The Tools I Use to Write Books

Now, that my book has been out for 8 months, I’ve felt the energy return to my writing life. I’ve been hard at work on my second book since the start of the year with some long periods of break as I got through my first trimester of my third pregnancy. All that to say, now that I’m back at it, I’m using the same tools that helped me write An American Immigrant.

Tools I want to share with you today.

I promise they’re nothing fancy—I hope that doesn’t disappoint you.

I’m not a techy person. The more I spend trying to figure out a special piece of software, the less time I spend writing, which is why I gave up on writing software like Scrivener and even management tools like Trello. For me to be successful at anything, I know I have to keep things simple so that I can focus on what matters: a warm meal on a table. a clean and tidy home. happy children. words on a page.

So what tools do I use to write my books?

1. Mircrosoft word

   Is it shocking that I write my books in Microsoft? Like I said eariler, I tried to use a “fancier” software called Scrivener but I quickly realized it wasn’t working for me. It was taking too long to figure everything out, and even when I just jumped in and started writing in it, I felt like I was missing something. Like I couldn’t see the entire manuscript easily (this may have been just because I hadn’t figured out how to use it well yet). Whatever it is, I knew the solution: go back to the basics. Write in a super simple software you’re very familiar with so that it’s one less thing you have to think about.

   By the way, my editor and I also edited my book in Word, so I’m not the only one keeping it nice and simple!

2. An online thesaurus

   I reference my online thesaurus every single time I sit down to write—I don’t know what I would do without it! Not only does a thesaurus help you change up your word usage so you’re not saying “camped” 100 times on one page, but it also helps you find just the right word for a particular sentence. Sometimes you know what you want to say, but there’s a better way to say it and a thesaurus really helps unlock so many fresh ideas.

3. The emotion thesaurus

   This is physical book that can be a lifesaver for fiction writers. The emotion thesaurus is a reference book that gives you a long list of ways to express a particular emotion without actually saying it. So, for example, instead of writing, “Billy was so sad his dog died,” I could look up the emotion “sad” in my book and find a long list of ways to show Billy was sad rather than say it. That might be something like, “Billy bent over the dog’s limp body and soaked his fur in tears.”

   You will often hear people in the publishing industry telling writers to “show, don’t tell.” Show me what character is feeling, don’t tell me. It’s great advice that makes for poignant writing.

4. Other novels

   I’ve heard many authors say they quit reading when they’re working on a book. I think it’s a healthy practice if you know yourself and know that reading another great piece of literature will make your writing feel inadequate. But that’s not the case for me. Reading novels while I’m writing my own gives me so much inspiration. Not just in storyline/plot, but in character development, place, structure, etc. At the very least, it takes my mind off my book for a short time so that I can rest and feel rejuvinated when I get back to the page.

5. A professional feedback-giver

   This can be so many things! For my first novel, my professional feedback-giver was author Carla Laureano. I hired her as a freelance developmental editor to review my manuscript and give me feedback such as:

   -were there any holes in the plot?

   -did I develop my characters?

   -how was my beginning and ending?

   -does this book stand a chance in being published?

   Carla was so helpful in answering all of these questions, and I’m forever grateful for her feedback. This time around, I’m thinking I’ll recruit/find a critique partner with experience to do a first review of my finished manuscript. Whoever you work with, I just think it’s important you find someone with the knowledge and experience to tell you what you did well and what you need to work on. It’ll turn a good book into a great one.

Writing a book doesn’t have to complicated and involve endless tools and books. Keep it simple, friend. The less you have to manage, the more you can focus on what matters: the words.