Writers (and readers) who are also, in their own way, fineapples. All friendly here.
Writer Tools (Reader Tools)
What are some of the best tools for both reading and/or writing that you have found?
For reading, I absolutely love the Kindle app. I have a Kindle too, but with all my text books and other shenanigans in my bag one more thing might kill me. This makes the Kindle app the best because I can use my phone to read anytime, anywhere.
For writing, I've just recently discovered Ywriter. I really like the layout of it but getting used to it is a task. Also, it doesn't sync up so I can have it on multiple devices which sucks for my work/life/school balancing act. Mostly I've been using Google Drive, but I'm not that fond of it either. I'm really searching for a good system to use that is both mobile and novel focused in its tools.
The other thing I've been looking for is a better brainstorming tool and/or a good story bible layout.
One more cool app I've discovered is Rescue Time. It tells me how I'm spending my time both on my phone and on my computer so that I can better appropriate it. Extremely useful since I am notorious for going down the rabbit hole of not doing anything productive.
What about you guys? Any awesome tools that make your reading/writing life easier?




I lean heavily on Google Drive. I keep my outlines and timelines and general appendixes in various Sheets, and I do all my drafting, editing, and commenting directly in Docs. Partly because I prefer the no-frills, get-out-of-my-way blank page interface, partly because accessibility and backing up the work is a huge issue for me.
I break up novel stuff into 15k or less pieces only because I use my phone as my writing tool at least 80% of the time, and more than that takes longer to load on mobile than my patience can bear. I drop hyperlinks to the other files, and stitch it together to go through first revisions and big-picture structural work.
Deeper edits get broken back up into chapters, more because I like checklists than anything else. I do all my beta and crit reading on Drive also, and export back to .docx at need.
I recently started to use Evernote, and between using my desktop at work/home and my phone on the go, I don't have any solid complaints. It's super useful when you're researching online: it has a plug-in that allows you to clip and reference articles, pages, or anything else you find on the web while at the same time allowing you to organize it where you want. For me that's awesome because I'm OCD when it comes to organizing my ideas from "that would be cool to write about - one day" to "OH SNAP that would make even more sense in [insert current novel here]!!"
I use a similar web article clip site called Pocket. Although, Evernote almost sounds like a better program because it can do more than just clip websites... I'll have to look into that.
Right now Pocket was appealing because it is easy. I can just click the pocket symbol on my phone/desktop/etc and tag it under a reference label like, writing, and go back to it whenever. It's also nice because I can read the page offline. This is helpful when I visit my family who lives in the boonies. :0)
Hmm, I can't recall using Evernote offline (from cell service anyway), but I take public transportation to work and there are several areas that the train passes through that are utter dead zones, but I don't have an issue accessing my notes there.
Looking at Pocket's website now, it kinda looks like Pinterest, which would drive me bonkers for the way I'd want to utilize it! I wonder if you can sync between the two? Pocket for off-grid usage, Evernote once you're ready to sit down and get some work done? Looks liks they're compatible to sync, thank you Google for the answer haha. :)
I use Evernote offline. In my day job I'm regularly out of service and I use it fairly often both for writing notes and for notes for work. Obviously it doesn't sync until I connect but I've never had a problem. I really ought to explore its wider uses - at the moment I really only use it for notes.
I'm an old fogey: I write in a blank page word processor because dangit, that's how I did it in the old days, that's how I do it now. (Anyone remember the bright blue WordPerfect screens? Ah, blinding blue.) Right now though once it comes time to format for any platform I might care to use, I use Scrivener. I've also recently discovered it makes a really excellent off-label wiki, but you have to have the program installed and use the scrivener file as the wiki. Still, that helps me keep all my world notes together, so I'm at least potentially more organized than I used to be.
(Who am I kidding. I'm never that organized.)
I also use Aeon Timeline to keep things straight. I try to use it while I'm writing but that doesn't always happen, so often it's open up the document, open up aeon timeline, start entering things after I'm done.
For reading I use Kindle Cloud reader and my really old Kindle. It's not even a paperwhite, it's just a Kindle. I should probably replace it but it still works, so, eh.
I've tried (and wanted so badly) to use Scrivener, but I can't get it together enough to utilize it. It's often offered with a free trial and a discount during NaNo and every year I download it and try it out but I'm impatient and since it takes training I haven't taken the time. Did you use a video/blog/etc to learn how to use it? Any tips for a Scrivener newbie?
