Scrivener
If you like to use bulletin boards/white boards/notecards to plot or work on your book, but you don’t like to carry around a giant bulletin board with you if you feel like writing at Starbucks, Scrivener may just be the solution.
In addition, if you plan to publish to Amazon (or frankly, any other outlet), Scrivener will save you from chewing off both your arms and running screaming and bleeding down the street because you can’t escape from the sharp-toothed steel trap of formatting requirements. Scrivener has auto-exports to take care of these (endless and complicated) requirements for many of the different publishers.
It's also just incredibly handy to have a single file that contains everything (notes, outlines, research, images, links, completion goals and counters), neatly organized within it. Scrivener keeps track of all your revisions, lets you link from section to section and easily add notes about things in the margin, and it allows you to view different interior pages side-by-side.
All right, I'll shut up. (But it’s a great investment, and hardly more than the cost of dinner for two at the Chinese place.)
There is a free trial, so give it a go and see what you think!
Google Drive
Google Drive is useful for everything from keeping your docs all in one place for version control, to collaborating with a buddy. I’m a particular fan of spreadsheets for keeping track of my various places on the internet and being able to share that with whoever I want. If you’re a super nerd, you can even use them to populate tables on your website.
When the two of us began writing together, Lisa built a simple Google Site to hold all our content. Each of our books has a single top navigation link, as well as a dropdown menu for each chapter in that book. As each book is finished, we export it all to Scrivener for editing and formatting.
Word Count Widgets
If I didn't have Scrivener, I would have to have a word count widget to count for me as I wrote. There aren't many out there that have the functionality I prefer, which is simply to tell me how many words I’ve written on a single piece of "paper." In Open Office, I have to highlight a section of text, open a menu, and request a word count. Which sucks.
You may be less freaky about word counts than I am, and there are lots of ways to show progress bars on your website (as opposed to on the document where you're actually writing).
Super basic HTML progress bar
ProgPress plugin for (self-hosted) WordPress sites
WriterTopia's goofy little character with progress bar
NaNoWriMo easy meter
Pretty NaNoWriMo spreadsheets and trackers
Write or Die
Hello, slightly obsessed, easily distracted, somewhat maniacal person. Chances are you will love Write or Die, which you can configure to disallow backspacing, disable saving (until you reach your goal), stay in front of any other desktop windows, and even (in kamikaze mode) force yourself to keep writing or your words will be unwritten. You can set up word war competitions with other Write-or-Die-ers, too, and best of all, there’s a progress bar directly above your page that fills as you type. Heaven!
Dropbox
Dropbox isn’t necessarily a writer gadget, but I use it heavily. Basically, it gives you a folder on any computer you use that syncs with a corresponding folder on any other computer you use. No more carrying around USB sticks, no more wondering which version of your manuscript is most up-to-date, and no more wacky back-up systems. Just save everything writing-related to your Dropbox folder! The free version has a size limit, but it will be enough for your Word documents.
Writer's Database
I used to keep a spreadsheet of all my submissions and responses, and a spreadsheet of my wordcounts, and a spreadsheet of contests I entered. Now I don’t have to do any of that because I can put all the info in Writer’s Database. I even keep track of my royalty records in the notes section.
Toodledo (To Do List)
Ok, you don’t have to be a writer to appreciate Toodledo. It’s a super powerful task list that works well if you’re using the David Allen Company GTD (Getting Things Done) system. Writers, if you’re not using some kind of system to keep track of your various tasks, you need to start. It will help you to treat your writing like a career, and your writing is a career. Ahem, soapbox moment. Anyway, the beauty of Toodledo is that you can roll it up into your biggest “life goals” and have all of your tasks flow up into those so that you know you’re always doing stuff that matches your Big Hairy Audacious Goals. Or you can use it as a simple list. It’s all up to you.
Pandora
Mostly I want silence when I’m writing, but in rare moods, I require some music to get me in the right frame of mind. The problem is that creating book soundtracks takes forever. With Pandora, though, you can choose a few songs with the feeling you want and make a station. Boom, hours of mood-enhancing music for your writing adventures.
Assignment 3: Get Your Tools and Spaces In Order
What do you need in order to begin work? Take a look at the lists below and decide what you are going to work with. If you plan to use a particular item, check off the “got it” or “get it” choice below that item.
Hardware:
___1. Paper
Note your favorite kind: legal pads, index cards, etc:
___Got it ___Acquire by this date: ___/___/___
___2. Pencils or pens
Note your favorite brand and type:
___Got it ___Acquire by this date: ___/___/___
___3. Computer or typewriter (yes, people use typewriters)
___Got it ___Acquire by this date: ___/___/___
___4. Workspace
Do you have a table, desk, couch, or chair?
