MyNovel

Detailed Review:

MyNovel is a comprehensive and well-designed piece of novel writing software. I really like it. It's not as easy to use as they say on their website, but it's far from impossible.

When you open a new novel you're invited to put in your title and the novel concept. You also put the approximate reading age of your reader (circled in red) - this will be useful later when MyNovel checks your readability index.
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You then fill in details (I didn't make a screenshot for this) such as the approximate word count target, how many words you'll commit to a day (or aim for!) and it then gives you the physical date that you'll be finished your first draft if you keep to that - very exciting!

One of the elements I really liked about MyNovel is that it allows you to decide what template you want for your novel. Unlike MyNovelist or The Marshall Plan, it doesn't force you into one, but allows you to use one if you like (or none if you want that too).

As you'll see from the image above, your options are:

	Basic Templates
	Character-Driven Templates
	Plot-Driven Templates

The basic template involves a 'blank novel' - i.e. you create your own form, or the Hero's Journey template.

Character-driven novels give you the option of a 'Love' format or 'Quest' format.

And Plot-driven novels give you the option of Adventure, Pursuit, Rescue, or Revenge.

Whichever one you pick gives you a different template to use. For example, the image below to the left gives you the template for the hero's journey, and the one on the right, for a Plot-driven Revenge story. Do you see how useful this is, giving you a very handy template to work with.

You also have the option to do three kinds of diagrams: a relationships diagram, a family tree, and a corkboard. Below is an example of a relationships diagram. It helps you visualise the different flows of the story. I found this resource to be difficult enough to get the hang of, but it was worth perservering with.

If you look at the to the right you'll see that you can add diagrams, events, characters, places, and things. Events are like scenes, and can be added into the various chapters as you please.

(Also note the bit I circled in red. This is a menu bar which sits right at the top of the screen and which is quite easy to miss, so I wanted to point it out. This includes the 'Help' function, so it's kind of handy to know where it is! If you click the down arrow on the extreme right of that menu bar it'll move the menu bar down the screen a little, into a more accessible place. But you have to know it's there in order to be able to do that.)

In the character creation element, you are asked questions to help you flesh out your character.

You can also add images to your character's sheet, which is very helpful in visualising them and describing them. And you link each character with other characters, or places, that they're connected to, which will show up in diagrams you later create. Very clever! Each character falls (as a rule) into one of four categories: protagonist, protagonist's helper, antagonist, and antagonist's helper. You can create more categories for yourself, though, if you prefer. For example, is the postman who gives them directions a protagonist's helper, or just another character - you decide.

The image below shows you the four screens you can access: The Writing screen is the default. Inspiration is available only to purchasers of MyNovel, and is to give you different ideas if you're stuck. The Writers' Circle is a forum which you might like to check out. And Layout and Theme opens a new window which I share in the next image.

Below is the image you see when you click on the Layout and Theme button. You're given the option of 'classic novel explorer' and 'expert novel explorer'. I don't know why they use the word 'explorer, but basically these are the sections where you access your story. Whether you choose 'classic' or 'expert' depends on how expert you are with MyNovel, not how expert a novelist you are. And 'Maximise working area' is self-explanatory.

I've circled in green the drop down menu which appears when you click on 'Windows', and you'll see that this gives you different options on what screens are available at any given time.

Also, MyNovel has a full wordprocessor facility, and you can print directly from it. It has also the resources to track your submissions - very handy.

I noticed it didn't have a timeline, which would have been nice.

In summary, I found this to be an excellent product, albeit a little bit complicated.

Click here to visit MyNovel's website

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