A note on software

A note on software: I use Word and Scrivener to compose my novels.

Word is an excellent, basic tool, especially if you like to keep all of your writing in a single document and just pick up where you left off each day. If you're using Word, I recommend keeping one folder with your novel title, one master document in which you write your novel, and one document titled "Notes" in which you keep notes to yourself throughout the process.

Although you don't need special novel-writing software, Scrivener is a great way to keep your research organized. It makes it easy to move chapters around and visualize your novel, and project targets allow you to easily see how much you've written each day and how far you have progressed toward your goal. Scrivener also has a digital corkboard that automatically generates as you add scenes and chapters.

If you like writing by hand, Rocketbook is useful. You write in the notebook on "smart paper" using an inexpensive Pilot Frixion pen. Then you scan the pages in your Rocketbook app, which transcribes your handwriting to text and lets you send your pages to Evernote, Google Drive, and other services with one tap. The transcription isn't perfect, but it's really impressive. You only have to buy one notebook, because you wipe down the page with a microfiber cloth after you've scanned your work, and you just keep using the same notebook over and over again.

You can get Scrivener here. You can get Rockebook here.

You already have Word, a notebook, and a pen, and that's all you really need!

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