YWriter: Freeware to Help Keep Your Novel Organized

Sometimes, the hardest part of writing something as big and complex as a novel (with all the different characters, settings, chapters, scenes, props, plots, sub-plots, and so on) is keeping everything organized.

There are lots of software programs out there designed to help you keep your writing projects in order. And one free option is yWriter Novel Builder.

What is yWriter?

yWriter is a program designed to help you manage your novel. It allows you to spend less time trying to organize everything, and more time actually writing.

If you've ever used index cards to try to organize your novel, yWriter operates under the same principal. Only yWriter is a lot easier to use and keep track of than a box full of index cards.

Chapters and Scenes in yWriter

In yWriter, you can create separate files for every chapter and scene. For each chapter and scene, you can enter important information, like what happens in the chapter or scene, who the viewpoint character is, and what time of day it is.

One reason writers like using index cards to organize a novel is that you can rearrange the cards at any time, changing the orders of the chapters and scenes. With yWriter, you can do the same thing, dragging and dropping a scene or chapter from one place to another.

Writing Your Novel in yWriter

You can write your novel directly in yWriter. That way, instead of having a separate text file for every chapter of your book, you can have them all in one place, making them easy to keep track of, and look over if necessary.

yWriter also keeps track of the word count, and has a build in spell checker, to check the grammar and spelling of your work.

Using Summary Cards

With yWriter, you can enter a short summary for every chapter and scene in your project. This can come in handy when you want to look over the sequence of events in your novel to see if everything flows.

yWriter can create a list of the events in your novel that you can look over when working out the plot of your novel. You can even cut the list into "cards" that you can spread out and rearrange to your hearts content.

If you don't want to print out an events list, you can use the Storyboard Screen instead. This colorful, graphical representation of your plot can help make organizing your novel even easier.

You can already see the advantages of using yWriter to help get your novel in order. But this freeware program comes with lots of other great features that any novel writer will find just as beneficial.