How to write a novel from scratch using the ‘Novelist’ Android App
Writing a novel has always been my dream. I know it’s nothing special: statistics say that 90% of young people experience feel this desire in their youth, and that currently one in ten people in the world has a manuscript half-abandoned in a drawer. Big numbers!
Technology today can be of great help. Who doesn’t always have a smartphone or tablet at hand, to take notes or record sudden ideas that would otherwise be lost? With this thought in mind I searched on the Play Store for an application that would allow me to trace my story down to the smallest detail every time I had even an inspiration.
Big disappointment! The only apps available were old, no longer updated or incomplete. Nothing that was right for me, unfortunately. To put it briefly, this is why I decided to develop Novelist initially. My goal was to create the best application for writing novels on the Play Store. I leave it to you readers to say if I have succeeded or not!
I decided to write this story on Medium because so many people, right after downloading Novelist, find themselves bewildered by the large amount of features available. What I want to do is summarize the main requests received from users in an explanation as complete as possible.
Enough chatter, let’s start!
Bookshelf
This is the first screen displayed at startup. That solitary book you find preloaded is a tutorial that shows the basic steps in details and can also be used as a quick reference. Please please please follow it because it’s very important and most of all it’s complementary to this article that will ony explain Novelist at an higher level.
The bookshelf is obviously a container of all your books. They can be inserted, edited and deleted. You can even set or remove a cover to better identify them. Who doesn’t appreciate a beautiful bold image for their own work?
Finally in the options menu you can find some general activities related to the entire application, such as the possibility of activating the night version (optimized for a softer light), accessing the settings or restoring a previous backup.
Let me spend a few words about templates. This feature request came from many users who reported an interesting problem. Some of us aspiring writers are not just putting down a novel, but instead they’re conceiving a complete series! Should J. K. Rowling re-insert all themes, characters, locations and so on at every new Harry Potter, given that for the whole series they are practically always the same?
This is where templates come into play. They’re basically a collection of items ready to use. They can be used to solve the problem of series, or even to support a writing methodology or mental scheme.
Novelist offers by default two templates: the Empty one, which contains absolutely nothing, and the Standard one providing an initial selection of categories (Topics, Events, Characters, Locations, Objects, Extra) with their metadata and of statuses that can then be further customized. Obviously you can create your own templates and then use them while inserting a new book.
Plot
Plotting a novel means building your entire story before a single word has been written. Some people like it, some people not. That’s why Novelist isn’t forcing anyone to plot anything. Use this section only if you need it and into the level of details you find appropriate for your story.
Depending on the template you chose upon book creation, you’ll find a various number of categories. A category is none other than a container of items that share the same characteristics, for example characters or locations of your story. If you used the empty template you’ll have to create your categories from scratch by using the pen icon. Either way you can even customize the categories by editing, reordering with drag & drop or deleting them.
Once you have entered your items, there are various actions you can do on them:
- tap the arrow icon to move an item into a different category;
- tap the label icon and insert tags;
- tap the gray circle and assign a status;
- tap the double arrow icon to split an item into two separate identical items;
- drag & drop to reorder an item inside the same category;
- press and hold the status circle to make a multiple selection from which you can then proceed to delete the items you no longer need or merge them together to create a single item card;
- tap directly on the item’s card so you can access the extended view of the element, from which you can add notes, text, metadata (additional structured information), relationships with other items and even an image if you need it. Plenty of data!
Outline
Are you an outliner or a pantser? Do you like to have a complete scene by scene outline or prefer sitting down at the keybord waiting for your inspiring muse to come? Either way you’re lucky! Another time, Novelist doesn’t force you to a predefined choice. You can split your scenes until you’re satisfied with the level of details (that’s what I do), or insert a single scene for each chapter and start writing right away. So, the explanation that follows will be for the outliners amusement.
Once you’ve plotted the elements of your novel, you can outline the story by splitting it into scenes. The features of the individual scenes are very similar if not identical to the ones of the items. The main difference is that each scene can have some of the items attached, so as to create a link between the elements of the story and the individual scenes. It’s easier to find that a character should not be there, if you use it that way.
I want to stress that point because it’s a question I get asked frequently so I know it’s obviously not clear just by using the application. Where is the actual text of the novel written? What will be printed in the final result?
It’s easier than it seems. You just have to open the extended scene visualization by tapping a scene card and then add some text by using the big plus button. Another time: that’s the only text that will be printed in the final novel output!
So, what’s the point with the item text if it’s not written in the compiled version? Well, you can use it to write the main description of a character or location, and then copy and paste it in the exact point of the scene where you need it. That’s up to you!
Organize
This section allows you to compose the final structure of the novel. Here you can insert a tree of sections and subsections that represent the subdivisions of your story. Here too no constraints: you can enter parts, acts, chapters, subchapters, at the level of depth you want.
Normally you dont’t need to get that deep, chapters are more than enough. When you’re done just set the scenes of which each chapter is composed. In this way it will be possible to mix normal scenes, flashbacks, flash forwards and so on to go to form the definitive structure of your novel.
Just remember, as for the scenes, that this is the actual structure that your novel will have when compiled. So, to recap one more time, the final output is comprised of scene text (Outline) and section structure (Organize).
Schedule
This section is not very useful at the moment because I haven’t had time to work on it to implement all the features I’d like. Currently its main utility is to get a total word count or for each section of the manuscript. You can also set goals in terms of number of words or delivery date and track your progress. Stay tuned for further updates of this section soon!
Advanced features
I think a killer feature of Novelist is the ability of displaying what your novel would look like without leaving the application. Just press the eye-shaped button to have a real time preview of your work. There’s nothing better than staring pleased at your masterpiece to gain the powers to go on!
Novelist can also compile your output in three different formats, each one with its own peculiarities:
- Epub (version 3) is most suitable for ebook readers and online publishing;
- Rtf is compatible with word processor editors;
- Html is a general purpose format, that can be also used for websites.
Finally, for our peace of mind, you’ll find included a complete backup/restore solution that can actually save your precious work locally on your device or in cloud using Google Drive (highly recommended!)
I hope I’ve said everything and that you’ll enjoy my app as much as I enjoyed developing it. It has been two long working years in my spare time, but it was worth it! For any further information, please write in the comments or contact me at the official support address at info@novelist.app.