I've never heard of Aeon Timeline! It's now on my list of tools to try! I've used Hive before, but I wasn't a fan and now I look for anything electronic to hash out my story line.
I still use a notebook/pen/paper often. Mostly because I spend over 10 hrs at a computer, so when I'm home we don't do screens. This means the old, old fashioned way. But I like to move my notes online so that if anything happens I have a back up of what I've done. Does anyone else do this?
I did a combo of watching a video, deciding I could totes do this by myself, mucking around with it, making something servicable but ugly, realizing I needed a tutorial, going and looking at the tutorial, and finally getting something passable! My main problem with it is there almost is no way to use just the bare minimum of functions, so yes, it does require a lot of fiddling and training and so on. My best advice? Pick ONE aspect of it you want to learn, muck around with it or talk it over with someone who uses it (I won't be around over the next weekend but if you want after I get back I can help), and then when you feel comfortable with that, move on to the next.
I love Aeon timeline, honestly. It's so useful, especially when you want to branch out into non Gregorian non 24 hour day type timelines. I haven't tried their latest version that just came out over the summer, but I'm looking forward to doing so.
I hear that! My biggest problem with a notebook and paper is it doesn't go fast enough to keep up with my brain, and the more impatient I get, the worse my handwriting gets. :D
I would love to get help! I start school this week, and the first few weeks are always crazy busy, but it would be awesome to link up to get some Q's answered after I've fiddled with it a bit!
The first novel I ever wrote, I did so entirely by hand. It was awful. When I had to edit/transcribe the whole thing it was a nightmare. Ultimately I think that's why when I self-published it, it wasn't the best work I could have done because I became so frustrated with all the time it was taking just to get it on the computer. By the time it was transcribed I was done.
I also had taken some advice that really didn't suit well for me, it was: When writing a novel, just write. Don't worry about punctuation/paragraphing/etc. You'll figure that out later.
Figuring it out later drove me to tears. I couldn't figure out what I had been doing or where things were supposed to break or pause. It was a total nightmare for me. I will never, ever do that again and I'm glad I learned it. Now, I just do things little pieces at a time. If I write something in a notebook I don't wait until it's eight chapters before I type it up. It's easier on my brain this way.
I totally get about the brain going too fast. A good thing I've found for this is dictation. I was really hesitant to use it, but when my mind is going full bore it's the only solution.
I recently bought scrivener and used the coupon code WORDSWITHJAM. Saved me $11.54 CAD :)
Thank you! I love any discounts I can get!
I have DragonCon this weekend, which inevitably means the week before and the week after I am either running around like the proverbial chicken or exhausted and dead to the world. So I should be functional some time in about the friday after next.
There's something to the advice of 'just write,' except that usually it's given to people who tend to OVERthink the punctuation, paragraph breaks, etc. As always, writing advice depends in usefulness on the person trying to take it. Whatever works for you! Is what works. Obviously. ;)
I do actually have Dragon NaturallySpeaking on at least one of my computers. Sadly it's my home desktop, which I don't always have access to, but it's been very, very useful.
Old-fashioned writing tools are easy on the eyeballs and fun, too. I enjoy the tactile aspects of researching and writing by hand. However, like you, I do worry about losing paper notes and other artifacts.
Sharing your pain over "organic writing" advice.
Interesting, your comment about dictation -- do you use Dragon Speaking Naturally?
Have you tried Nuance's Dragon Anywhere app?
Oh my gosh! How did you get Aeon to accept nonstandard time? Please oh please teach me how you did it! Mine refuses to accept a different standard value for week/month/year and completely goobered my dates for a long-game intrigue.
I am writing this late at night on the unofficial first day at DragonCon (how did it get to be a five day con? HOW?) so this may not be the most coherent, but it starts with, from the opening screen, going to custom calendars and then clicking 'new' in the bottom towards the left. It'll start you off in months, which you can then configure days for (and you'll have to have a month name and an abbreviation, whether it's standard Gregorian or otherwise. The tab to the left contains eras, the tab to the right contains days, which you can configure in terms of however many hours you want them to have. Don't know if it takes decimals of hours or not.
Happy writing!
Two months later, I finally had time to poke at Aeon again - there's a new version! Aaaaa! I updated accordingly, and wonder of wonders, the custom calendar is about 300% more useable now.
Just uh. Careful with the leap months. (Thank the gods for autosave!)
