The Book Of Yuena

writing a book on a phone

30 Aug 2022.
Update of book: Chapter 6 written.

I don’t use a computer, laptop or anything to write. Because I am a self-proclaimed masochist, I write directly on my mobile phone.

It’s also not a grandé iPhone or Samsung or anything like that. It’s a Redmi. Previously I had a Huawei, but then Google Play got disabled, couldn’t download genshin and so I gave it to my dad and stole his phone instead.

The camera’s good, but of course I want to look mildly cool when my default ringtone plays out and I snap out my phone. Also, Redmi puts a watermark on every picture I take. What the hell!

BUT. It seems to be helping. There’s something intimate about a mobile phone where the words flow right out of you and you also suddenly don’t give a shit about grammar.

There’s no pressure to write well. And I’m finding it super useful when writing a first draft. Because usually with a first draft, you at least want to get to the end of the book. And so far, I’ve only managed to do this twice out of the gazillion books I’ve started.

The first book I finished was a fanfiction, also written on a phone. I took it out whenever I was travelling and just wrote. The chapters weren’t long, maybe about 700-1,000 words each. Some wattpad chapters are so long, like goddamn, chill.

I used to have some pressure of making sure each chapter was about the same length. Mainly because you had reads and shit, and you wanted to make every update worth waiting for.

So... My approach now is to not upload as I write. I aim to finish the first draft before posting. And each chapter is of varying lengths, but if I post a chapter every day or every two days, a short chapter wouldn’t anger a reader too much... Right?

Ah. The downfall of writing on your phone is how hot it gets. My fingers are burning because I just spent three hours writing a chapter of my book before this. So, I will log off now.