It is often said that everyone has at least one book in them, but have you ever tried writing one? If you have, you’ll know what a huge challenge it can be to transform the ideas in your head into a completed written work. Here I share a tool which is proving helpful in the writing of my own novel.

yWriter - free novel writing software by Simon Haynes, Spacejock Software

I’d always written using just a text editor, one file for each chapter. That was fine when it was short, but with twenty chapters or more it gets harder to keep track of what has happened, to whom, and when. Especially if you don’t write often. Seeing the big picture isn’t easy with just a huge mass of text to look at.

Then I found yWriter, software that applies project management tools to novel writing. The author designed it to help him write his own three published novels, and found it so useful he made it available to all at no cost. It works with plain text files, but text is organised into scenes, with scene descriptions, character profiles, details of the conflict and outcomes for each scene, and the ability to generate synopses and timelines, and more. It allows the whole project to be broken down into well-documented scene-sized chunks which are easily visualised, and helps with plot development.

Since recently finding yWriter I’ve used it to provide structure to my novel so far, effectively giving a skeleton to what had become (in my mind) just a huge mass of flesh. It has helped me organise my thinking in regards to the whole plot. With a clearer mental picture of the story so far, I’m more likely to work out how the story ends, and perhaps finish writing it at last!

It also helps with continuity. What type of explosives did Brutus hide up his dress at the autopsy? How much detail of the accident did Rupert reveal to the maid in the wardrobe incident? If these details occurred in chapter two they may be hard to remember when writing chapter nineteen, especially if many years have passed. With yWriter, small but important details can be found and kept track of more easily.

You still have to think of what to write, which is the hard part, but yWriter can help you organise the project and thereby shrink one of the obstacles. If you’ve ever dreamed of writing a novel, why not have a go!