Forget all the fancy writing apps: I wrote a novel in Google Docs and it had everything I needed
In the words of comedian and gamemaster Brennan Lee Mulligan impersonating George RR Martin: “Have you ever tried writing? It is the saddest, most difficult and worst thing that can happen in the world.” As much as I love his comedic jokes, Mulligan is wrong on this point: I always find that writing is great and terrible in equal measure, whether I’m writing a joke about a tech company’s latest misfortune or my personal projects work.
This year, however, brought me a private victory of sorts: I completed the first draft of the novel I had been working on for more than three years. At almost 110,000 words, it’s become something of an epic, which means I’m now entering a rather brutal edit sentence. Let me tell you: edit your own work this way? Now that is worse than writing.
But I really enjoyed writing that novel, as much as I dreaded the looming process of auditioning with publishers (rejection letters, my old friend, come taunt me again). Writing has been an escape for me during difficult times, and the satisfaction that comes from completing such an endeavor is sweet and well-deserved. And I didn’t use any fancy writing software or clever techniques here: no, I wrote the whole thing in a Google Doc on my laptop.
As a writer (of just about any kind) these days, the two simplest options are Microsoft Word and Google Docs. The latter is a little lighter than Microsoft’s Office suite (along with Sheets and Slides, imitations of Microsoft’s Excel and PowerPoint), but ultimately they do the same thing: you can put words on virtual paper. I’m not here to bitch about Word; I’ve been using Docs simply because it’s free, and a OneDrive mishap many years ago that wiped out countless unfinished projects from the cloud has made me a little leery of Microsoft’s offering.
There are of course more specialized apps when it comes to writing long creative pieces. If you’re in the novel writing business, you’ve undoubtedly come across the likes of Scrivener, Atticus, and Dabble. Almost all of these apps are paid, whether it’s a one-time purchase or a monthly subscription.
A few years ago I chose Scrivener, hoping it would give me the boost I needed to start (and complete) a new novel. It’s a powerful tool, packed with useful features specifically aimed at writing new books. If there’s one thing Google Docs is missing, it’s this: a good chapter organization feature is very useful, even considering the countless other features it offers.
However, the problem I had with Scrivener is that it almost offers at a lot of. There is an extensive research tool built right into the app, which some users may like, but I feel completely comfortable opening a new browser tab and researching without assistance. The Scrivener website notes that “the main caveat to using Scrivener is that you have to make the effort to learn it,” and while I never shy away from learning how to use new software, the numerous online courses that can teach you how to use this particular app is downright daunting. Even when I felt like I had a handle on it, Scrivener just felt… messy.
How are you, doctor?
Google Docs, on the other hand, is beautiful in its simplicity. I’m the kind of person who wants minimal distractions while writing; Most of the time I don’t even listen to music or try to check my phone or leave the document page. With Docs, I can remove a large portion of the entire interface with a quick keyboard shortcut, leaving me with nothing but what I need.
The crucial features are still present: grammar and spelling checks, a sufficient (but not exhaustive) range of formatting options, and a simple bookmarking system. Plus, it’s available on Android – Scrivener is only available for iOS, apart from computer operating systems – and I love that I can access my work anywhere, on any device, via Google Drive. My primary draft document has several nested tabs filled with helpful editing notes, research, and ideas for expanding the universe I created. It’s not perfect, but it’s ideal for eliminating distractions and simply getting sentences on the page.
So while I won’t judge anyone who uses a more complex tool to shape their creative writing projects, I’m sticking with Google from now on. As the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.