As I’ve been building a creative writing practice, sometimes I’ve stalled out on drafting or I’ve found myself editing instead. While editing has its place, it can kill productivity. Every writer is different, but here are a few tools I’ve used to get myself back on track.

Speech-to-Text

This one surprised me, but speech-to-text has saved me so much time, because I am not self-editing while I am getting the ideas down. I can talk through the dialogue, get the brunt of the writing done, and I can quickly clean up quotation marks, punctuation, and word choice after. To my attorney friends who knew my distaste for dictation—it’s okay, please laugh at my expense. I already have, but I’m just glad it works. I use this on both my phone and laptop for drafting.

• iPhone dictation instructions
• Mac dictation
• If you use another device, you can search “dictate messages on…” with your device and likely get quick instructions.

Scrivener

I initially drafted in Google Docs, which was great for having access from whatever device I used. As the draft grew, though, it became harder to navigate to and see all the discrete parts of the story.

Social media, in all its algorithm-driven glory, appropriately targeted me for Scrivener content. I liked that I could try the software for 30 days (which can be extended by closing out the software except on the days when you are using it). Scrivener also periodically has discounts/coupon codes (I got another targeted ad during my trial period that saved me 20% on my purchase).

In Scrivener, I can split the draft between acts, chapters, scenes and also collect and organize background materials like an outline, character profiles, setting descriptions, notes, reference photos, pictures, and more. I often work with my draft up on one side of the screen and my outline (or reference document) on the other side.

Scrivener is truly what you make it. If you decide to give it a try, I suggest taking the time to go through the tutorial document to get a sense of the bigger features and then dipping back into it as needed to keep learning.

Reading/Learning About Writing

Writing a novel-length draft is very new to me. The idea of writing roughly 80,000 words is daunting. When I have struggled with plot points or particular scenes, instead of trying to immediately force myself to write, I study writing. Right now, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel is my current read, I have a long “To Be Read” collection on craft, and I also attended a writing workshop at the Gaithersburg Book Festival on plotting and outlining to help me figure out what to write next.

Outlining

At first, I started with a very broad strokes bulleted outline tacked at the end of my Google doc. For the easier scenes, that was all I needed to start writing. Once I got into the messy, less formed parts (especially the middle), though, I needed more structure. Instead of sitting in frustration, I learned about story beats and arcs, took notes and blended different story styles into a cohesive outline, and then filled in the missing pieces. My outline is much more robust now with extra notes of what I need to accomplish by the end of a scene or chapter. I expect it will continue to evolve. Because of the outline, though, I know where I need to raise the stakes, have a false victory (or defeat), and roughly where I am in the overall story, all of which help me keep writing.

Notes App

I cannot control when inspiration strikes, but I can write even when I’m not actively on my laptop. A lot of ideas hit me in the middle of the night (this list included). Instead of immediately tracking my computer down, I write myself a note so I can come back to the thought(s) later. Right now, I have notes for book reviews, unique story perspectives from my voice, additional story ideas, book drafting, writing craft notes (articles/links I liked, how to handle certain scenes), and observations from life. I may not use everything I write down, but I would definitely forget most of it without doing so. If you do not prefer writing on your phone, you could also keep a notepad on you to write down ideas. Either way, saving the ideas keeps me writing more and rethinking less.

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I’m sure as this process continues, I’ll learn new ways to keep my process moving. As you’ve been writing, are there any tools or tricks you use to keep drafting?