Choosing the Best Writing Platform for You: Why Simpler Is Better

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Ulysses, a NaNoWriMo 2016 sponsor, is a

professional writing environment for macOS and iOS—and winner of the 2016 Apple Design Award. This year, they’re offering Wrimos the chance to write your NaNo novels on their software for free. Today, they’ve shared with us some reasons why simpler is better for writing platforms:

The first story I finished was a homework assignment in 5th
grade, and I wrote it on my mom’s old typewriter. I just sat down and started
banging into those keys, lost in the sound of the striking head pressing the
letters onto the soft paper. Just a few years later, in 1994, I wrote a
riveting (or so I thought) short story during my summer break, this time with
just a pencil and an old notebook. Fourteen years later, that dusty draft
became the foundation of my first NaNoWriMo, which was an exhilarating
experience that left me craving for more!

But while writing had been fun, organizing my content was more
of a nightmare. Before the next NaNoWriMo I desperately needed a better system,
so I went looking for the perfect tool. Unfortunately, I fell into the trap of
equating “perfect tool” with “tons of features”.

Within several years I had tweaked my writing setup to within
an inch of its life. I was using pro apps, and I had beautifully formatted
outlines, color coded digital index cards, and fluidly-scrolling timelines. I
thought it was working. But whenever I got stuck, I started to tweak my
settings again, and before long I realized I was spending more time fiddling
around than actually writing. I was frustrated and couldn’t fathom why all
these powerful apps wouldn’t empower me to finish another NaNoWriMo.

It was a chance conversation with a colleague that suddenly
made me realize the obvious: more features were not the answer I was looking
for. Back in 5th grade, it never occurred to me that my typewriter wasn’t
giving me enough “options”. During my summer break, I never once had thought
that my notebook and pencil were not “powerful” enough. The only thing I cared
about was telling my story— I’d have carved it in stone if necessary!

“Ulysses provides what’s essential to the creative process: it’s a tool that is as distraction-free as a pencil and a notebook, but with the power of modern-day technology.”

To do more I needed less. That was when I first came across
Ulysses. After five years with apps that devoted almost as much screen space to
settings as they did to an actual writing area, my first reaction was: it’s so
empty! All I saw was a cursor on a blank screen – blinking patiently, waiting
for me to take it on an adventure.

Ulysses provides what’s essential to the creative process:
it’s a tool that is as distraction-free as a pencil and a notebook, but with
the power of modern-day technology. It was liberating to stop worrying about
project settings, outlines, or formatting options. Whenever I have an idea that
needs to be recorded, I simply open the app and… write.

As I continued to use Ulysses, I discovered features that had
been lurking in the background: a simple but powerful folder structure to
organize my growing content; Markdown XL to add more to my sheets without
losing the simplicity of plain text; defining word goals for writing
assignments; adding notes and attachments to sheets; and of course syncing to
the mobile app and publishing my blog posts directly to WordPress. It seemed as
if the team behind the app was anticipating my every need, and Ulysses
naturally met them as my workflow developed.

Today, I am using Ulysses for all of my writing—personal and
professional—and even though there’s potential for complete disarray, the app
keeps everything gracefully under control. At its core, it’s still the simple
and lightweight app I fell in love with years ago.

Thank you, Ulysses, for making telling stories easy and fun. I
wouldn’t want to do it without you!

Julia Altermann is a support analyst by day and avid paper crafter at night, and lives in Dresden, Germany. She is participating in her fifth NaNoWriMo this year, and is using Ulysses for the fourth time to write her novel.