I am going to use TiddlyWiki as my main tool this year and again I am encouraging everyone else to as well. In an effort to reach as many people as possible I have prepared this short tutorial on how to install TiddlyWiki and how you can leverage its strengths to make hitting 50k a breeze.

Before we go any further it’s important to understand the paradigm here: Your “Novel” is merely a sequential collection of chapters and entries that exist in conjunction with the rest of the information that you have input about things in your Novel, but are not part of the main text. If you like seeing page numbers or love having scroll through everything on 1 page this is probably not the approach for you. If you tend to think that writing a novel is “too big of a task” or want to break the process down into manageable pieces this approach might help you get the ball rolling.

TiddlyWiki or “Would you take it more seriously if it had a serious name?”

For more information on TiddlyWiki – see the TiddlyWiki Wiki

Part One – Downloading and Installing TiddlyWiki.

• Go to http://www.tiddlywiki.com and download TiddlyWiki. There will be a giant Blue Button that says “DOWNLOAD” on it. That’s the one you want.

• It will ask you to save a file called “empty.html”. Save it.

• Find the downloaded file (check your downloads folder). Right click on it, and select “copy”.

• Go to your desktop and create a folder. Name it something memorable like “NaNo 2010”.

• Open the folder you just created, and right click in the empty white space.

• Select “paste”

• You should now see the “empty.html” file. Feel free to rename empty.html to something memorable. Maybe “nano2010.html”

• Right click on the empty white space, and create a folder. Name it “backup”.

• Right click on the empty white space again, and create another folder. Name it “images”.

• Open the html file (did you rename it?).

• You will see this screen:

• In the top right corner, click the word backstage. A black bar will slide across the top.

• Find the word tweak, and click it. An options window will pop up.

• Tick the “automatically save” box. Type “backup” in the Name of folder to use for backups box below.

• At the bottom, where it says YourName – change it to well, your name.

• Back up at the top of the page, click the word “save”. A window will pop up. Tick “remember this decision” then click the Allow button.

• You should notice a Yellow Box in the top right of the window, letting you know that the save was successful and a backup has been created.

Thats it. Now TiddlyWiki is up and running and ready to work for you!

Note: If your having issues installing, see the TiddlyWiki Install Guides

Part Two – Using the dang thing  (the Basics).

It can be a bit daunting looking at the empty wiki. The most important thing to remember is that you can create it however you want – whatever works best for you. If you have an outline already done on paper – great!

The only piece of markup you need to know at this stage is how to make a link. In tiddly wiki, anything you want linked should have [[ in front of it and ]] at the end. For more markup information, see the TiddlyWiki Wiki Pageon Markup.

Example: [[Levon]] creates a link to a new entry (tiddler) called Levon.

Some of the entries are self-explanatory. SiteTitle and SiteSubtitle are the Title and Sub Title at the top of the page.

I like to make a basic framework with all of the important category’s first. I have found that by breaking things down into smaller pieces makes it more manageable.

• Click the Blue Link named “MainMenu”.

• A box will appear. Any Links you put in this box will appear on the left of the screen.

• Lets create the links we will need straight away:

[[Table of Contents]]

[[Characters]]
[[Places]]
[[Things]]

[[Summary]]
[[Plot Outline]]
[[Full Version]]

[[Notes]]
–

[[NaNo Forums|http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/56]]
[[750words.com|http://www.750words.com]]

• Click done.

• Notice the links appearing the left of the screen.

• Click Table of Contents. You can use this window to add/remove/list all of your chapters.

• Type something along the lines of:

[[Chapter 1 -  Not your typical morning at work]]
[[Chapter 2 - You get the idea...]]

• Click done.

• Click the link for Chapter 1

Now write. When your done, click done.

When you click done it will automatically save, and create a time stamped backup of the edit in your backup folder. The time stamped backup is handy for if/when you cock something up terribly.

Example: Using links to notate on the fly.

Using the link to Chapter 2, I’ll use a bit of legitimate writing to show how to notate on the fly.

Lets assume that I am working with no outline, free writing if you will. And I come on an idea.

(Using an expert from Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions to illustrate)

Say the idea is about a writer, who writes novels, and the only people that will publish them are people who are looking for filler for erotic magazines. And one of these novels is about a dude who deals with the stigma of being a bachelor in a place where huge family’s rule, by using his strength as a scientist to find a way to clone himself.

