I’ll be taking a little break from blogging this week while I tie up some loose ends for the current semester.  I’ll see you next week!

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Posted: December 10th, 2007 under Briefly.
Comments: none

yWriter is a free novel-writing program developed by Simon Haynes, programmer and author of the Hal Spacejock books.

Because Simon wrote yWriter for his own use as an author, the program is continually improving and expanding as Simon considers feedback from other users and his own needs for the software. I’ll be discussing the most up-to-date version, yWriter Version 4.

So what can yWriter do for you?

yWriter allows writers to organize their work in an clearly laid-out system that can be easily exported into a final document. yWriter produces various summaries and reports, such as:

• a work schedule from outlining to completion
• a long or short synopsis based on chapter and scene descriptions
• an outline
• a storyboard that allows scenes to be rearranged graphically
• a scene list and scene cards
• lists of characters, locations, and items
• number of scenes and word count for each viewpoint character
• scene ratings to measure tension, humor, and any other qualities you would like to track throughout the story. The scene ratings can then be viewed as a chart.

Chapters and scenes can easily be rearranged, either in the main interface, pictured above, or in the storyboard. Also, characters, locations, and items can all be associated with scenes, and the author can make notes about the projected goals, conflicts, and outcomes. yWriter also has a places for general notes and descriptions for each scene. Notes can also be created as separate scenes and chapters, then marked “unused.” For example, if you have an idea for a scene that you’ve not yet written, you can create a placeholder scene with your notes that can be ignored when a draft is printed.

How I’m using yWriter

I really only started using the software after I finished most of my rough draft for my NaNo novel. yWriter has a rich text editor that allows users to adjust the font style and size, and apply boldface, italics, and underlining, but I didn’t write directly in the software. Instead, I used the minimalist word processor JDarkRoom to do the first draft. When I finished the rough draft, I copied and pasted my work into yWriter, allowing me to see the structure of my novel more clearly. yWriter creator Simon Haynes says this is how he uses the software as well.

yWriter allows me to see the structure of my story much more clearly than scrolling down one seemingly endless document and looking for missing pieces. Now that my rough ideas are organized into chapters, I can see more easily where I need to add scenes.

Some tips on using yWriter

One of the best features of yWriter is the program’s extensive backup system. Unless you delete the entire project folder, it’s difficult to lose all your work. Each scene is stored in a separate RTF document that can be edited outside the program without disrupting any of the settings. One caution though: If you export the entire project, work on that file, then attempt to import the document back into yWriter, you will erase your project settings, such as the viewpoint characters and notes for each scene. I wouldn’t recommend trying to import a file unless it’s with a brand new project.

But if you’re looking for a way to use yWriter when you’re away from your home computer, install the program on a flash drive. Simply run the installation program as usual, specifying your flash drive as the installation location. Then do the same thing with the Pendrive Runtimes program from the Spacejock downloads page. Put the Pendrive files in the same directory as the yWriter files and you’ll be able to use yWriter on any Windows computer with your flash drive.

Note to Linux users: Follow these directions to install yWriter in Wine.

For a thorough overview of all of the functions of yWriter Version 3, see House of Strauss. Also, you might find this discussion on the NaNoWriMo forums to be useful.

In Conclusion

I look forward to using yWriter to organize many other projects. One of the sticking points I’ve often had with previous projects is confronting the mess I was left with after the initial writing. yWriter provides a free, easy-to-use, and helpful way to organize my writing. One of the best aspects, in my opinion, is that the software is designed by an author who also uses it for his own work. All in all, yWriter is an excellent tool to organize a novel, whether as a creation tool or an organization tool.

Have you used yWriter or any other novel-writing software? What has your experience been?

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Posted: December 7th, 2007 under Productivity, Writing.
Comments: 1

I ran across an interesting idea at Blue Sky Shining yesterday—a Creativity Calendar. NaNoWriMo winner Terri has made a list of all the activities she wants to do, from knitting to photography, and scheduled each for a single month of the year. She is quick to point out that this isn’t a rigid schedule but a way for her to not forget about some of her interests.

As someone who has a never-ending list of potential projects, I found the idea of the Creativity Calendar intriguing. My other efforts at “scheduling” my creative activities have been pretty vague. “I’ll do that next summer, when I have more time,” I’ll say, but never really get to it. I might resent trying to fit my creativity into a more predictable schedule, but part of me likes the idea of varying my activities over the year and not letting anything fall by the wayside.

