Better Software to Write

I’m not sure that I’m the right person to be writing for this blog because I’m nearly computer illiterate. Theresa says, however, that good software would enable me to do what I do more easily. It's unimaginable what that means, but I would certainly like the computer side of this business to be easier. The writing side isn’t a problem. In fact—a funny thing—the first book I wrote, Be Not Afraid, a story about a seventeen year-old hockey player’s fight to overcome a devastating injury, sold out immediately. From writing through publication and sales, it went very smoothly, so I thought this writing gig would be a nice easy way to make money.

Little did I know.

First, we must concede that I’m probably not as good a writer as I think I am.

Yet.

Second, everybody had to learn how to write once. Recently, an author wrote she had completely rewritten her story 13 times over 9 years before it was published. Ugh.

Did the writer’s skill improve during that time? Yes.

Did the writer feel the story was better at the end? Yes.

Was this the only way for the writer’s skill to improve? No. There are less painful ways to go through the job of tightening up a story. To say nothing of accelerating the learning curve.

For some novelists, the act of writing is a mystic, free-flowing, almost out-of-body experience. Then there are people like me who approach it with a collection of notes, databases, and timelines—a process almost as pedantic as end-of-year bookkeeping. But in my defense, I must point out that I create complex crime stories that come together without any gaping holes. So if you lean toward anal and would like to know how I do this, here’s my process:

I suppose having to revise my story is what really blew my gasket. I interviewed my local police crime scene investigation (CSI) officer during a slow Easter week when the citizenry weren’t committing homicide. Having nothing more demanding to do, he shot gaping holes into my plot. By the time he was done, I had rather a lot of work to do. Since I had to rewrite some of my story, I decided to incorporate all of the changes I had noted.

Therein lies the problem. With 65,000 words already written, I had to take apart the story in fine enough detail to allow insertion of new Threads (plot lines) and plot elements.

I thought I would die. The tools authors have to work with are laughable.