useful resources to help you write your novel

Hey there!

Welcome to the first preptober post of the season! In case you don’t know what that is, preptober is how October is referred to by those participating in NaNoWriMo, a 30-days writing challenge that takes place during November. To help us achieve 50k words in so little time, we usually need some (or a lot) of preparation beforehand, which is what preptober is all about.

Today I’ll be telling you about some of my favorite online resources to help you write your novel. In no particular order, let’s jump straight into it.

Pinterest: I’m assuming you’ve heard of it before, but here’s how you can use it for your writing: moodboards + find tips and even more resources to help you improve your writing. I have a couple of boards myself on some writing advice by experts and cheat lists of words to use when expressing (insert whatever you need here).

Google Drive: please don’t forget to back up your work, and do it constantly. You never know when your computer might crash and you really don’t want to lose all of your progress. If you’d rather back it all up online rather than carry an external hard drive around, Drive is an amazing option. It’s free and accessible by anyone with a gmail account.

NaNoWriMo forums: if you haven’t already, don’t forget to check out the forums for motivation, spreadsheets, tips & tricks on how to win, and overall a very helpful community of writers. One of the things I like the most about NaNo is the community that forms around it, so take advantage of that and go meet other writers.

Spotify: or anywhere you can make music playlists. Setting the mood for your writing time is such a great way to make sure you stay focused and really immersed in your work. I have general, instrumental playlists for focus, but I also like to make specific playlists for each project I’m working on.

OneNote: before I could get Scrivener (my favorite writing app), I used this program and absolutely loved it. It allows you to organize and categorize your writing, while automatically backing it up and syncing it to all your devices. It’s a great alternative to Scrivener, and it’s free! If you want to know more about how you can use it for your writing, here’s an old but still relevant post about it.

Notion: while we’re on the subject of organizing your writing, research, ideas, inspiration, and everything else that comes with writing a book, I’d highly recommend getting Notion. It’s a very popular app right now, so I’m sure you’ve heard about it, but ever since I started using it last month I feel so much more put together. I haven’t used it while actively working on a writing project, but I’ve already set up a page for my NaNo w.i.p. and I can’t wait to put it to the test. It’s so customizable and adjusts perfectly to all you could possibly need. It’s been helping me plan & organize everything, all the while making it look pretty.

Fighter’s Block: last but not least, if you’re feeling stuck with your writing, try this fun game! On this website, you can set up how many words you want to write, and then the timer starts. Each word you write is a blow to the monster, if you don’t write the monster starts to win. It’s such a fun way to mute your inner-editor because you’re just pouring the words out. Works like the Pomodoro technique but make it entertaining.

And just in case you’re writing a fantasy novel, like me, here‘s a website where you can create fantasy maps online. It’s so cool, and does wonders for worldbuilding.

Ok, now I’m really done. Sorry for the long post, I just get so excited about writing resources and sharing them with other writers. If you end up using any of them, please let me know how you like them!

Do you use any resources that I missed?

Until next time,