(Grinning) Old fogey reference rings bells. Yep, I remember the salad days of WordPerfect and floppies. Swapping correction fluid and cover-up cartridges for [copy/paste] and [delete] felt magical!
Years of newsroom writing, editing, and tutoring seems to have forged a default writing drive and neural net in my brain: Grey cells to fingers, fingers to keyboard. And yet ... I still love to write by hand, enjoying the scratch of a more deliberate thought process that demands writing complete sentences in real time, on real paper, with real ink.
Just took a first look at Aeon Timeline and immediately felt overwhelmed. I'm going to pay attention to that gut reaction, for now, and buy more sticky notes. :)
I do like Grammarly for catching boo-boos as I compose.
Recently picked up a Kindle Fire for my "cloud" reading, since battery replacement for my original iPad is no longer an option (Oh, Apple! Why?). My daughter's Paperwhite is much easier on the eyes, but I still prefer real books. I don't buy as many as I used to, bowing to the limitations of space in my home and room in my budget; this summer, I renewed my acquaintance with our local library system. I'd forgotten how much pleasure comes with exploring the stacks and racks and shelves, and I've noticed my brain waking up as I widen my tastes with recommendations from librarians and other readers.
This awakening and a strong need for a more bookish place to connect led me to imzy and, in particular, this group (recommended via Goodreads by Kevin Hearne). Thanks for reading and hopefully, responding, to my post! ;)
I used only Kindle for the longest time. I read ebooks checked out from my library via Overdrive and overdrive was not intuitive for the longest time. I have to say it has grown on my in the last year.
I have overdrive too. I love that the library uses them and that I can get audio books (mostly) instantly. Overdrive is a tough app though. Sometimes it doesn't function how I think it should and I get frustrated, but it seems they've put some updates into it so I'm going to keep with it. Besides, it's free w/ free content just for being part of my library so I can't really complain much.
Thanks for the info folks.
Does Scribd count as a reader tool?
I own a Nook, so everything I buy goes into my nook app on my phone (which I prefer to the Kindle app). But, I also found that a lot of things I wanted to read I could just read on Scribd for a fairly nominal fee. The app isn't great, or really meant to used when you're offline, but I feel like I get decent access for $9/mo.
I've never heard of Scribd, but I'm going to look it up! That's the beautiful thing about posting this question, I always find a bunch of new stuff to try out!
I really like Novlr for writing, but I've never attempted to use it on a mobile device. Just be sure to close it in one location before opening it in another.
Also, my needs are very few when it comes to writing software. Easy to organize. Word counter. Basic styling. Anything more I find to be a distraction.
I've never heard of Novlr either!
I agree about too many distractions but I do like when it can be broken up into sections. yWriter is awesome with that. They make it so you can take notes about your characters, specific scenes, etc and you can mark special abilities or items as you write. I'm just really bummed it's not a cloud based or export type system. I use three computers regularly and need to be able to transfer data. If there's a way to do it with yWriter I haven't figured it out yet...
Novlr has a notes section. I don't think they've implemented a Chapter Notes ability yet, though it's been talked about. Might be worth a trial to see if it suits?
I'm going to have to look up that Rescue Time app, because I know I spend way too much time on Twitter >.<
The Nook/Kindle apps are always the first thing I add to my phone/tablet. I love being able to just read on my phone when I'm waiting for doctor's appointments or in line at the grocery store or whatever.
I read a lot of blogs about different "make yourself better" topics and ran across it. I mostly downloaded it because my husband was shocked when he learned that I was in the 700's level on this silly little phone game and he told me I would need to be logging serious hours. I didn't believe him, because it didn't feel like I was wasting that much time.
Guess what? I was. I logged 35 hrs in one week... Ya. It got me to delete the game. I also spend an absorbent amount of time on G+ and twitter too. It really takes away from writing and school.
It's my New Year's (even though it's almost September) resolution to become better at time management.
OMG someone else who actually LIKES G+!
I definitely need that app, because I rejoined WoW recently and I know I've been spending too much time on it (first time on sub - killing things helps with the anxiety more than trying to write a new trash fire wip). I'm going to download it and see exactly how much time I'm wasting every day...
G+ is the best. I know people have some things to say, but I've networked a lot through there and it's a great resource for writers.
I try to talk every author I know to join. I look at G+ as more of a business hangout, then a platform to reach fans. Maybe that's why my perspective is a little brighter than others.
That's exactly what it is. A perfect space for writers to congregate and network (I'm hoping this place will become the same!)