___Got it ___Acquire by this date: ___/___/___
Software:
___1. Word Processor
Open Office, Word, Scrivener, etc:
___Got it ___Acquire by this date: ___/___/___
___2. Additional Tools needed
Word count widgets or other items:
___Got it ___Acquire by this date: ___/___/___
Space and Time:
1. Where will you do your writing? Note your writing spaces in order of preference.
2. When will you do your writing? Note specific hours each week that you can carve out for this project.
I will assign ____ hours on the following days each week.
Mondays from ___ to ___.
Tuesdays from ___ to ___.
Wednesdays from ___ to ___.
Thursdays from ___ to ___.
Fridays from ___ to ___.
Saturdays from ___ to ___.
Sundays from ___ to ___.
3. Extra credit! Can you schedule a burst of time at the beginning or end of your project?
I'm planning a “kick off” or “finish up” writing retreat for ___ hours/days at _____________ places.
CHAPTER FIVE
5 Great Books on Writing
There is a motherlode of great writing books out there. Reading them isn’t really essential, but it sure is fun! One caveat about the following list, which we kept short for a very specific purpose: Don’t spend all your time reading about writing. Instead, spend your time writing.
Just needed to get that out there. Now. Here are some of our favorites.
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott
Most of the time, How To Write books are either reeeeally touchy-feely, or completely technical. I get annoyed with books like that because writing is a combination of both. So I wasn’t convinced I’d much care for this book, which leans toward the touchy-feely. I was not expecting to find touchy-feely with a hint of tough love.
I enjoyed it very much. Lamott manages to inspire without fist-pumping theatrics or lies about the publishing business. Instead, she offers humorous, straight-forward, sometimes tough-love advice aimed at helping you get over yourself and get on to your writing. If you’re in a rut, do yourself a favor and pic
k up this book. It helped me immensely.
On Writing, by Stephen King
Part memoir, part writing instruction, this is a great read. The memoir part made me go out and buy some of Stephen King’s books, even though I’m really not much of a horror fan.
The section I was really interested in, though, was the writing section. Stephen King offers a lot of good advice, but you have to be warned that it’s advice on how he writes. Caveat: The most important thing about writing is to find your process, and that takes time, and practice, and you may not find your process by copying someone else’s process. So when you’re reading books on writing, observe, learn, and throw out all the stuff that doesn’t work or make sense for you. Stephen King writes, as we say, by the seat of his pants. If you are not a pantser, you never will be. I am not a pantser, but I did try the exercises in the book, and it was a good way for me to expand my thinking and loosen up a bit.
The War of Art: Break Through The Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, by Stephen Pressfield
This is one of the more succinct and powerful books on developing creative courage and overcoming the resistance that, if allowed, will stop your dream in its tracks. Not only did I devour this book in a single sitting (over coffee cake and cappuccino, I recall), I immediately purchased the companion book called Do the Work, which will help you get your project finished. Now.
Telling Lies for Fun & Profit, by Lawrence Block
This was one of the first writing books I read, and is still one of my favorites. All good advice and worth a read, though most of it was fairly intuitive. Still, it really helps to have those intuitive things put into words, especially for me. Block is entertaining to read, even if you don’t learn anything earth-shattering. But I think you’ll learn something, too.
No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days, by Chris Baty (of NaNoWriMo fame)
Most definitely the resource of all resources for NaNoWriMo. Get yourself a copy before November!
Even if you’re not a huge NaNoWriMo dork like I am, I think you can still get something out of this book. A lot of times, we as writers take ourselves too seriously, and Chris Baty won’t let us do it! He gives lots of writers’-block-busting techniques and ways to churn out that first draft fast, fast, fast. After all, that’s the point of NaNoWriMo.
CHAPTER SIX
5 Minutes to Your First Book Outline
And when I say 5 minutes to write your first outline, I am dead serious. If it’s fiction, I bet you can do it even faster. Which kinda pisses me (Lisa) off, because non-fic is my ouvre. (I used that word because it sounds so pretentious, and I love to say it. Ooooooovre. It’s Frainch, as we say in the southern US.)
Writing Your First NON-FICTION Outline in 5 Minutes
If you’re writing non-fiction (and I’m not really talking about memoir yet, that will come later; this is mostly “how to” non-fiction I’m going to be working with) you presumably have some subject matter. It may be something you already know quite a bit about, but if not, that’s no big thing. Freelance professional writers get paid to write about stuff they’ve never even heard of before. In that case, you do some research and you know generally what you are going to write about. Enough, at this point at least, to get the outline written.
