Within the phrases of comic and gamemaster Brennan Lee Mulligan pretending to be George R.R. Martin: “Have you ever ever tried to jot down? It’s the saddest, hardest, worst factor on the planet.” As a lot as I like his comedic chops, Mulligan is unsuitable on this depend – I persistently discover that writing is fantastic and horrible in equal measure, whether or not I’m scribing some dunk on a tech firm’s most up-to-date mishap or engaged on my private tasks.
Nevertheless, this 12 months introduced one thing of a non-public victory for me: I completed the primary draft of the novel I’ve been engaged on for greater than three years. At near 110,000 phrases, it’s grow to be one thing of an epic, which means I’m now getting into a reasonably ruthless enhancing phrase. Let me inform you – enhancing your individual work like that? Now that’s worse than writing.
However I genuinely preferred writing that novel, as a lot as I would dread the looming technique of auditioning publishers (rejection letters, my outdated pal, come to taunt me as soon as once more). Writing was an escape for me throughout some onerous instances, and the satisfaction that comes with finishing such an endeavor is good and well-earned. And I didn’t use any fancy writing software program or intelligent strategies right here: nope, I wrote the entire dang factor in a Google Doc on my laptop computer.
Being a author – of just about any selection – lately, your two most simple choices are Microsoft Phrase and Google Docs. The latter is a little more light-weight than Microsoft’s Workplace package deal (together with Sheets and Slides, imitations of Microsoft’s Excel and PowerPoint), however on the finish of the day, they do the identical job: you may get phrases down on digital paper. I’m not right here to rag on Phrase; I simply used Docs as a result of it’s free, and a mishap with OneDrive a few years in the past that noticed numerous unfinished tasks erased from the cloud has left me a little bit cautious of Microsoft’s choices.
There are, in fact, extra specialised apps with regards to writing long-form inventive items. In the event you’re within the novel-writing enterprise, you’ve little doubt encountered the likes of Scrivener, Atticus, and Dabble. Nearly all of those apps are paid, be it a one-off buy or a month-to-month subscription.
I shelled out for Scrivener a number of years again, hoping it could give me the enhance I wanted to start out – and full – a brand new novel. It’s a strong device, filled with helpful options geared particularly in direction of novel writing. If there’s something Google Docs lacks, it’s this: a correct operate for organizing chapters could be very helpful, even setting apart the myriad different options it provides.
The issue I had with Scrivener, although, is that it nearly provides too a lot. A dense analysis device is constructed straight into the app, which some customers would possibly like, however I’m completely comfy opening a brand new browser tab and researching unaided. The Scrivener web site notes that “the principle caveat for utilizing Scrivener is that you simply do need to put within the effort to be taught it”, and whereas I’ve by no means shied away from studying learn how to use new software program, the quite a few on-line programs to show you learn how to use this explicit app are nothing if not daunting. Even as soon as I felt I had a deal with on it, Scrivener simply felt… cluttered.
What’s up, Doc?
Google Docs, in contrast, is gorgeous in its simplicity. I’m the type of one that desires minimal distractions when writing; I often don’t even take heed to music, and attempt to keep away from checking my cellphone or leaving the doc web page in any respect. Docs lets me strip away a superb chunk of all the interface with a fast keyboard shortcut, giving me nothing apart from what I want.
The essential options are nonetheless right here: grammar and spelling checks, a enough (however not exhaustive) vary of formatting choices, and an easy bookmarking system. Plus, it’s accessible on Android – Scrivener is iOS-only exterior of laptop working programs – and I like having the ability to entry my work anyplace, on any machine, via Google Drive. My main draft Doc has a number of nested tabs stuffed with helpful enhancing notes, analysis, and concepts for increasing the universe I’ve created. It’s not good, however it’s preferrred for reducing out distractions and easily getting sentences down on the web page.
So whereas I shan’t choose anybody who makes use of a extra complicated device to form their inventive writing tasks, I’ll be sticking with Google from right here on out. Because the outdated adage goes: if it ain’t broke, don’t repair it.