One idea & illustration per post-it, a la design thinking. I've got each of my characters, what they want and what they're afraid of, what my big themes are, the way I want readers to feel, and some encouragement and ideas of things to do when I get stuck. Post-its are cheap, plentiful, easy to move around.
For poetry and whenever I’m writing shorter prose scenes I’ve liked Ommwriter! It’s a very minimalist/distraction free writing experience and the typing sounds are incredibly satisfying!
That said, on the more technical side, I used Trello's Kanban boards (designed for engineers) to plot my first 'proper' book: having everything in one place, from plot points to indicative character images, helped me create something more cohesive than I'd ever managed before.
For me nothing has had a bigger impact than buying a cheap-ass fountain pen. I wrote all my books by hand, holding my ballpoints too tightly and finding myself in agony from tendonitis/RSI. It's been legitimately transformative.
zettlr + the digital garden format -- being able to hyperlink files and other notes to each other so I can stitch networks of thoughts together. I'm terrible at writing linearly so this is a way of overcoming that, and forcing me to review what I've written previously. Zettlr creates notes in markdown that are taggable and linkable, and those can be integrated super quickly into a basic website where I can follow a map of related notes & threads. Not sure how useful it would be for longer pieces of fiction, but I've really liked it for short essays, etc
I really like Bear (a note-taking app like Evernote and Simplenote) for jotting down random ideas, observations, quotes, etc. It syncs across all your devices so it's easy to add things to it on the go.
Great question! I recently used Ink & Inky–a scripting language typically used for narrative video games (https://www.inklestudios.com/ink/). I drafted a new section of my project in the scripting language, and it gave me a new perspective on how to approach the material. A lot of people have told me Scrivener is powerful and useful, but I haven't figured out how to leverage it.
For tools, I am now using a Keychron K2 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard and it has made a world of difference for carpal tunnel pain. Only downside is that it is a bit loud, but typing isn't so painful anymore.