writing

The Coder's Approach to Writing

Writers rarely work linearly. The writing starts somewhere in the middle, the end, or on multiple points together. Traditional word processors weren’t designed for this chaos.

Here’s how I apply programming principles to creative writing.

Plain Text First

Ditch Word. Use a plain text editor like Notepad++. No formatting distractions, no spell-check interruptions, no fighting with styles. Just words.

Structured Organization

Create individual files for chapters:

Chapter 001.txt
Chapter 002.txt
Chapter 003.txt
...

Maintain separate files for lore:

  • Characters and their backgrounds
  • Locations and descriptions
  • Objects and their significance
  • Timeline of events

Track multiple story threads in separate files. When you’re ready to weave them together, you have all the pieces organized.

Version Control

This is the game-changer. Use Subversion (or Git) to track your manuscript like source code.

Benefits:

  • Complete history — See every version of every chapter
  • Easy comparison — What changed between drafts?
  • Safe experimentation — Try radical edits knowing you can revert
  • Backup built-in — Your repository is your backup

TortoiseSVN makes this accessible even if you’ve never touched a command line.

The Workflow

  1. Write in plain text, focused and uninterrupted
  2. Commit changes to version control regularly
  3. When ready to edit, copy to a word processor for spell-check and formatting
  4. Return the edited content to text files
  5. Commit the final version

All the tools—Notepad++, Subversion, TortoiseSVN, OpenOffice—are free. The only investment is learning a slightly different workflow.

Your manuscript deserves the same care as your code.