Ready. Steady. Go.

Text:

Most distracting to [[Trout]], however, were the [[illustrations]] his [[publishers]] selected, which had nothing to do with his tales. He wrote a [[novel]], for instance, about an Earthling named [[Delmore Skag]], a bachelor in a [[neighborhood]] where everybody else had enormous families.

And Skag was a [[scientist]], and he found [[a way]] to reproduce himself in chicken soup. He would shave living cells from the palm of his right hand, mix them with the soup, and expose the soup to [[cosmic rays]]. The cells turned into [[babies]] which looked exactly like Delmore Skag.

Stop.

Whats key to see here is use of the [[ ]] linking.

Assuming that I was free writing that, putting down whatever came to mind, I bracketed whatever was ambiguous, whatever could be expanded on (for stories stake), anything that was important, possibly important, or that I wanted to expand on outside of the core novel.

I click done, and now my text has links encoded in it:

Click Delmore Skag. It pops open a new empty window where I can add any additional info I may want to keep track of. Age? Sex? Hobbies? Maybe more about his work?

Say this is the last we hear about Delmore Skag until 48000 words and 28 days later.

Using the power to link to him, and fleshing out the key points of his character while the idea was fresh, means we can trot him him out with all the detail at any time we need to.

Fewer continuity issues from overlooking something. Better developed characters and less fatigue and lost time from having to flush out key attributes now. Time saved by not having to go back and wade through rough draft to find out exactly what he was on about.

It’s all right there, where you put it, when you were thinking about it. And if you can’t find it – you can search everything!

A few other strengths:

You can write out of order. Because of the way you can split the core novel up, you can work in a non linear fashion much easier (and with extensive notation, seamlessly). Write what you want, when you want.

You can embed images, movies, and link to other things on the internet. Reference Wikipedia pages, or put commonly used shortcuts into the side menu. I use this often. A prime example is finding a picture of someone on the internet, that fits what I see in my mind.

Example:

• Find a picture on the internet. Save it to the images folder. Then link it in the entry:

Another amazing feature is how easily you can create any amount of categories, tags, and so forth and group them in completely arbitrary ways. This becomes especially handy when working without an outline, and flushing out arcs and important concepts on the fly.

Disadvantages to be aware of:

• Have to manually compile every chapter into 1 file by copying & pasting. It’s extra work. Not only that, but if you go back and rewrite or change something in the core chapter entries, it doesn’t update the other entry.

• Facilities to export exist, but their a bit tricky and really for those who are technologically inclined. The most basic way is to copy and  paste as non-formatted text into Word/OpenOffice/GoogleDocs. And if copying the contents of an entry, you have to use the remove tool in OpenOffice/word to remove [[ ]]’s.

• No easy way to count your total number of words.

• Very basic word processing. Think notepad (which isn’t so bad).

• Can only use it in a web browser & unlike using Google Docs, its only accessible from the machine its on (or FlashDrive!).

In spite of its disadvantages it’s an amazingly powerful and elegant tool to accelerate your writing and creative process.  With an emphasis on creative process – It’s not something you would want to use while editing.

It’s when it comes to getting the ideas out of your head and onto the screen when Tiddly shines bright. And that’s really whats its all about, isn’t it? You can imagine the greatest story ever told, but if it’s stuck inside your head…

In Part Two – Step Two we’ll take a closer look at some more advanced functions & tools available to us.

Customary background:

Last year I used TiddlyWiki on a USB drive exclusively. It followed me around and I was able to plug it in and instantly start working – on any computer I found myself at. This was useful as I wrote most of my novel at work. Overall, I would say that I used 6 different computers – some with internet access some without – to complete it.

I still have it, and thanks to the brilliance of Tiddly, everything still makes sense. I started writing the second part to the series in it this summer – using the original Wiki as the basis. All of the character outlines, text, and locations were all in there – in a nice tidy search-able format. It was an absolute joy to use.

