Hi, today I share my experience with software/techniques for the writing part and general managing of my science fiction novel project.

Cold Writing

– The whole post-it notes thing that I experimented with while working on the first volume didn’t go in a helpful direction. I ended up discarding most of the notes and wrote new material within the chapters anyway. In the end – the post-it notes just cluttered up the space.

– Cold notebooks are something that I have done for a long time. Ever since I started writing long form (~15 years ago). But for Eysin it won’t work either because sometimes I need to add a segment of text between segments that I already finished.

So, because every idea I get for the ongoing volume needs to go directly where I see it fit in the work that’s already going on – notes on the phone or paper are not a great tool as they just tend to get lost and forgotten.

Digital Solutions

+ I went through several tools and techniques until I found what worked for me: Google Drive. I start a new folder for the novel and start each chapter in a separate doc. The chapters that I still work on are open in the browser. This way, I have quick access when a random-fitting thought attacks me.

Google Drive works for me because sometimes I get some idea at 2 AM or otherwise away from the computer. Then I open the appropriate chapter file in drive and type it up on my phone. Not very comfortable, but better than losing the ideas 🙂

I need to be able to do it this way because when I don’t add new segments and ideas to the exact location in the story where they need to be – they would just get lost and forgotten.

And even though often I will end up deleting those whimsical ideas (there’s a phase in writing where I become the Brutal Remover Monster with the philosophy of Via Negativa), some of these ideas are so great they change the whole story.

So, there it is – Google Drive has created a wonderful tool for writers – and it even has a Grammarly plug-in.

Editing

– I tried the Hemingway app. Unfortunately, that program messed too much with my style and groove, so I stopped using it.

+ I use the free Grammarly version – to catch silly mistakes. Mr Simberg proofreads and catches a few as well. I’m going to proof-read from start to finish once I’m done with all chapters. This time I might also get a Grammarly subscription and see if it improves that tedious process 😉

The Work

Currently, I am working on the second volume for Eysin “Uncharted Consequences of Borrowed Desire”. The chapters that I’ve finished working on (for the first round) can be found on my website.

Should you give it a go, please do comment when you find stupid and unintelligible sentences, X)

Hidden Birds

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