Write Right With These Must-Have Tools for National Novel Writing Month

Scrivener is a writing and planning tool used by writers of all kinds, but it’s especially favored by novelists for its ability to keep documents, notes and data all organized in one place. It’s perfect for long, in-depth projects where you don’t want to reference twenty different places while you write; instead, you can do all of your work in one platform.

Fighter’s Block gamifies the process of writing to help users overcome procrastination and have more fun doing it. Basically, you defeat monsters and level up through the simple process of writing. The focus is to write without worrying about editing or whether or not it’s “good;” that’s why your avatar loses health whenever you stop typing!

Forest is a smartphone app that utilizes the Pomodoro method to help you get more done. What’s so special about Forest is that by completing a timed working session, you grow a virtual tree. But if you close the app and break your concentration by going on your phone before the timer is up, your virtual tree dies. It’s surprisingly effective for getting you off your phone and focused on writing!

If the goal is to write a novel in 30 days, planning is the key to keep you on track. That’s where Plottr comes in to help you outline and organize your book, allowing you to keep characters and plot structures organized so you can stay productive. Don’t worry about forgetting a character’s background or mixing up what event happens next – let Plottr take care of all of that for you.

If you absolutely thrive on organization, it might be time to download Notion, an app that allows you plan, write and work all in one place. You can plot out your characters, work out writing goals, draft your chapters and more. You’ll love playing around with what this app has to offer and using its capabilities to create a more efficient NaNoWriMo structure.

This one’s for the people who love writing in the ambiance of a coffee shop, but don’t love leaving the house on a chilly November day. Bring the coffee shop vibes to you with Coffivity, a playlist meant to channel the creativity that writing in a cafe can bring. Pour yourself a cup of coffee and get to writing!

Cold Turkey is simple; it lets you block websites that you know will distract you. If you find yourself watching YouTube videos on your computer when you’re supposed to be writing, use Cold Turkey to block YouTube for a few hours while you power through and hit your word count goal for the day. Poof – no more procrastination!

WriteTrack was designed with NaNoWriMo in mind – it helps you set writing goals to make sure you stay on track throughout the month of November. The best part is that it adjusts your goals automatically for you as needed based on how much you’re actually writing. If you’re over or under your word count for the day, you don’t need to think twice – just look at how much WriteTrack says you need to write tomorrow, and then do just that.

If you constantly find yourself thinking of ideas on the go, Evernote is the app for you. When you come up with a genius idea for your novel while you’re out and about, just jot it down in the Evernote app and it will sync to your computer. You can write as many little notes as you want and organize them in your virtual notebooks, making this the perfect app for novel planning, writing or just starting your daily to-do list.

Mind-Meister is the perfect mind-mapping tool for the visual learners out there. You can use this tool to write down all of your ideas, no matter how random or disjointed they may feel, and connect them in a web. Before you know it, seeing the connections will help you start to feel like all of your ideas are organized – or at least like they’re going somewhere.