Whats different this year:

I am not going to be writing it at work, nor do I intend to use multiple computers. I might use a different computer (my laptop) sparingly so I would like a work-flow that is adaptable. Using Tiddly was great but my biggest complaint was the entering of text. It is still a non linear wiki – its’ not designed with the idea of typing out 5000 words in to a Tiddler (and have it make sense / be readable / wordprocessor style). It’s not a deal breaker – its just that since my requirements have changed a bit this year I wanted to take the opportunity to check out my options.

The biggest trend has been the “distraction free” editors. Things like DarkRoom & Q10. I could have edited Tiddlys CSS and ran full screen in Firefox and gotten a similar results but I thought I would switch it up a bit. Experiment.

This year:

This year I am not going to use TiddlyWiki to write my novel in – even though I think it is the absolute best way to write a novel from a 2 or 3 line thesis statement. This year I am going to use a combination of Q10 & Fossil.

Why I think this is ‘the way’ for me:

I will be using at most 2 computers and I need it to not be in the cloud. I want to utilize a distraction-free editor and still leverage the ease of a 1-file solution. I also want version control.

Fossil stores all the data in a single SQLite file. It runs on any platform so I can use it on any computer I have. I can easily back it up across my own computer and FTP it off site (in case of data loss) and since its a version control system, I have a record of every alteration to every chapter, and can easily export a copy of the most recent chapters, etc.

Not only can I still write in Wiki Markup for a future import but Fossil has a built in wiki so if I need it, so its always right there waiting.

I can import pictures and other meda into the “project” and they stay in the single file.

It also gives me a good reason to use & learn Fossil which will come in handy once it comes time to start writing more code.

Q10 has some amazing features for writers. Character counters, page counter, timer, running word count, easy-on-the-eyes colour scheme, etc. Do check it out for yourself!

It also provides a wonderful interface – essentially none. It is really distraction free. Digsby sometimes pops up on me, but otherwise it’s light enough weight to run on my computer, while doing exactly what it says on the tin.

Some people may not like the typing sound effects but when I get on a roll it becomes almost hypnotic.

The added bonus is that it writes plain text files so I can still write with Wiki Syntax.

Oh, and did I mention their both free?

Other Runners up:

Google Documents. Why not?

Not working in the cloud. If I was working on multiple computers, that all had internet access, and were fast enough to use Google Dox it could be a contender. No fear about data loss (cloud) and plenty of flexibility.

ccTiddly. Why not?

The better scaled brother to Tiddly gets a pass this time. I don’t have my project server up so I lack a good place to run it at the moment. Also, like I stated above I want to try an interface other then Tiddy’s this year.

yWriter. Why Not?

Amazingly powerful and flexible piece of software. I really want to poke at it more – its so detailed – but for Nano I am locking for a big canvas – something I can catch a lot of words on and worry about later. I think yWriter really shines when it comes time to edit – as its all broken down right in the software. If i remember correctly, you can even import text files. Last year I imported my novel into yWriter to fiddle with. Check this software out.

WordPress. Why not?

Interface. Feels too much like data entry. Even for my posts on LK.com, I write them in Q10 or Notepad++ first…

PyRoom. Why not?

Not as feature filled and polished as Q10. I use PyRoom on my Linux laptop, but my desktop is windows, and Q10 simply rocks (yes I have PyRoom on my windows machine too – see my post about it).

MS Word / Open Office. Why not?

To plain. I spend a lot of time in these applications as is (at work) so I wanted something that’s visually different. Still powerful word processors, and a viable option nonetheless.

Paper composition book. Why not?

To much work to transcribe. Sore hand.

Thoughts:

When it comes to NaNo or even strict-outline-less writing, I have yet to find anything that works as well for me as Q10 or TiddlyWiki. This is for my own style and creative process. Tiddly gives you the tools to build an entire world from scratch, on the fly. Q10 just gets out of the way and lets you type (and keeps you from checking your Facebook/Gmail/IM/Twitter every 5 minutes).

I’m excited to use Fossil for this project too. It gives me some fun side projects. One of them is skinning Fossil, which I currently have done enough to be workable for Nano. The other is to code a helper app to act as an easy mode button for commits and what not. It’s not something that’s essential – just something I feel like doing.

Overall, it comes down to what works best for you for the way you work.

Expect a follow-up post where I dig a bit deeper into the exact work flow I am using, and maybe if I find time, a proper post/screencast/presentation about the power of TiddlyWiki.