32 replies to this topic

[DreamingMacaron]

I really didn't know which of the lifestyle forums to put this in, so if this isn't the right one I apologize.

So anyway, who else here is going to use Evernote to write a novel in November? I've got a whole notebook dedicated to character notes, visual references, etc. - and of course, come November 1st, I'll be doing the actual novel-writing in Evernote too.

Now, the version of Evernote I'm using (the Mac one) doesn't have a wordcount feature, so I'll have to c/p to Google Docs to keep track of my progress. But it's good to have backups in more than one place anyway.

[gbarry]

I've failed at two NaNoWriMos so far . I think I'm going use this year's to supercharge a novel I started at last year's NaNoWriMo, and have been continuing ever since. Probably won't submit anything though.

I've found that inspiration comes in the weirdest places, and some of my best writing has happened when I'm waiting for a friend at a bar or something. So I pull out iPhone Evernote, create a new note with a simple title and bang out some paragraphs, take a snap of something if it was external inspiration. It's really more about churning out that content wherever inspiration hits.

I like the idea of using it to build character profiles. You could even take pictures of places where you think they would live, or what they may look like, and build those into the profile note. I'm really into the writer's theory that if you can build a real and thorough enough set of characters, the story will more or less write itself once you give them some circumstances to wade through.

EDIT: Probably should add the website of NaNoWriMo so this makes sense: http://www.nanowrimo.org/

[Jenni Lathrop]

I tried NaNoWriMo last year (and failed because of poor planning). But I still have my book folder in EN with characters, plot, etc. I should move the writing there as well. It was pretty terrible and i was quite proud of what I had so far!

[LauraMK1081]

This is the second year I'm doing NaNoWriMo. I'm very excited and keeping notes in Evernote to keep me going. I feel behind-- all I have is a loose plot written. But this weekend I will finish preparing! I am also forwarding pertinent emails from the NaNo folks into my Evernote account to save. (Thanks Jenni Lathrop for introducing me to Evernote! It's perfect for NaNo-ing!)

[Jsuttonmorse]

Second year doing NaNo, and I've been going back and forth on this. On the one hand, I really want to use Evernote for the writing. I've been clipping ideas & making notes (all tagged with .2011NaNoWriMo, since . is my indicator of a big project), so I'd love ot od the writing in Evernote as well. But ... I like to write each scene as an individual piece, meaning that in order to present the "whole" to my reading group, I'll have to copy over to Google Docs. (yes, I could share the notebook, but then I have to worry about the order, plus Google Docs makes comments/collaboration easier).

More importantly, I like to make a quick outline, then grab a chapter & make a few notes about what'll happen for that chapter, then a few more notes bout individual scenes, then start writing the scenes. Then I like to see the scenes and/or synopses all lined up together. That's a lot of putting links into a master document after the fact and/or a lot of hacking the dates in order to get my notes to display in the order that I want them to. Again, doable, but not necessarily worth the effort.

I LOVE Evernote for collecting. I haven't done as much outlining/character building as I'd like, but I've been clipping a lot & tagging for NaNo in Evernote. I'd love to do the writing here because I really want to us a cloud solution (for reference, Google Docs has enough issues with writing separate scenes and then combining them into a coherent whole that I won't be working there, just copy/pasting in), I'm just not sure if the extra effort is worth it. Plus, I'm not really travelling much, so I don't *need* the cloud solution. I may go back to Scrivener on the Mac, referring to Evernote clippings, and occassionally making notes in EN & copying into Scrivener if I'm out somewhere & get writing time on the phone and/or pad.

[Cerridwen]

Second year for me as well, and I plan to finish a novel I'm about 40K words into. November is such a hard month because of the holidays (at least here in the US), but I'm gonna give it a try.

I have not used Evernote yet for writing. I'm still using index card and post-it notes because I find it easier to refer back to written notes and I have a complex system of taping to my office walls. . I hope to use Evernote for writing on the go.

[gbarry]

I have not used Evernote yet for writing. I'm still using index card and post-it notes because I find it easier to refer back to written notes and I have a complex system of taping to my office walls. . I hope to use Evernote for writing on the go.

