Frictionless Floor

Novelpad

Posted by David Harris Tue, 13 Dec 2005 18:56:30 GMT

This will be the first of several project introductions, in an attempt to have a foundation for each thing in writing.

Novelpad is a project I thought of about 2 years ago, and bought the domain www.novelpad.com. Originally, the plan was to create a program in C#.NET that sorted a novel into arbitrary sections (such as Parts, Chapters, Sections, or Acts, Sections, etc.) such that it could be used for any project type, a novel, screenplay, etc. However, the more I designed how it would look and function, the more complex it became. At that point in my life, I became enthralled by the Less Software mantra and scratched the whole complex idea, which had about 2000 lines of code already written just for basic stuff.

Enter my love for Ruby on Rails, the platform I’ve discussed here and there. The answer was not to figure out a way to release software that could be bought, but to provide a monthly service at free and paid levels. Instead of figuring out how to get a bunch of large one-time payments, I merely needed a way to provide a software that so helped a novelist’s work that he would be willing to pay a few bucks per month or quarter. This would not only be cheaper on the end-user by allowing me to work on updates and improvements, but it would be a much more budgetable way for me to sustain some sort of income from the project.

So, now the idea has changed. The basic concept is simple. The interface will look like Word, only with basic formatting tools, things you would see in novels. On the left side will be a treeview of blocks that can be arranged as desired, each given a name and a description. These blocks can be moved in and out, such that a chapter becomes a Part, a Section becomes a Chapter, etc. Each block, when moved, will rearrange the final output of the novel. When clicked, the block will open up the text on the right side, where it can be edited and formatted.

That allows for the data of the novel, how it is arranged and what it contains. Next, I will provide a complete formatting section for describing how the hierarchy of the blocks of text will correspond to the final look of the novel. For example, some books have a little ” . . .” separating the sections. Or perhaps they have a funky design surrounding each chapter number. The formatting section will describe how this should be done. Also, it will allow for chapters having names displayed or not, should the chapter number be on its own page, etc.

Finally comes the publishing section. This takes your novel, combines it with the formatting, and exports a full PDF or Word file of your novel, ready for printing, each stamped with your copyright details. It auto-generates a table of contents and/or an index, and will even provide the writer statistics about word usage (i.e. “you used the word ‘exclaimed’ 2236 times” such that he can make edits right away. It will also be able to automatically generate an outline from the block arrangements and description.

Basically, this tool will solve the problem many people have with actually producing their own novel. Microsoft Word sometimes makes things so difficult that people get caught figuring out how to format something, and it steals time they could be writing.

Additional features not yet planned initially would be character databases to store your characters and their information, timeline managers to help preplan a novel and auto-generate the blocks needed, research help such as a thesaurus and atlas and stuff like that, etc.

So there explaines Novelpad, probably one of the middle priority items to develop.