Apps I use during my writing process

I'm always fascinated by the tools, apps, and programs that other writers use. Also, everyone can use the the same app in a different way, so that's always cool. I thought I'd share what apps I use during my writing process and how. Unfortunately, out of the 3 apps I list here, only Evernote is available for PC users. But, there are alternative apps you can use for Ulysses and Goodntoes.

Research

The app that holds my research notes is Evernote. This is the app I’ve used the longest and I use it as a brain dump for anything and everything I'm thinking of. A great feature that I utilize all the time is Evernote can be installed as an extension on your browser. Whenever you want to save an article, picture, etc you just click on the elephant icon and it'll store it in the app. I tend to save a lot of images for future story settings. A lot of times just a photo can prompt a story, so I keep a ton of those filed away in Evernote.

This is the app I open when I’m drifting off to sleep and hear a bit of dialogue. It's the easiest to access on my phone and since it can be used offline, I tend to use it for shopping lists and stuff as well. This app has so many uses and I've been using it forever. It does has an annual fee, but I think it's well worth it.

Sketch

Once I've researched the crap out of something, it's time to make sense of it. I start organizing the notes into story form by writing what most would call an outline, but I call it sketching. The app I use to write longhand is called Goodnotes and I use it on my iPad. (Obviously, you can do this step in a notebook, but for the reasons I'll explain below, I've gone digital).

I love writing on paper and wanted to have a notebook dedicated to every book, but when you’re brainstorming for book 2, you're probably going to have ideas for book 4 and maybe even book 7. I've tried several different methods. In the very beginning I used to have a binder, but Awakened by Sin filled up it's own binder so having notes for multiple books was kind of impossible. I did try to start new notebooks for these future books, but would inevitably misplace them or forget what they looked like. I also tried to highlight these notes so I could remember specific details that needed to be included, but by the time I was actually ready to write book 4, finding those notes amongst everything else was impossible, especially if it had been 2 years since you finished that last book. I also move a lot so I kept losing things. I needed a better system. Digital made more sense, but it wasn’t the easiest transition. Writing on a piece of glass just didn’t have the same magic as paper, but I’ve adjusted over time and now have no problem grabbing my iPad to journal, sketch, and update my daily planner. I use my iPad every day for this reason.

You can create your own notebooks in Goodnotes, but when I found out people were selling themed and subject notebooks on Etsy, that changed everything for me. Digital notebooks and stickers have become an obsession of mine, but thankfully no one can actually see my collection unless they look at my iPad. :) I love the notebooks with subjects/dividers because I can fit a whole series in one digital notebook, which is INsane. This is unbelievably helpful when you write long series like me and have a ton of notes for each character and story that evolve the deeper you get into that series. This way, I will never lose any notes!

Below is the index page of a 12 subject notebook. The numbers at the top appear on each page and are hyperlinked so you can easily jump to each subject--or, in my case, book in the series. The home button will bring you back to this index page.

Index page of digital notebook

And below is an example of the title page for section 1. My favorite seller to buy from on Etsy is Typemaven. She makes the cutest notebooks and I stalk her regularly. I should actually try to figure out how to make my own notebooks since I use so many of them, but I don't have an artistic bone in my body and I love her aesthetic and themes so buying these from her works for me.

There are so many benefits for digital notebooks. I will go into more depth on Goodnotes in future, but the biggest pro for using this app is I have years of daily planners and notes for every book I ever want to write on my iPad at all times. Also, adding pages, reorganizing your notes and marking important pages to add to your outline help immensely. A new feature is the ability to search your handwriting, which I used recently. The fact that this software can accurately search my chicken scratch is mind-blowing!

Writing

And, last but not least is the software I actually write in: Ulysses. This writing app is pretty basic compared to the features of other programs. There's no fussing with font, spacing, word count, and all those other things that can distract you from writing. You just open up Ulysses and begin, which I absolutely love.

The main reason I moved from Scrivener to Ulysses is the universal library where you can search through all of your books and notes with one search box. Ulysses is organized through “nesting” where you can create infinite sub categories so you can organize the way that suits you best.

This is how the Singed Series is currently organized in Ulysses

There are too many benefits and features to list for Ulysses. I will probably do a mini series of the features I use and why I prefer it to Scrivener. I am still a newbie and only started using Ulysses in October 2020, but I think I know enough to weigh in on it.

Conclusion

I don't think these kinds of things are talked about amongst writers, so I wanted to share what I use and why. I don't consider myself very tech savvy (I had a lot of trouble on social media and never figured out how to add anything to my stories on FB or IG), so I think the more straightforward and basic something is, the better.

If you have any questions you'd like me to answer in future, let me know!