It would also give me a place to start when I’m feeling that creative urge but am not sure where to start. I’ve been wanting to start something new lately, whether a new writing project or a completely different creative activity. Now that I’m nearly finished with outlining my NaNo novel, I’m ready to do something different for a while before I tackle the revisions. And I’ll need something to distract me from the horrors of the holiday season.

I’m not sure yet if I’ll construct a Creativity Calendar, but I’ll give it some more thought. What about you?

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Posted: December 6th, 2007 under Creativity.
Comments: 2

Yesterday, Write Stuff asked readers, “When do you write?” The ideal answer was “always,” meaning that when a writer is away from her keyboard or notebook, she is still writing in the back of her mind.

Although I didn’t think to answer “always” to the question, the post struck a chord. Most of my best ideas have developed when I first wrote down an idea, then later did some freewriting to explore its possibilities, then let the idea hang on the tree in the back of my mind until it was ripe and ready. When the same idea comes back again and again, each time with richer possibilities, I know it’s a good idea.

I’m reminded of what Orson Scott Card said in How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy:

“Good stories don’t come from trying to write a story the moment I think of the first idea. All but a handful of stories have come from combining two completely unrelated ideas that have been following their own tracks through my imagination. And all the stories I was still proud of six months after writing them have come from ideas that ripened for many months—usually years—between the time I first thought of them and the time they were ready to put into a story.”

It makes me wonder if I shouldn’t let some of my ideas ripen a little longer before plucking them. Or if perhaps I should revisit some of the stories I wrote as a kid. They’re horrible, of course, but some of the ideas still come back to me after all this time. Maybe there was something there after all, something that could be combined with some of my newer ideas. I think it’s worth a look through the archives.

The old cliche to “write what you know” doesn’t really mean that if you’re a teacher, all your characters should be teachers, or that if you were born in the Midwest all your stories should take place there. It means you should write out of your experience of the world and human emotion. In this sense, all of us are always gathering material for our stories.

What about you? Are you always writing?

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Posted: December 5th, 2007 under Writing.
Comments: 2

What is a writer? Is it someone who makes a living writing? Is it someone who has been published? Or is it just someone who writes? And when I say “someone who writes,” I don’t mean that everyone who writes a grocery list should be accused of being a writer. I mean people who write purposefully, whether they have aspirations of publication or not.

I don’t tend to make these distinctions, but if asked, I say that I’m an amateur writer. I certainly don’t have the presumption to compare myself to famous writers of the past, or even to anyone who’s published, but I still think I’m a writer, albeit an amateur one.

I’ve been thinking about the meaning of being a writer today, because I’ve just been reading 101 Reasons to Stop Writing and trying to decide if I’m offended or not. I think Sean Lindsay has some good points. Far too many people think of the “wealth and fame” they’ll have when they’re published long before they even have a first draft. And there are probably far too many bad books published. But I couldn’t help but wonder: who’s tying this poor man down and making him buy and read all these terrible books? Publishing, like all businesses, is market driven. If there are bad books being published, it’s probably because there are people who will buy them.

Lindsay also criticizes NaNoWriMo pretty severely. Like many people who disparage NaNo, I think he’s trying too hard. Yes, judging by the NaNo forums, some participants think they will have a complete novel, ready to send to publishers, by the end of the month. But many serious writers also use the adrenaline from NaNo’s forced pace to increase the time they spend writing or to help them work toward a goal. And many participants just write because it’s fun, challenging, and an exercise in creativity. True, the emphasis on writing “crap” is perhaps overdone in the NaNo promotional literature, but the larger point is to overcome inhibitions and take creative risks. And most participants understand that what they have at the end of NaNo is an extremely rough draft.

So what does this have to do with the definition of “writer”? When I’m confronted with the idea that I should just stop writing if I’m not good enough to be a bestselling author, I feel the need to reinforce the validity of writing as an amateur, for fun. Why should anyone who enjoys writing stop? The idea seems comparable to saying that those who bicycle for fun should stop unless they’re good enough to compete in the Tour de France. Or that the people who play instruments in the community band should stop if they have no future as professional musicians. There’s no shame in pursuing an activity just for fun.

So although I agree with some of Lindsay’s reasons, he hasn’t convinced me to stop writing. What about you?

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Posted: December 4th, 2007 under Inspiration, Writing.
Comments: 4