Ideas for Using Evernote

 

Let me start with: The possibilities are endless.

Every day I get a tip on my phone from Evernote. And I think, “Here’s another way authors can use this app to organize their writing.” I’ll try to cram as many ideas as possible in this five-hundred-word post.

Personal Assistant

Few of us can afford a human personal assistant. Those who can, I bow to you. Evernote can be a surrogate. With its reminders, calendar feature, and checklists, authors can organize tasks easily. The notebook system allows writers to put their business items all in one place. Or if your brain works differently, one notebook can hold the entirety of tasks for your novel. Separate notes can hold marketing plans, editing checklists, pictures of ads and covers, and schedules for sales.

Novel Planning and Story Bibles

The templates on Evernote are amazing. An author could plan an entire novel on the app. And with the cloud feature, you can access the data on mobile and desktop/laptop easily. (You do only get two devices for free, but it’s workable.) The story dashboard template has an overview for writing tasks. The character profile template has a rich list of character traits beyond just hair and eye color. Evernote for a story bible? The answer is yes! The Story Premise template is for the plotters out there. A detailed list of inciting events, characters, and setting. Of course, a pantser could fill in as they go to ensure they hit all the beats.

Note-taking

Like my favorite app, Keep, Evernote is a note-taker. It also has an easy-to-use voice recorder for those ideas that pop up when you can write them down—while driving, at a swim meet, or in the shower. (Shower is harder. Get Aqua Notes for that.) The checklists make everyday life easier, and like Keep, when items are crossed off the To-Do list, they don’t disappear. It’s so important for “Did I do that thing? Yes, here it is checked off.” With multiple notebooks, it’s easy to classify tasks and keep grocery lists out of your novel plotting.

Sketch

Evernote has an option to draw right on the screen. Easy for both desktop and mobile devices, it’s great for those whose brains do better with pictures. Either with a stylus, mouse, or a finger, draw out that broach your heroine wears or the room layout of the hidden cottage. Whatever you need. I’m not much of an artist, but my two daughters loved this feature and doodled endlessly on the app. There aren’t many tools—a pen, highlighter, eraser, and lasso, but it gets the job done. Sketches tuck right into notebooks keeping your treasure map, regular map, or detailed house plans right in with your other story parts.

Clipping Websites

Evernote makes it easy to take info from websites and save the data. Create a research notebook or a “potential editors” one and cut data from the web right into Evernote. You can simply cut and paste, but you can also click Share on the webpage and download the information into Evernote.

Sharing

Using contacts, authors can share their notebooks with others. (Extensive sharing requires a premium membership.) If you are working with a writing partner, editor, agent, publisher and need to share your data, Evernote makes it straightforward to send notes and notebooks to others. Like Trello, you can have data open to multiple users in the premium package.

Hopefully, this will get you started with Evernote. Like many of the apps we discuss, the potential of the program is only limited to your imagination. Happy Writing!