I'm picturing in the movies when the hero (or a crazy person, it sometimes works both ways) has a ton of pictures taped to the wall, with red yarn snaking between all of the pictures and news clippings and such.

[sschertz]

I am planning on doing NaNoWriMo this year. This will be my first ever attempt. I am only partially using Evernote however. I am going to do the actual writing in Scrivener (mac version). I've done a little brainstorming and outlining in there so far.

I do plan to use Evernote as part of the project. I have started collecting information and jotting down ideas in a notebook that I created specifically for this project. Then, when I'm ready to work on those ideas in Scrivener, I export the notes (to RTF using a script I downloaded eons ago) and drag them into the Research folder in Scrivener...

I don't intend to try and keep the two locations in sync; Scrivener will be the master location for the actual novel, and EN will probably be the main location for random notes and ideas. EN is just great at collecting stuff, but I think when it is time to organize and write, Scrivener will work better for me.

I also still like to handwrite some things (mostly jotting down quick notes). I then scan the pages later and put them in Evernote. My handwriting is so awful that the OCR doesn't do too much good, but it does pick up a few things. Scan stuff and getting into EN is pretty easy, so I figure I'll continue doing that for NaNoWriMo as well.

[milkfish]

It's my first NaNo and I'm using a notebook in Evernote to keep my plot and character notes, photos for inspiration, and other clippings. Once I have a better idea of what ideas are keepers I transfer the information into a wiki or directly into Scrivener (Inspector notes only, no text yet of course).

[DreamingMacaron]

This is my first year doing Nano. I have my characters more-or-less fleshed out, and I have a premise for the story, but I don't really know where it will go after the first few scenes. Hahah.

The guy who started Nanowrimo wrote a book called No Plot? No Problem!, and one of the things he suggests doing is making two lists: one for things you like in stories and would be good to include, and one for things you dislike in stories and would like to avoid including in yours. So I did that in Evernote. I also have, as aforementioned, plenty of visual references - one for the setting/environment, and one for each character. (I like to be able to visualize my characters doing stuff, and plus I've found some really, really good pictures that totally capture them.)

One of the most recent blog posts from the Nanowrimo team made the point that it's important to write down your inspiration the minute it strikes, so that's where a mobile version of Evernote comes in handy.

[smaviglia]

I am not a writer, but stumbled on this and thought it might be helpful to some: http://getyarny.com/

[noelgama]

Hi,

I've been using Scrivener for writing until I discovered Evernote a couple of weeks ago! Evernote doesn't sync with Scrivener but it's as good as Scrivener (perhaps better - Scrivener is not mobile:) but I wish it had two more levels in Notes - Stacks, Notebooks, Notes: Level-1, Level-2, Level-3. Currently, I assign a notebook to a chapter and stack them all into a 'book'. I assign a topic to each note in a chapter; however, most chapters (in nonfiction books) have subtopics.

Two more levels in Notes would do the trick... and of course, I'd have to go Premium to be able to work offline on my iPad &/or iPhone:)

[gbarry]

Hi,

I've been using Scrivener for writing until I discovered Evernote a couple of weeks ago! Evernote doesn't sync with Scrivener but it's as good as Scrivener (perhaps better - Scrivener is not mobile:) but I wish it had two more levels in Notes - Stacks, Notebooks, Notes: Level-1, Level-2, Level-3. Currently, I assign a notebook to a chapter and stack them all into a 'book'. I assign a topic to each note in a chapter; however, most chapters (in nonfiction books) have subtopics.

Two more levels in Notes would do the trick... and of course, I'd have to go Premium to be able to work offline on my iPad &/or iPhone:)

This has actually been a topic of heavy debate round here. You can set up a fairly effective system of tags to help manage and categorize yourself beyond the two levels (stacks and notebooks) provided. So for example:

Notebook - Book 1
Tags: Book1Ch1, Book1Ch2, Book1,Ch2

Notebook - Book 2
Tags: Book2Ch1, Book2Ch2, etc etc.

Depending on how you work your tags, the number of levels is pretty unlimited, and not really that ungainly. Set yourself up some saved searches if things get too crazy and you'd be good to go.

