Creative Writing

Here are some things to help get you started using Write.as for creative writing, especially for writing a novel for NaNoWriMo.

Setting up your Story

The first thing we will do is change your blog's appearance so that it suits a story structure. So go to your blogs page. Find your blog under the blogs section and click Customize. This will take you to its custom settings. Scroll down to Display Formats and click the “Novel” option.

Once the changes are saved, your blog will now read like a story!

Writing your Story

Now comes the time to start writing your story. There are a couple of things to note about the Write.as editor.

First, it is set up to be distraction-free, allowing you to focus on writing. If you want to add formatting, this can be done in the editor with Markdown. If you need to see how Markdown works, please look at our writing guide.

Second, the top bar of the editor features an updating word count.

This allows you to concentrate on writing while still giving you a sense of your progress. It is especially helpful for you to track how close you are to those 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo. NOTE: The word count includes the title of your post, so make sure to keep that in mind.

Write.as breaks down your writing into posts. You can control where the post is published to in the Publish to... menu on the top bar of the editor. Note that your story is present on this list. This allows you to break down your story into chapters, sections, or however you want to organize them.

There is also another option in the Publish To... menu: Anonymous. This publishes your post as an unguessable link. If you want to jot down chapter ideas but do not want to publish them to your story, anonymous posts can work like drafts. To access your anonymous posts, go to your posts page. From here you can edit, delete, or move them over to your story once they are ready.

Then there is the process of sharing your story. Go back to the Customize page for your blog. At the top you will see a Preferred URL section. Highlight the selected URL and share the link across social channels. Feel free to go back and change the URL if need be. Your story has a permanent home on the web!

While writing, you also want to think about who gets to see your story. Do you want to share it episodically or keep it private? Write.as gives you flexible publicity options for sharing your story. While still in your blog's custom settings, scroll down to Publicity.

Your story is “Unlisted” by default. Nobody else will see it unless they have a link. This allows you to simply focus on writing without worrying about someone coming across your story accidentally. But there are also other options to personalize your experience. Keep your story to yourself with “Private”, let a trusted few see it with “Password Protected”, or share your story with the Write.as community with “Public” (learn more here). Like with the “Novel” option, save your changes.

Take the time to discover another mode of expression. Whether you are writing short stories, poetry, or an entry for NaNoWriMo, let Write.as help you explore creative writing.

Get started with Write.as.