I started working on, for lack of a better word, a new book a couple of months ago. It’s a work of fiction set in a small southern city that is experiencing growing pains while trying to maintain the old class order of the south. So far there is envy, pride, greed, lust, racism, dirty business dealings, maybe the mafia and oh yea…..murder. Just another boring day in the old south.
Here is my problem, as I work through the story each night lying in bed waiting for the Sandman to visit me the narrative changes. And with each change, each addition or subtraction I have to scroll through 27 pages and 17,420 words to find the sentence, the character or the plot that needs to be rewritten. One important bit of information, I am using Microsoft Word (Windows).
I write when I have time, or better yet, when I have the creative motivation to write. But with each addition of a page full of words my frustration grows in crafting the story that I want to tell. Rather than being a labor of love, I scroll through the 27 pages and simply see labor. I am a very organized person, a “place for everything and everything in its place” kind of guy and right now, with this book, I don’t feel very organized and that my friends makes a very organized person feel anxious and frustrated. Anxious and frustrated, at least for me, isn’t a good writing space or vibe.
I know that there is software out there specific for book writing. A simple Google search uncovers a multitude of options, but I need help in narrowing those choices. If there is a writing software out there that is targeted towards old men that aren’t tech savvy, who have ADD, can’t spell, have horrible grammar and punctuation, a limited vocabulary and a tight budget let me know.
I can knock out 500 words or so in a flash. Heck I do it, once, twice sometimes three times a day on this blog. But for whatever reason, staring at that word count on the bottom left corner makes my mind wonder where all those words are and are they in the right place. I need a way to break those words down into smaller bites, set them on different shelves, so I can visit each and give them the attention they need. If you got any ideas or suggestions I look forward to getting them.
Thanks!
I don’t have any ideas, but I read Stephen Kings book on writing. Sometimes he hand writes entire books. No software for that technique..except on the rewrite. So..maybe just write and convince yourself you’ll fix things on the rewrite or second or third rewrite? Maybe that way you won’t interrupt the creative juices?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Eric, my gerbil mind will simply not allow me such latitude. On top of ADD I am also dyslexic, so man am I a fun date 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
However you figure it out you’re to be commended for writing a book. I’ve heard it’s very hard to do. Everyone talks about writing a book, but few manage to pull it off. Good luck!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you!
LikeLike
Two suggestions.
First – outline the entire story, then draft from start to finish. As changes come to you, jot them down in a separate notebook, then go back to writing the story you originally outlined.
Second – Scrivener software is the bomb-diggity and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. It’s fairly intuitive to learn and has done wonders in helping me keep things organized despite the fact that I’m a pantser – I write what comes to mind and have the barest of outlines in mind when I first envision a story. There are a ton of features in the package that I have yet to learn how to use yet it’s still my go-to writing software.
Check out Cassidy Frazee at Wide Awake but Dreaming (https://wideawakebutdreaming.wordpress.com/) here on WordPress. She works wonders with Scrivener and can give you loads of information on how it works.
Hope this helps. Keep us posted on your progress, ‘kay? 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you love. Love the diggity reference big fan of Gold Digger….Get Down 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
I don’t have any recommendations in terms of software because I use Microsoft word as well, but I do second the idea of outlining! You can outline very specifically so that when you get an idea to change you plug it into the outline instead of having to reread all your pages. Basically each chapter would have its separate outline for you to work with. It’s also a great organizational tool. On top of that sometimes I just make separate documents to chunk my work if it’s getting really long and unmanageable. I suppose it’s not the ideal solution because in the end I have to copy and paste it into one document…but it’s a cheap solution that works for me!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you love. Haven’t heard from you in a while. Hope all is right and ripe in your world.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! I just have a very busy schedule this year and I’m still working on managing everything. I’m trying to put blogging back on my list of priorities though!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Am I understanding you right? Before falling asleep, you think of a particular word/sentence/section that you want to change … but the next day you’re unable to find it without scrolling through all the (27) finished pages?
If this is what you’re saying, you do know there’s a “find” feature in MW Word, don’t you?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes-Yes-Yes-Yes. Nan, I am not a smart man with the attention span of a chipmunk. What was I saying?
LikeLike
You have my envy – I have a degree in English and have written a few boring autobiographies, but am now stuck with writer’s block. I think I’m just lazy and certainly not goal directed… maybe I am ADD too? Discipline and application will do it – I will stiffen my spine and chain myself to the machine….. nah, who am I kidding? Keep on rolling, buddy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I recommend a glass of Merlot to grease the wheels
LikeLike
I see you’ve already got some practical suggestions.
First, definitely, learn the Find/Replace feature in Word and use it to locate the key words in your passages. If you use the Headings feature, e.g. for chapter titles, you can also navigate directly from one heading (start of a chapter) to another.
Second, you’re a member of my generation, and for us learning to edit on-screen is a hard, hard thing. You might do well to print out hard copies of each chapter and edit on those. You can go back and put the changes into Word later, anytime.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yes, creating a table of contents with clickable links to each chapter and using the find/replace functions in Microsoft Word are life savers for me. You can easily find out how to do these things by googling how to videos and instructions for them. Good luck!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have purchased Scrivener and I must tell you it is a wonderful piece of software. I downloaded the free trial of Scrivener. It organizes like my ADD mind works. I put 1,000 words on paper and cleaned up my characters the first day using it. Highly recommend.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good to hear you’ve found something that works! I’ll have to check it out!
