Software for writing: I only use 2 apps (so far)
Writing is hard enough by itself. Between the craft, the publishing process, and dealing with people – the last thing anyone wants is to make their life unnecessarily more complex for something that’s supposed to bring them passion + joy….
BUUUUUT… I’d be lying if I said these tools didn’t make my life easier. Anyone who's writing a modern work knows how many moving pieces there are before you have a draft worth presenting, so why not make the journey a little easier?
I know some purists who would only write with a quill and parchment if they could. But for us mere mortals with regular lives and access to the internet – there is no need for such theatrics.
The two tools I use are:
If you wanna know HOW I’m using them – then read on!
Brief Explanation: I know some people won’t click on the links to learn more so rather than leaving them in the dark – I’ll quickly touch on what they are.
- Scrivener is a desktop app (not a site like google docs) that’s basically a writers one stop shop. IT CAN DO EVERYTHING that 99% of writers would need to do. But precisely because it can do “everything” – that leads to it being a little unwiedly and overwhelming for new writers.
- Logseq is just a simple clean note-taking application. Think of something like Notion (but not as many features) or Obsidian.md if you’ve heard of those tools.
Why do I use just these two?
Scrivener is basically where I keep the actual story and all its surrounding details and research. This is an example of its UI:
As you can see – it lets me neatly place all of my notes, research, etc DIRECTLY in the writing environment for easy access. It’s an absolute dream and I love it but there is definitely a learning curve so be prepared!
There’s an entire editing side to this software that I haven’t even tried yet. So yes – it really can do just about everything you would need, including exporting to docx , etc.
The other tool is Logseq. It’s just a general note taking application – but I treat it as like the “manager” for my writing life. This is the main UI:
The App opens on a Journal Page with today’s date on it. So, it basically would let me track what I need to work and immediately assemble my Todo list as soon as I open the app. As you can see – its empty because I created a test example folder rather than my real one :)
Flashcards – for all you students out there, you can select text/blocks and turn them into flashcards for review! Could be handy for plot points for writers too!
Most importantly the graph view:
This is a way to take all your pages and visualize how you’re connecting them. If you’re planning some epic multiverse or a complex series – this is indispensable.
As you can see I’m using them as directories to collect novels, ideas, shorts so far but you can make as many pages as you need for any topic you define as a page. Basically, building an entire network of links that will grow and interconnect over time and MANAGE my writing life.
In theory – you could totally set up your logseq to outline your book. I wouldn’t recommend outright writing in it is that the entire app works by using “blocks”, so everything is going to look a little off if you use this as your main writing tool.
But outlining or worldbuilding? Have at it!
My simple workflow:
- I start my session is logseq – put in today’s goals for the journal. See where I am in certain projects (it has tables & calendars too) and just pick my adventure for the day.
- Once the project & tasks are picked – move over to scrivener for that project and get to work.
- Once a session is done – I put in review notes for that day in the journal. What went right, wrong, need to come back too, etc.
That’s it! Everything I need (so far) to manage + write from just two apps.
Oh – Scrivener has a one-time payment (+30 day free trial) and Logseq is entirely free! If you need an alternative – try Obsidian.md, but honestly, I think it has less features that logseq. (But you might like its tagging system a little better)
So far, I have no reason to use anything else. But perhaps once I breach the publishing side – the demands of the wider world may cause me to expand my workflow toolkit.
But don’t take my word for it! Try them out!