Five Websites Ready for Nanowrimo

NaNoWriMo is just around the corner (1st of November) and so I’ve compiled a list of 5 tools that could help if you wish to take part this year.

A lot of writers find Mind Maps to be a brilliant technique to develop plot, and Mindmeister is a brilliant mind-mapping tool. It’s easy to use, easy to navigate and free. You can also publish your mind maps, so that other people can contribute to your mind maps. It’s a brilliant way of getting your thoughts together and/or collaborating with other people.

For those of you that don’t like to use Mind Maps, Timeglider is an excellent and easy to use website that allows you to create timelines. It’s free to use, very simple and very effective at helping you slot plot ideas together. Some may say it’s very basic, and may not look as good as Mindmeister, but it should not be over looked.

If you find yourself easily distracted, then My Writing Nook may be perfect for you. It is a full screen web-application that is basically a word processor. It has a basic interface that allows you to just write, you don’t have to worry about anything as it auto-saves as you go along. It has a dictionary and thesaurus function which is quick and easy to use.

If you like to collaborate on your pieces then Writeboard is excellent for you. It allows you to create a document, you give it a password and send to password to everyone you wish to collaborate with. It then stores all versions, and has a function that allows you to compare two of the versions side by side.

Although I haven’t used this site myself, I’ve hear good things about it from a friend. It’s a free self-publishing site that seems easy and straight-forward to use. It’s very easy to navigate and has something to suit most sorts of writing. The only exception is that, due to copyright issues they do not publish fan fiction.