Jessica Ferguson

Author, Writing Coach, Speaker

IWSG: My Writing Tools

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The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. We’re encouragers! Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.

 

The awesome co-hosts for the July 3 posting of the IWSG are JS Pailly, Rebecca Douglass, Pat Garcia, Louise-Fundy Blue, and Natalie Aguirre!

 

Our Optional Question:

What are your favorite writing processing (e.g. Word, Scrivener, yWriter, Dabble), writing apps, software, and tools? Why do you recommend them? And which one is your all time favorite that you cannot live without and use daily or at least whenever you write?

 

No matter what tools, apps or writing programs I purchase, I always end up returning to Microsoft Word. I work faster there.

I’ve owned Scrivener for years and never been able to completely figure it out. Just in the past few months, I’ve taken the time to watch a few instructional videos and mastered another step or two. I know many authors swear by Scrivener but I also know I’ll never be one of them. If you’re interested in Scrivener, you can try it for FREE. I suggests you do what I do, use just the basics and learn at your own pace.

I also purchased Plottr a couple of years ago. I loved it. I watched a lot of YouTube sessions/interviews with various authors on how they used it and I have to admit, I created a beautiful outline for my latest WIP. I was able to create character sketches and scenes for each chapter but guess what – I’m a combination pantser/plotter and I have not been able to finish my book—even with a detailed outline and scenes. For the first time, I think I understand what authors mean when they say outlining ruins the story for them. I always thought that was a crazy thing to say but it’s the only excuse I can come up with because my novel is basically planned out and waiting for me to finish it.

With Microsoft Word, I can sit down and soar. My old arthritic fingers still type pretty fast and I enjoy letting my characters lead me. Usually the first three chapters move fast. In the middle I falter. So once I slow down and stumble through that middle, I’ll turn to my NOTES app on my iPhone. That’s where I drop pieces of dialogue, ideas for scenes and description as they comes to me at odd times. I can’t do without NOTES on my phone.

What I really love is YouTube. Anytime I need to know how to do something, YouTube is my go-to for help. I’m very thankful for those authors who take the time to create how-to videos and seminars on Zoom.  And blogs like this one: Jill Kemerer

My question for you: what would we do without each other?

 

 

How Do You Write?

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I truly envy those of you who can sit down and plot your entire book scene by scene or chapter by chapter, including each character’s GMC. I can’t. Or maybe I should say I don’t plot to that extent. I use a very vague 3-act structure. And pile lots of random notes into my iPhone.

I start thinking about the story when an idea or a character with a goal or a problem pop into my mind. I vaguely map out the little I know —and hope it’s enough to keep me excited. I’ll be able to tell soon enough … when I start writing. The actual writing is where I get to know my characters and my story. Would you call me a pantser?

I’m a fast typist. If I have a soft comfortable chair to sit in, I can write all day. I just think story and let my fingers fly. The problem, of course, is that there’s a heck of a lot of revision.

Once I wrote four novellas in the course of a few days. That was several years back and I often think about those short books, and how I might make them longer. The characters are still real to me. Their stories still excite me, but they’re so rough I’d probably be overwhelmed if I re-read them. I wonder how long revision would take. I used to love rewriting my novels. Now, not so much.

Every writer has their own writing/plotting/revision methods. Plotting is probably second nature to many of you. I’m good with beginnings and endings–meaning they come fairly easy. It’s the middle that stops me cold and hangs me up.

I’m investigating plottr. It seems like an interesting program—and very visual. I’ve never fully understood or caught on to Scrivener so maybe Plottr will work for me. There’s an interesting YouTube interview with bestselling author Deb Kastner, and she shares her plotting a romance template. There are many good instructional videos showing valuable info regarding plottr. You may have already watched them.

Have you used Plottr? What’s your experience with it? Share how you write. I’m curious and interested.