Ah yes, November! Time to dust off your pipe and don your cardigan for the sport of national novel writing. I don't really participate in National Novel Writing Month, nor do I recommend it to anyone else. Nor do I recommend writing novels or anything else longer than a letter. Having written some* of each, I must say that letters are always more pleasant to write and are consistently better received.
However! If you must insist on burdening the world with yet another tome, here is something that will help you in your task: novel-writing software. I'm using one called Y-writer. Although I found it only a few days ago, already I am baffled how I managed without it.
The program is a stripped-down word processor with some project management features. It keeps your notes attached to the relevant scenes and helps you to maintain a broader perspective on the work. This is the hardest part about writing novels (at least for me). My memory is insufficient for keeping track of what character is introduced where, when plot elements are introduced, what background has been covered... the basic mechanics of storybuilding. This tool especially good for those of us who don't write every day; it becomes a simple matter to re-acquaint yourself with the work, find your place and move forward.
Ywriter is freeware for the PC. It was programmed by a working novelist for his own use; all he asks is maybe if you like the software you could give one of his novels a try? That seems pretty reasonable. I happened upon it because I was angrily typing "microsoft idiot assistant agent 2.0 WTF keeps breaking my computer and I'm trying to write a damn novel damnit" into Google search. It was the third entry, listed just below the Mac novel-writing products. Go figure.
Best of luck to you, Nanowrimoans!
*I have written upwards of five novels** and nearly as many letters.
**Available (but barely; pseudonymously published for various reasons):
Fiction;
Dedicat Ed (co-written with Sir Eric Fleming).
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