You sit at your desk with nothing but a fresh notepad and good intentions. But, you find that you can’t write your novel in thin air - you need to plan, plan and plan some more. How can ApolloPad help you draw a solid roadmap for the exciting journey that’s ahead of you?
“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”
― John Steinbeck
Maybe you want to finally bite the bullet and take part in NaNoWriMo this year. Perhaps you’re a seasoned author suffering from writer’s block. Or maybe you’re simply overwhelmed by the number of ideas you have.
A lot of authors, when asked if they plan, may discount planning as something which takes the creativity out of writing.
If you have a romantic view of novel-writing, you might imagine yourself as a mere vessel for the special lightning strike of inspiration, a means for it to get on the page.
This narrow image of creativity doesn’t exactly allow for sticky notes.
But you don’t have to be a martyr and suffer for your art. You don’t have to yield to the fickle, mystical nature of inspiration. Planning is actually a real asset to your writing.
It will help you create an image in your mind’s eye of what the final product will look like and keep you motivated to get there. It will also help you keep track of key plot points and characters.
Genres such as crime and science fiction, for example, create a necessity for planning. You have to keep your timeline in check, or you’ll get confused by your own plot and if you can’t follow your writing, your readers can’t either. Remember the five Ws - who, what, where, when, why.
With ApolloPad, you can create a project outline which allows you to write an outline for each chapter of your novel to refer to easily. You can also create a project timeline to allow you to visualize the events of your novel easily. You can then link specific documents to these timeline events.
Works across all your devices
“Write while the heat is in you… The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with.”
― Henry David Thoreau
You never know when you might suddenly get a great idea. You need a tool which is entirely online and works everywhere. ApolloPad is that tool.
Maybe you want to boost your daily word-count on your commute - no need to worry about signal cutting out and losing your work. ApolloPad works offline too. Your work is saved as soon as you get a signal.
With the technology we have today, it would be silly not to take advantage of the portability that comes with this for your writing.
Use ApolloPad anywhere you want - on your computer, mobile or tablet.
Stay on target with word-counting and visible progress
“A word after a word after a word is power.”
― Margaret Atwood
Much harder than writing when you’re inspired is writing when you’re not, but that’s often when material hits the page that you didn’t think was there. The key to writing discipline is consistency.
Sylvia Plath woke up every day at the break of dawn to give herself some valuable writing time before her children woke up. By doing this, she ensured consistency and made sure she made time for herself as an artist.
You might not be as much of a morning person as Plath, but if you’re writing a novel you must have a word count in mind.
The handy dashboard will give you an overview of the targets you’ve set and whether or not you’re hitting them from day to day. Visible progress while you work will help to keep you motivated.
Create character profiles
“Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.”
― Jane Yolen
Even if you can’t write hundreds of words a day, you might still have vivid ideas of your characters. Their names, their backgrounds, maybe even their whole life history and deepest fears. Get that down. The story comes from the characters.
ApolloPad allows you to create complete character profiles and sketch out their whole personality.
Your character can be updated at any time, so it’s not set in stone. If you want to change the name of your character, for example, ApolloPad will update that throughout your project.
Customize your writing space as you like it
“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”
― Virginia Woolf
There is no doubt that the freedom to write often depends on your environment. What if there was a way to ensure a distraction-free space free for you to customize?
You might be in a busy coffee shop, but you’ll still be able to tailor your workspace with ApolloPad. Change from light themes to dark themes and change your font and corkboard theme.
After all, your mind is unique - why shouldn’t your workspace be?
If that’s not enough freedom for you and you’re handy with coding, you can even use your own custom CSS.
Embrace the planning process and write that novel
Writing a novel is undoubtedly a tricky process which requires the brain to be in a dozen places at once. Wouldn’t you love to have your notes, character sketches, drafts and plot overview all in one handy place?
ApolloPad gives you the tools to really enjoy the planning process.
It helps you create realistic goals, encourages you to be consistent, and it pushes you to meet that word goal, even when you don’t feel like it.
All of this with a distraction-free interface.