My Favorite Writing Tools
Here’s a secret: I really wish I was one of those writers who scoff at the idea of using writing tools. I’d love to be content with a corkboard and index cards, or a composition notebook and a pack of cheap pens. I’d even settle for a plain old empty word document, cursor flashing in wait.
But the truth is that this has never been, and will never be, how I write. In fact, I’d chalk a good bit of my several years on hiatus as irrefutable proof. I spent most of that time trying to be the kind of writer who could pull all-nighters and scribble an entire novel by hand in a series of quirky yet functional notebooks. I thought there was one way to be a writer and I was desperately failing.
But that’s not true. There are as many ways to be a good writer as there are people who want to write. Everyone is different, and this is a good thing—if we were all the same, I can’t imagine that we’d output much in the way of creativity or innovation.
If you’re a writer but struggle to see yourself as one, either because you aren’t confident about the quality of your work or you find it difficult to write anything at all, you’re not alone. The best thing you can do is conduct a needs analysis, something I’ve learned about in the human resources world. Instead of a job description or an organizational structure, however, you’ll be analyzing yourself: your strengths and weaknesses, your ideal writing environment, your schedule, and a reasonable goal that takes all of this into consideration.
More on that to come next week—but for now, here are five writing tools I use that help me succeed. (Note: I’m not sponsored by any of these providers, I just really love their products!)
Plottr
Plottr is a visual book-planning software that I discovered last year. It’s truly amazing. Here are just a handful of the features I adore:
Arrange and rearrange plot points, character arcs, and scenes as many times as needed, using one of several methods-based outline templates or creating your own
Create visual story cards
Filter your book’s timeline by characters, places, and tags to make quick changes
Color-coordinated storylines
Create a story bible by making profiles for all the people, places, and things in your story you need to keep track of (and if you’re writing a series, you can use them for each book in the series)
Export to Microsoft Word and Scrivener when you’re done
As a very visual person who doesn’t have the time or patience to handwrite note cards and arrange them on a corkboard, this program has worked absolute wonders for me. It isn’t free, but they have several pricing options that are very affordable and start at $25/year. Click here to sign up for a free trial.
Reedsy
Reedsy isn’t just one tool, it’s a collection of them. They have several writing and publishing tools, including a way to connect with editors and other professionals, create and publish an eBook, and reach out to reputable literary agents and publishers.
I usually find myself pulling from their blog and other writing tools like quizzes, character worksheets, character name generators, writing prompts, courses, and more. There’s a wealth of information to be found here, most of it for free. Click here to check it out!
Scrivener
Scrivener is essentially a word processing application designed specifically for writing projects. It’s great for keeping track of sources and making notes, so this is great for anything from academic papers and dissertations to novels. It’s very free-form and adaptable, allowing you to be messy within the confines of the program. There aren’t any rules but the possibilities are near endless. Standard licenses start at $49 and that’s a one-time license fee to download the program. Click here to learn more.
Smartphone Notes App
This isn’t exactly something you have to search for—if you own a smartphone, you likely have at least one native app designed for jotting down notes. It’s taken a while to train myself to do this, but jotting down quick ideas in that app has saved me multiple times because inspiration often strikes in a moment where pen and paper are far away. If you aren’t already, consider using this feature for your creative side.
Journaling
Maybe this isn’t exactly a writing tool, so much as it is an activity, but I find journaling about any and everything is a great way to open up the creative side of myself and get ideas and emotions flowing. It can be anything from a difficult moment from my childhood that I’m trying to process in therapy to a random stream of consciousness about how much I love cheese (coincidentally, my almost-three-year-old just handed me a block of colby jack cheese). The act of sitting down and writing (or typing) words, even if they’re relatively meaningless or unrelated to your current project, can trigger your brain to follow in your body’s pursuits.
