| Have you tried novel writing software? Many | | | | drafts they would have to laboriously churn out. |
| writers haven't because they feel it will make | | | | Editing was no longer a problem. Everything could |
| their books too "cookie-cutter," limit their | | | | be done easily on the screen, and a project could |
| creativity. But a large number of writers are using | | | | be printed out at the click of a button. Novel |
| novel writing software with consistently successful | | | | writing software performs this same service for |
| results. These programs, they say, are a valuable | | | | the fiction writer. |
| secret weapon for selling in today's highly | | | | A Needed Discipline |
| competitive fiction market. | | | | Perhaps the most important feature of novel |
| Here are three of the main benefits these writers | | | | writing software is its ability to keep a writer on |
| point out. | | | | track. "I need a program like this to show me the |
| A Solid Structure | | | | big picture," one happy user of novel writing |
| By their very nature, the better novel writing | | | | software said. "Before I bought a program I |
| programs help writers by laying out a solid plot | | | | would drop project after project midway because |
| structure for the writer to build upon. Many of | | | | I didn't know where it was going." |
| these programs help the writer not only lay out all | | | | As a literary agent, I have seen countless writers |
| of the novel's scenes in proper order, but also | | | | abandon manuscripts in the middle when they hit |
| correctly structure the individual scenes | | | | a brick wall; they had written themselves into a |
| themselves. | | | | corner and couldn't get out. A good novel writing |
| For example, in The Marshall Plan Novel Writing | | | | program prevents this from happening by laying |
| Software, which I created with Martha Jewett, | | | | out the novel's entire structure from the start. |
| we built in a feature in which the writer enters | | | | Not only do you know at the beginning the entire |
| her target word length and the program | | | | course of your story, but you can jump around, |
| generates the appropriate number of scenes, in | | | | working on scenes out of order, easily making |
| their proper order, with subplots intertwined and | | | | adjustments as you see fit. These programs |
| major plot points where they belong. One user of | | | | make novel writing easy and fun. |
| this program said, "I like this feature because I | | | | Romance author Michelle Marquis attributes her |
| know my novel has a strong skeleton on which I | | | | success to a novel writing program. "I was one of |
| can be creative without worrying that | | | | many aspiring writers who had grappled for years |
| everything's going to fall apart." | | | | to complete a manuscript without success. I'd |
| Taking Care of Mechanics | | | | start a book full of hope only to lose my way a |
| Novel writing programs are created to make it | | | | few weeks later and give up. My hard drive was |
| easy for writers to take care of the more | | | | full of false starts and orphaned chapters. Now, |
| mechanical aspects of the creative process. For | | | | not only have I completed close to twenty |
| example, you might enter details of a character's | | | | novels, but I've also had two bestsellers." |
| appearance and personality, and this data pops up | | | | Many other users of novel writing software have |
| on the side of the screen for easy reference | | | | reported that these programs force them to |
| whenever you assign this character to a scene. | | | | think through details of their scenes, thus allowing |
| Or you might realize halfway through creating | | | | them to complete novels they wouldn't have |
| your novel that your word length is off. With a | | | | completed otherwise. In this respect, novel writing |
| good program you should be able to click a button | | | | programs offer a needed discipline to the creative |
| and the scenes will readjust in their proper order. | | | | spirit. |
| When the mechanics of any process are taken | | | | Is novel writing software right for you? If you |
| care of for you, you're freed up to focus your | | | | welcome a solid structure in your books, like the |
| energies on the creative aspect-the part of the | | | | idea of the mechanics being taken care of for |
| process that makes your project uniquely yours. | | | | you, and sometimes need a "coach" to help you |
| When word processors replaced typewriters, | | | | finish your work... you could be an ideal candidate. |
| writers no longer had to worry about how many | | | | |