[GrumpyMonkey]

I use both Scrivener and Evernote. I would say that there are huge differences between the two, and they really aren't comparable in most respects. They are both great, but do very different things. In short, EN is for collecting and Scrivener is for creating.

Scrivener is made for re-ordering information. This is crucial during the writing process. Section one can be shifted down to section ten without any problem. In Evernote you have to put in quite a bit of effort to change the order of notes within a tag or notebook. The corkboard setting in Scrivener, for example, can be a great way to re-organize your thoughts.

Scrivener is made to export drafts and even final products. You can compile all of those bits and pieces of your writing together and export as a single, finished document. You cannot do this with Evernote. At best, you can export as an HTML file, which is hardly a manuscript.

Scrivener is a friendly syncer. I do all of my writing on the iPad in Elements, which has a folder in dropbox that is synced to Scrivener. When I go home, I open up Scrivener and re-arrange things if I have added sections. Otherwise, it sorts it all out for me. VERY nice. Scrivener also plays well with SimpleNote and Index Card. Evernote doesn't play well with anyone (in terms of syncing).

Evernote is made for collecting information, especially stuff you didn't write. Anything from web pages to notes can all be dumped in here and drawn upon later for your writing project. Things are easily sorted into categories using folders or tags. Scrivener is awful at this, because you basically have to put things in that research folder, where it sits independent of other Scrivener projects. It isn't the kind of one-stop virtual junk drawer that Evernote is.

Evernote is mobile and available on every platform. If you find a PDF on the web somewhere, you can just stick it into EN on the go. Scrivener is at home in the Macbook Pro and completely inaccessible. For a writer, having a place to write down ideas or deposit research is key, and EN does this perfectly. Scrivener is so limited in this respect that it just doesn't compare.

[brianafm]

I just heard about NaNoWriMo and I just signed up for it. This will be my first one and I'm going to use EN to do my writing. At times when I'm too distracted, I'll be writing in OmmWriter too to get my mind back on track. I'm a bit nervous but I'm excited!

[noelgama]

EN is for collecting and Scrivener is for creating.
I do all of my writing on the iPad in Elements, which has a folder in dropbox that is synced to Scrivener. When I go home, I open up Scrivener and re-arrange things if I have added sections. Otherwise, it sorts it all out for me. VERY nice.

Thank you, GrumpyMonkey! I liked that - "EN is for collecting and Scrivener is for creating" - very, very clear now.
I downloaded Elements for iPad from the Appstore - I leave my MacBookPro at the office and carry the iPad home and everywhere else after work.

I have yet to try syncing Elements with Scrivener via Dropbox:)

[dbmacks]

This is my second attempt at doing the 50,000 words in a month. The first one was 2 years ago. I made it to 48,000 words by Thanksgiving. My mother died the next day. I did finish the book 4 months later.
So this year it's on. I have written the first 1922 words this morning.
I will everyone well and good writing!

[adamdjacobs]

First go at NaNoWriMo for me, and I joined the evernote forums today just to keep track of what people are doing for their novels.

I have been an off-and-on evernote user for a while, recently I'm very much back on and using it constantly. So why not simplify things and try to write the novel there too?

I'd be interested to see screenshots of anyone's layout/notebooks for doing the novel, I am a total novice at this so any structure would help. Good luck writing everyone.

[Jamie Todd Rubin]

I'm not doing NaNo this year, focusing instead of my short fiction. But I have done it successfully in previous years and I recently wrote a post offering my Five Tips for a Successfully NaNoWriMo (http://bit.ly/oNw4P7) for anyone who is interested. Good luck to everyone taking the challenge this year!

[Nick Thacker]

This is my first year with NaNoWriMo, and so far, I've only popped out about 2k words... I wonder if we can do 50,000 letters instead? Haha.

Anyway, I second the Scrivener comments--it's hands-down the best piece of software for the creation/writing side of things, at least as it relates to longer documents. Just try to load a 100,000 word-long Microsoft Word document. Ugh. Anyway, it's also great for organizing the full package--compiling it down to whatever format, etc.

I use Evernote for the outlining and research part, since it's set up on all my devices and computers (MacBook Pro, PC at work, Android phone, and web wherever). The little buttons and applets that make it easy to snip certain sites or articles make using Evernote a dream for the research stuff.