John Rehg

I’m preparing to begin my 3rd revision on my first novel – yeah, there’s no deadline yet so I can do things like this: check out another way to build the novel. I wrote my first revision in MS Word, and when I re-wrote it I started in the same software again. But the time stretched out, and progress plodded slowly forward. Then I attended a workshop where I saw some Mac software that looked really great – except that I didn’t (and still don’t) own a Mac. So I searched the Windows world and came across yWriter. This software, coupled with learning to plan via Randy Ingermanson, the ‘snowflake guy’, and a few others, increased my output tremendously.

How much did it help? In the first 3 months of revision 2 I completed approximately 70 pages. Over the next 3 months (after several weeks of planning – okay, it was quick planning) I completed the revision, an additional 250 pages! Over a three-fold increase.

Now I’m preparing for revision 3, and what do I plan to do? I plan to check out an Open Office Writer template that some have used in place of yWriter. Why? I enjoyed the structure of yWriter (I used version 5), but found the writing section too small for my needs, and I wasn’t able to format completely to my satisfaction. This resulted in having to make adjustements when I exported to Word for final touch-up.

It may be that I just didn’t dig deep enough into the software, I don’t know. But as I begin reading the comments from several readers, I will also look at the template and begin setting up the new revision. There’s something freeing, to me, about being able to write on a large blank page vs. being confined to a small rectangle. (Or even a larger rectangle. I think it was adjustable in yWriter, but I can’t say for sure as it’s been almost a year since I last touched it.

Come along with me on this journey and see if it helps you in your own novel writing.

John