LikeLiked by 1 person
P.S.: If you go the hard copy route, you can reprint indivdual pages of the MS and replace defunct ones as needed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I second the Scrivner suggestion. I haven’t used it yet but I’ve heard really good things. And that’s what I plan to download and use once I’m ready to finally start my book.
There’s also ‘Google docs’ which I’ve heard is really good for accessing anywhere on any device. So that if you get struck by an idea you can pull it up and start working from your phone or tablet, instead of waiting and hoping you remember when your re at your min computer. But that’s all I know about it really.
I also second the comment someone made about how commendable it is that you’ve even started writing a book. That’s truly something to be a proud of and a club I’m hoping to join real soon. Good luck! And I look forward to reading it. (And then posting a review on my blog!!) 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you Ms. Malissa, Happy New Year!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy New Year to you too!! 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
I took a revision course once with Holly Lisle (unfortunately, I don’t think it’s offered any longer) and she gave the following tip for new ideas that would require going back when drafting. When a new idea comes up, don’t go back and change things yet. Just make a note of it and move forward as if you had written it that way. Then, instead of spinning wheels by continuously going back, you can keep moving forward and fix the beginning in revision. Then, when you’re ready for revision, read through everything without changing anything, just making notes of ideas, errors, weak points. Then, organize all the ideas and notes into a new outline of where you want to go with it. At that point, if new ideas come in, ask yourself if they really would make THIS manuscript better, or if they could go into a new project.
All in all, write down any new ideas and keep trekking ahead without looking back. Trust your editing abilities to work in the new ideas in revisions.
(Also, I’ve heard lots of praise for Scrivener!)
Best,
Brandi
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Brandi, wonderful advice.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Microsoft Word is the best out there for writing, other softwares are just the same as it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am now using Scrivener and will have to disagree with you on Words “best” label. Scrivener is the bomb!
LikeLike
Looks a bit too complicated for me. But well I firstly write some notes on paper then write the story in continuation 😀
I am glad you found a software, hope it serves you well and you write a lot.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is organize the way I think which helps and pretty easy to use. Thanks for reading and for taking the time to comment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I tend to drive through to he end and then fix basic narrative changes in the second draft.
I also find that forcing myself not to think about the stories when I’m not in front of the document helps. If I obsessed over it at all times I’d soon get tangled up in plot arcs.
It’s also useful to have some notes that outline the drive and intentions of different characters so that they don’t behave out of character.
Hope some of this helps!
LikeLiked by 1 person
All of it helped Sebastyan-Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi
I can understand your frustration.
The best writing software is Scrivener as others have mentioned, with it you can organise your files as you see fit.
All the best.
Ru
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. I started using Scrivener a couple of weeks ago and love. Being organized, at least for me, helps the creative process. Thank you for reading and for sharing your thoughts.
LikeLike
I use Scrivener because I can organize my books by chapter and scenes within chapters. There is a great notecard feature that might assist you with your searching problem. I’ve also been able to change the name of a character by using find and replace within the entire document.
It’s also a good way to store paragraphs or chapters you pull out but may decide to use later.
There are also the usual spellcheck and other features you seem to be looking for.
Happy Writing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think every writer, me included, kind of has to find their own way no matter what software they use. Some are organized plotters with an outline and ABCs to follow. Others write off the cuff in a flurry, with more hours ahead editing and adding in the back end than was spent creating the base of the story. Others just plug along slowly cranking out a detailed story over a long time. I am in the middle, sometimes more organized than others but in the end I always spend more time adding and editing than creating the first draft. I have spent money on a few software systems, but I spent to much time trying to figure out the detailed uses instead of writing. So, I returned to Word. While it is simple, it also requires thinking about what you are putting down while forcing the writer to line by line edit. Get a small focus group of friends to read your story, help you edit and give you pointers. Give them one or two chapters at a time, and when they return those, give them the next. I did this with my first book and it made it so much better!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great advice thank you!
LikeLike
I think a lot of us have this problem sometimes. To make this short and sweet, because I know you may have gotten the answer you were looking for, I want to throw my vote in for Scrivener.
There can be a little bit of a learning curve but it will definitely help in he way of keeping things organized, and in smaller blocks. You can break things down into blocks, blocks into chapters, chapters into scenes, etc.
I love the program and highly recommend it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Trevor for chiming in and thank you for reading my post. Take care.
LikeLike
Scrivener sounds good but maybe a little preplanning is also in order. If you are a visual person doing the planning using a Mindmap is good too. http://www.thinkbuzan.com gives you a week’s full trial then reverts to a free basic edition which is just as effective. You can plot out characters, settings, plot points, etc and add images that remind you visually. You can do an overall one and separate chapter ones. It can speed up your writing and you can see plot holes before you start. Easily changed if you decide a better direction comes along. It’s like Cliff Notes for your book or post
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great info, thank you!
LikeLike
Thank you, we are learners no matter how long we have been writing, published or not.
LikeLiked by 1 person