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Thursday, November 19, 2009

yWriter 5

I’ve always written prose in Word, but lately I’ve been having issues with keeping a handle on plot threads and the outlining process, and integrating the whole thing in to an editing process. Really, it has been a real pain in the ass. Because of this I’ve done some searching for some kind of organizational software solution without spending money. Yeah, I know, I’m cheap.

I came across yWriter and, so far, it seems pretty cool. Oh yeah, it’s free.

I, being the simpleton that I am, have not really delved too much in to yWriter as a full on solution, but I have adapted some of its features so that they are very good solutions for me. Basically, yWriter is a program for the novelist. It’s set up for organizing chapters and scenes within chapters. It also allows you to keep character bios and backgrounds. It’s real strength though is when it’s used as an outline tool. Well, that’s for me. It probably has some other strengths, but I just haven’t goofed around with it enough.

For my situation it’s been very handy. Here’s my situation. For the last couple of years I’ve been working on a novel told with short stories. Basically a collection of loosely, and sometimes not so loosely, connected short stories that in their entirety tell a larger story. Yeah, not very original, but it’s a perfect solution for me; being ADHD and all, but that’s a different topic of discussion. What I do with yWriter is treat each story as a chapter. Each chapter is outlined and the characters are fully fleshed out. Throughout this project I’ve taken different scenes within a story (chapter) and moved them to another story. With Word it’s a real pain in the ass. With yWriter it’s simply a matter of dragging and dropping. It automatically updates the outline as well. When it’s all done I’ll be able to export the whole project to Word and then print that puppy out.

Being that I’m by nature a pretty straight forward kind of person I still do almost all of my writing in Word and then import it to yWriter.

So, as I use this little gadget I’ll keep you posted on how it works for me. If I don’t, well, blame the ADHD.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

2012 That Was Close…

In recognition of the Friday opening of 2012 I’ve decided to post this little news blurb:

Although no one noticed at the time, the Earth was almost hit by an asteroid last Friday.

The previously undiscovered asteroid came within 8,700miles of Earth but astronomers noticed it only 15 hours before it made its closest approach.

Its orbit brought it 30 times nearer than the Moon, which is 250,000 miles away.

I must admit that I absolutely love “End Of The World As We Know It” scenarios. It’s a guilty pleasure I suppose. No, I don’t consider zombie stories as part of a EOTWAWKI scenario. I simply consider zombie stories stupid.

But that’s another discussion.