Who needs more than a pen and a wordprocessor, right?

Right.

When I started writing, I thought that Word would be enough. Then I read a book that recommended outlining your story using index cards. Once you had your notes down, you could easily move them all around on a big corkboard to rearrange your story. So much easier than printing out actual scenes and rearranging them!

But not so easy to take with you - on the corkboard - to a coffee shop. And guess what happens once you take those cards off the corkboard? Yeah. Order, schmorder. I ended up with piles of index cards laying around my office - index cards with post-its attached, no less. Colorful but sad.

Then I heard a rumor that FinalDraft, the popular software program for screenwriters, had a ‘cards’ feature which would virtualize - huzzah! - my card dilemma. Some dollar$ later, I had hacked my way to a standstill. FinalDraft is just dandy - if you use it as it’s meant to be used. One day I’ll be writing a screenplay with it.

I was back to Microsoft Word and cards until one magical day I wandered into the wonderful world of SuperNoteCard. A program that’s actually meant for novelists sick of using index cards! for only $29! It has a few flaws and isn’t entirely intuitive, but it’s pretty damned great and helped me enormously as I made my way through First Draft in 30 Days, outlining my little heart out.

Then today as I was reading Nathan Bransford’s blog - ahem, writing - I came across a comment that led me to yWriter.

(The above pic is a screenshot of a yWriter storyboard showing scene progression arranged by POV.)

From my initial forays, this is the program of programs. It combines the best of SuperNoteCard - easy shuffling of scene order, ability to cross-reference settings, characters and objects, and an encapsulated view of my entire humongous manuscript - with the other key elements I’d hoped SNC would provide: a built-in scene timeline, POV indicators and chart, and a way to both describe a scene and write a scene on one “card.” Plus, drag-and-drop! And it’s FREE!

One caveat - the person who initially recommended this program did have an issue where they lost a draft of their manuscript due to a crash. Taking that into account, I’m backing up frequently. But I don’t think I’m going to stop using this program anytime soon.

Unless, of course, there’s something better out there. Anyone?

*** UPDATE ***

Nope, nothing bad - I’m even more convinced of the loveliness of yWriter. I just corresponded with Simon Haynes, the writer and software developer who created this in his (spare!?) time, and he’s very nice. He’s even set up a Google Group where users can go to request features and chat with each other about how great the tool is - check it out here: http://groups.google.com/group/ywriter. I’ve also learned that the software has received a 4-star review at PCMag, a very prestigious computer magazine. Congrats, Simon!