Bought a $50 plotter program for my novel outlines and it wrecked my flow

I dropped 50 bucks on that fancy plotting software after seeing a 'how to outline a novel' video. Ended up spending three hours clicking buttons instead of writing, and my story still feels dead in the water. Has anyone else had a tool make their writing worse instead of better?

3 comments

3 Comments

emmaking4d ago

Honest question though, is it really that serious lol. Sounds like you just got buyer's remorse over a flashy piece of software. I've used sticky notes and a basic Word doc for years and it works fine. Plotter programs are just digital versions of what you could do on paper, but they charge you extra for the pretty buttons. Maybe step away, grab a notebook, and try outlining the old fashioned way.

jenny_lee4d ago

Same with @emmaking, wasted $40 on a book planning app and wrote less.

lucast814d ago

Ngl, isn't that the same trap with everything these days? Like people buy a fancy espresso machine and still end up at Starbucks half the time. We all think spending money on a tool will magically fix the habit, but it usually just gives us an excuse to focus on organizing instead of actually doing the thing. Honestly, it's like how I bought a meal prep service but still order pizza more than I cook. Tbh, the real hack is probably just lowering the bar and starting simple, not buying another app.