Sneak Peek: The Apps I Use for Writing Books (Markus McDowell)

Writing a novel, especially a historical fiction novel, requires a tremendous amount of research. While doing my Masters and PhD degree, I fine-tuned a process of collecting research, organizing it, and using it to write. But the tools that I have used to do all that have changed over the years.

I begin writing my books, like many authors, in Microsoft Word. But I soon found it cumbersome, and it did not have robust or user-friendly ways of tracking references. For quite some time, I used Mellel, an Israeli app for writing complex documents.

Then, Literature and Latte released a beta version of their book writing app called Scrivener. Set up like Apple apps, it had a sidebar with sheets and folders, tracking of versions, keywords for each sheet or scene/chapter, sidebars for research and notes, and much more. I had checked out what, I thought, was a more promising app for how I worked, called Ulysses, but at the time it was very bare bones and used markup for relatively format free writing. Not a bad idea, but I needed more than that. So for many years, I wrote all my books with Scrivener.

Then Ulysses redesigned the user interface. While retaining the markdown functions, and distraction-free writing, it added a user interface that made it easy to use, everything would need to collect research, notes, keywords, and write first and later drafts with excellent organizational and structural interfaces. I was sold, and I became a Ulysses proponent to this day. I write all my novels, nonfiction books, and blog posts in Ulysses.

I like to outline my novels, at least in rough, leaving the Muse to work within those guidelines. (sometimes she goes off on tangents and requires me to rewrite my outline.) for this, I used Apple’s numbers spreadsheet app, using a system I adapted from Shawn Coyne’s book, The Story Grid.

For many years, I also used Aeon Timeline to track chronologies for my novel and other books that required tracking time. It’s a great program, and useful for any application that needs visual timelines: novels, biographies, legal work, project management, and so on.

Finally, I used a project and task manager to track progress and the multitude of tasks needed to write a novel from soup to nuts. I’ve been around the block on these. I began with beta versions of OmniFocus, a program designed around the “getting things done” system by David Allen. But I found it cumbersome after a while. It locks you into Allen’s system, and I found some elements not useful to my way of working.

Next, I tried Culture Code’s Things app. This is a great project and task manager. But the slowness to develop and release new features to keep up with other apps was frustrating. For many years after that, I used ToDoist. This is an excellent app, and I don’t really have any significant criticisms of it. I stopped using it not because it wasn’t working for me, but because I came across one app that would allow me to design my own project and task manager, fitted to my needs and ways of working.

This app is called Notion, and I have become quite the fan. It is a freeform text and database program, which can be as complex or as simple as you prefer. Pages contain blocks of text that can be headings, lists, regular formatted text, images, videos, just about anything you can imagine, including embedded databases. Anything can be linked to anything else, and different views of the data can be designed to your specifications.

Of course, the drawback to this is that you have to dig into the technical elements, but I have always enjoyed this sort of thing. I see designing through rudimentary coding as creative, just like writing a novel or sculpting a statue.

As I began to discover the power of Notion, I realized that it could probably do everything I need.

I designed my own project and task manager, specifically designed to how I work (not only for my writing, but for everything else in my life: ghost riding, editing, finances, yacht and jeep maintenance, travel research and planning… you name it. Notion has become what people call a “Second Brain.”

I was able to replace not only my project in task manager, but also Aeon Timeline because the database functions in Notion include calendars and timeline views. I was able to replace my outlining spreadsheet with a database in Notion that allows me to re-organize, tag, add dates, and structure to every scene and chapter and section.

While Ulysses allows sheets to be designated as material sheet, that is, information that will not be exported as part of the book, but research and notes, they are mixed in with the scenes and chapters. I do a lot of research for my books, and I needed a better way. Again, Notion databases for both “research” and another for “writing ideas” fit the bill. And I can quickly tap a shortcut on my iPhone to add anything to these databases without opening Notion.

My system for the past year has consisted of these two apps: Notion and Ulysses. I do my actual writing from the first draft on in Ulysses. Everything else is in Notion, and can be connected and linked to anything else.

Under the hood, it is a complex system. But using it has made my research, writing, and editing much more efficient and, dare I say, fun. It’s also pleasant to be able to look at some I’m working on, and say to myself, I wish I could see this data in a different format— and then I can go behind the scenes in Notion and make it happen, usually quickly.

After all, like most writers, I want to spend my time writing, not finding and organizing things. It is true that I did have to take some time designing my pages and databases in Notion, once it’s done, it is a thing of beauty.