WRITER'S BLOGG | A Blog For Story Writing

How To: Writing Programs

Now that you have a plot, characters and a world to exist in, it's time to bring it all down to paper - or...PC?

There is really no right or wrong when it comes to writing and the ideals around it.

So I want to share with you some ways to write your story and list the upsides and downsides.

Let's start with the classical way - writing on paper.

For this you need a quite big notebook, depending on how long and complex you want your story to be.

A good-writing pen or fountain pen or pencil of course is a must.

Grab a few highlighters or neon gel pens for things you are unsure you wrote correctly or incorrectly.

Upsides:

- allows you to make small side notes

- used offline

- easy to store

- the feeling of paper is just RAGHHHHH I LOVE IT

- you can look all mysterious and aesthetic when you write in it

Downsides:

- no allowance for further additions

- paper can tear - pages can fall out, when water pours over it it's ruined -> no backups

- your notebook becomes full

- no allowance for corrections (some pens allow it -> erasable ink)

Over all, I think writing on paper is a good idea if you want to get started on storytelling and have no idea how to handle big writing programs. I wrote my first "novel" when I was 12 on paper in a notebook.

Option number two is digital writing.

A program I pray to every day:

Google Docs:

I can't stress this enough, this is a GEM when it comes to writing and actually wanting to have an overview on it.

Upsides:

- you can make chapter headings and these will appear as small shortcuts on the side so you can access chapters easily to continue writing without having to scroll for ages

- available offline

- saved in cloud -> backups happen automatically

- easy to use

- grammar correction, even seen in context ( e.g. "I look better then him" -> "I look better than him")

- you can let friends access it - good for beta reading and commenting

- accessible from Phone and PC (I always write offline on my phone on the bus so that's great :))

Downsides:

- a big document (like my novel "Tomorrow's Last Breath" with over 426 pages) can take ages to load and it loads a little buggy, pray for good wifi and your PC to power through

- if you accidentally press Ctrl + A (it selects all) and type something again, it automatically saves and you have to go over a huge way around to get to the original state before those changes of the document (I speak from experience ._.)

- on the version on Phone you don't have an overview of pages, only word count

Another program I used to write the 5th draft of "Tomorrow's Last Breath":

LibreOffice Writer:

A program for all the broke b!tches like me who can't afford the monthly fee of Word.

This has basically all the functions, with a little different set up.

Upsides:

- loads a big document (426 pages hehe) with ease

- commenting is a thing, I didn't try it yet

Downsides:

- no automatic backup -> Save on a USB stick in case your PC bites the dust

- you have to scroll for ages to access a certain chapter

- not offline available

- grammar correction only via command and it's not in context (e.g. "I look better then him" - then should be written than, still then is seen normal since it's a grammatical accurate word)

- saving can take a bit of time (have mercy on your PC, it's working on minimum wage)

And the last option:

Writing on the platform here:

I have to admit, I have too many trust issues to do that, so I tried it on Wattpad before. Here's what I figure out:

Upsides:

- auto-saves

- grammar correction (if you write on your Phone)

Downsides:

- sometimes your changes don't show up when you open the app again

- takes a long time to save sometimes

- only available through the app, no offline access, not available on different output

I know there are many other options to write on, you do you, in the end all that matters is that your idea turns into words.

I believe in you, you'll be great.