Here’s a very generic outline you can use, along with a couple of specific subject-matter examples.
The Basic Outline (You can copy this!)
You’ll have an introduction.
You’ll spend a couple or three chapters presenting the problem your readers need to solve.
You’ll spend a couple or three chapters giving the real “how to” information. (See the example down below.)
You’ll have an ending, with further troubleshooting, FAQs, or places to get more info.
Yours might vary a bit, but that’s basically it! And I’ll do a subject-matter example so you’ll have an idea of how that might translate.
Example One (Copy this one, too!)
If I were going to write a book about dating after a big breakup, here’s what my very first outline might look like.
1. What life looks like for you right now
How you’re feeling, the stupid things people are saying to you, etc.
2. How you can turn your situation around
Step one
Step two
Step three
Step four
Step five
3. Extra goodies
“Secrets” of successful dating
Improving your next relationship
4. Final cheers and encouragement
BIG FAT NOTE: I almost always speak directly to the reader by using the word “you,” and not “they” or “we” or some more generic term. There are certainly instances in which you wouldn’t do this, but most How To non-fiction works best this way.
BIGGER FATTER NOTE: In the opening section, you typically want to use emotional language and connections; show your reader you really do get how painful, powerful, distressing, difficult, or fulfilling it is to a) be in their situation, and/or b) use the solution you’re about to show them.
Yes, it sounds a bit “salesy” in some cases, but not so much in others. Loan-talk feels salesy, but you also might do the very same thing in a book about opening your own zoo, or quitting smoking.
Example Two (Now you’re rolling…)
Here’s another way to do it. Let’s say you’re writing about getting loans. Remember, unless you already know the subject well, you’ll need to find out exactly what questions your readers will have about getting loans before you start. I created this outline by brainstorming all the questions I thought people would have, then organizing them into an outline.
By the way, this particular example uses 6 main steps rather than 4, like you saw in the first outline. Think flexible, like your plastic Gumby on a hot day. Flllllexible. Drag out that “llll” sound, sugar. Slow it all down and make it work for you.
1. Why you might want a loan
Buy/renovate a home
Divorce costs
Schooling
Credit card debt
Medical costs
Etc.
2. Understanding credit / what to do about bad credit
3. Types of loans that are best for your situation
Secured
Unsecured
Debt consolidation
Etc.
4. How to apply for a loan
Step one
Step two
Step three
5. What to do if you can’t get a loan
6. Further resources and encouragement
Variations on The Theme
Not all non-fiction falls into the “how to” category, although those are pretty common. But what if you want to write a documentary, memoir, or biography of some sort? You can still give it the fast and dirty 5-minute treatment, but these outlines sometimes look like fiction outlines, so read the next section and then you can decide how your story wants to be told.
Assignment 4: Write Your Non-Fiction Outline
If you're writing fiction, skip ahead to Assignment 5. If you're writing non-fiction, take 5 minutes to get your outline down in lead, ink, or pixels.
1. Title Ideas
Take a moment to list as many as you can think of.
2. Introduction
In a nutshell, what is the problem your reader needs to solve?
What are the underlying issues? (You should be able to list a handful.)
What's at stake if the reader doesn’t solve this problem?
What are the benefits of buying your book? List as many as you can think of.
Why are you qualified to write about it?
3. The Guts of the Book
Clearly identify all aspects of the problem, task, or situation you're going to write about. Just write ‘em all down, don’t worry about order.
Now put the items in order. You’ll find that some are naturally grouped to
gether. You should start to see possible chapters now. Later you can re-word and re-order as needed.
Quickly note the most common obstacles that will prevent your reader from reaching their goals. Some may become their own chapter, or they might all go into a single chapter. See if an obvious order suggests itself.
4. Tie Up Loose Ends
List extras, FAQs, bonus goodies, or further resources your reader might benefit from.
Ta-daaaa! You’ve just done it! Now go pour yourself a much-deserved drink and don’t look back over your outline until you've given it time to "gel." You'll think of so many ways to improve it after it sits for an hour or two, or even overnight.
BONUS TIP: Keep a notepad by your bed, because once you’ve written your first outline, new ideas for it will pop up in the middle of the night. Be ready to capture them on paper so you can transfer them to your outline later.
Bagels, Dirty Limericks, and Martinis: The Badass Guide to Writing Your First Book (Badass Writing) Page 4
