Poet Ponders the Digital

Use the best tool for the job. It's a simple saying, and one many writers ignore. Paper and pencil, while often my preferred tools for writing, have not been the best tools for writing for at least a century. Typewriters are better, if you are concerned with speed and legibility. Typewriters with correction tape gave us another reason to prefer the mechanical to graphite sticks and wood pulp. I remember my sense of awe when I saw the earliest word processors. These were typewriters with memory, and sometimes a disk drive. Not quite computers, but certainly something more than a manual typewriter, I wanted one… but never owned one. Instead, I upgraded from a blue Smith Corona manual typewriter to a brown Brother electric. Even after receiving an early home computer, a Commodore VIC-20, the typewriter was the best device for writing quickly. My first real computer, a Tandy 1000, included a simple suite called DeskMate. I used the text editor to write stories, saving the...

Beat sheets, outlines, storyboard, and other tools help me organize my thoughts when writing. Too many writers stick with word processors as their sole "digital tools" when many other great applications exist — and "applications" for various applications, too. How can you use a spreadsheet to write? And why might you try this? A spreadsheet's columns and rows, a reflection of the ledger books they replaced, make an ideal way to track your pages, words, minutes, or other metrics. My writing spreadsheets range from simple checklists to complex sheets with calculations reflecting how much I need to cut or add to parts of story. (Scrivener's outline view is similar to this, so allow me to plug Scrivener yet again.) My basic story sheet resembles the chart on our website page "Plot and Story" [ http://www.tameri.com/write/plotnstory.html ]. Some plot points should be reached at specific pages, especially early in a story, while others should b...

Two months ago I introduced the idea of using Contour or Dramatica to outline a novel or screenplay. These applications are marketed primarily for screenwriting, but they do mention novels in their promotional materials. I would only use Contour for screenwriting, but I would recommend Dramatica to anyone writing a long-form work. Contour's questions assume a blockbuster script will progress through four stages. These stages represent the emotional growth of the main character. Orphan: The main character is literally or metaphorically abandoned and isolated from others. Wanderer: The main character wanders through events, looking for a place or role that will end the feeling of isolation. Warrior: The antagonist creates a situation that forces the main character to face any doubts and fears. The two characters engage in direct or indirect conflict. Martyr: The main character consciously chooses to make a personal sacrifice to accomplish the primary task of the story. This is...

I am a believer in outlining and planning before, during, and after the drafting process for most long forms of creative writing. Generally, I'm always searching for a way to better organize my thoughts. As a writer, this means I experiment with various outlining and "story plotting" tools. Two popular story plotting applications are Dramatica ( B000H774K0 ) and Contour ( B002ABL3IK ). In addition to my thoughts on these tools, you can read reviews on Amazon and various writing-focused forums. Bluntly, Dramatica Pro 4.1 is too precise and Contour 1.2 is not precise enough. Contour guides you through a serious of basic questions based on a single "Blockbuster" template for screenplays and novels. There is one, and only one, Contour story structure. You can create a basic story outline in a few hours, assuming you follow the model. Contour could be great. It looks a lot better than Dramatica, but the beauty is only skin deep. The Contour application does...

The thoughts for this week are in response to: In your blog: how might you digital note-taking tools (see links on the wiki) to have your students take notes/engage in prewriting activities? Create a digital map using Inspiration (use a free trial download: http://www.inspiration.com) about your potential final project topic; reflect on how you could use digital mapping for helping students exploring relationships between different topics/images. I have to admit that I need more time to experiment with Inspiration 8, as well as other tools, because I am fairly set in my own note taking ways. Until I gather my thoughts a bit more, I can at least explain my own habits and my personal views on software tools. Before I start, I'll make a pitch: If you use a Mac, the Omni Group makes some of the best organizational tools I have used. ( http://www.omnigroup.com/ ) I like the fact Omni applications do not “feel” like PC software ported to the Mac — these are OS X applications from to...