I’ve been writing a lot, lately.
Probably one of the reasons why I’ve been blogging a bit less… but we’ll get into that later, maybe. I’ve been writing a lot in the past few year and have been feeling a lot more connected to my writing, creative self than I used to, before. That being said, aside from my updates in monthly wrap-ups, I rarely talk about my writing habits, my projects and so on, on here.
I kind of want to change that? I don’t know if it’s a late resolution (coming up in February, aerm, well, who cares, right) or if it’s just a spur of the moment thing, and I’ll get all nervous and stressed out about it in a sec. Who knows, but let’s try this, shall we?
Today, I kind of wanted to talk about how I use notion for writing. This tool isn’t really new to me: already mentioned how I use notion for my blogging in a previous blog post, and how I’ve been enjoying it. Lately, I’ve been finding excellent, aesthetic notion writing templates AND I don’t know, I’ve been wanting to try to use this more for my current – and upcoming projects.
So, let’s see what this is all about, shall we?
Side note: this blog post is not sponsored by Notion, but I really like them okay!
What is Notion?
If you’re not familiar with Notion, at all, let me quickly break it down for you. Notion is an incredible app where you can do, basically, anything. You can create schedules, you can write blog posts, you can plan out novels, you can collaborate with others on projects.
Notion feels like a blank page to me, one where you can express yourself the way you want to.
🔍 Notion explains it better than me, though, so check out their What is Notion video!
What I like about Notion as a writer
I enjoy a lot of things about Notion as a book blogger -especially how I plan my schedule and keep track of my blog friends, but for this post, I’m obviously going to focus on why I like Notion, AS A WRITER.
So, let’s break this down quickly, shall we?
- I love keeping every info about my WIP in one place : I like having one, single page where I can know everything about my WIP and get its vibes, quickly.
- The aesthetic writing templates! I mean, we’re all for the aesthetics, aren’t we.
- The whole “keeping track of my progress” easily. Making me motivated to keep on going!
- I love how easy it is, to use. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you do (and found the right templates, read on to find my favorites!), it’s just, SO fun.
- I feel like it works perfectly for plotters AND pansters. I mean: I’m a little bit of both. I like outlining a bit, but leave wiggle room for new ideas to grow, as I write a first draft. All I do is add the little details I thought of while writing, on my Notion page.
Okay, so now that we got that out there, let’s talk DETAILS (and screenshots, obviously).
How I use Notion for writing
Before heading into this, confession time: I’m not a Notion wizard of any kind, really. Almost everything I do on there is based on incredible templates and resources I’m sharing below, that I slightly customize to my taste. So don’t forget to check these out!
A master page for my WIP
Just like I don’t really start writing before I have a full Pinterest board filled with inspiration, I like having a masterpage for my story before getting started.
This is nothing new or particularily unique, I’m using Rebecca Mix’ master WIP page template that I customized to my taste, left out some things here and there and there you go!
I find that starting this page also helps me brainstorm. I start this along with my dedicated Pinterest board, where I pin everything that inspires my story.
At first, this page isn’t really… done. I mean, look at this screenshot above: I started early January and I don’t even have a title for this WIP. I just do all of my braindump on this page as well and… worry about making it coherent once I start writing (and fine, cry a lot about how I made everything a mess).
A word and goal tracker for my writing sessions (or NaNoWriMo)
If there’s one thing that keeps me motivated, it’s certainly tracking my writing. Whenever I start a first draft or a second one, I like doing a word tracker page on my Notion. It’s very simple, see: simple columns with me checking in whether or not I wrote, brainstormed, how much I wrote and the time I spend doing so.
This word tracker you see above is one for my sisters WIP, dated from 2022. For the story I’m trying to write right now, I let go of the whole “brainstorming” column and just have, basically, the date and the amount of words written.
It’s nothing too fancy, really, but I find it super satisfying to see my progress. YES, there are days I haven’t written a thing, as you can see. There are other days where I barely wrote.
Does it really matter? NO. What matters with this little tracking page is that I’m seeing clearly my progress, with all of its ups and downs.
Get my Notion word tracker template:
Character cards, to know who’s who easily
It’s hard sometimes, to keep track of your characters. To remember who’s who, suddenly you end up turning a character’s eyes blue when they were brown, you forget one’s father is divorced.
Honestly, it’s something I struggle with and one of the reasons why I wanted to make some character cards. With these, it’s really easy to keep track of everyone and ESPECIALLY to keep in mind all of their goals, dreams, personality quirks and so on.
A story timeline
I’m not sure why I always end up writing stories with complicated timelines. Whether it’s with flashbacks, back and forth or just, with lots of events happening in a short time, I ALWAYS mess things up with my timelines.
I thought I’d start using Notion’s features to keep track of my WIP’s timeline. What happens when, with short details about where in my book this thing’s happening.
This is what it looks like, for now, but I think I might want to add details about the event as I go on. Who knows!
Get my story timeline template:
Notion vs. Scrivener
Confession time: I use both Notion and Scrivener for my writing.
In case you’re not too familiar with it, Scrivener is one of the most popular softwares for writers out there. It allows you to keep your research, character, setting sheets, outline, chapters, drafts, EVERYTHING in one place.
The main difference with Notion is that Scrivener isn’t free.
I got it as an amazing birthday gift (❤️) and since I did, I’ve been using it… alongside Notion, actually. Just like Notion, while it takes a little while to get the hang of this software, once you do, it’s fantastic.
I mostly use Scrivener to do the actual, real outlining and writing of my story and compile it into a real, formatted manuscript. That being said, I absolutely love keeping my WIP’s page on Notion, to know what my story’s about, keep track of my characters, the timeline and so on. It’s just so good to have it all easily, aesthetically in one place. Also, I’ll admit it: I just find it more, visual on Notion than on Scrivener.
If you want to, you could write an entire novel on Notion. I mean, you can do ANYTHING on that app. I know I won’t, because I am attached to this little Scrivener for the actual writing moments.
My favorite, free Notion templates for writers
- Rebecca Mix 💘 has wonderful templates for drafting, editing and master pages for your WIP.
- Birdie 💘 shared an amazing, complete template with character sheets, trackers and so on.
- Julian’s 💘 Notion word count trimming template for revisions
Other free writing Notion templates
For more blog posts about writing, check out these blog posts:
- My Reading, Blogging and Writing Resolutions for 2023
- 5 Writing Advice for Newbie Writers (and any writer, really)
- YA contemporary
- sisters
- social media
- anxiety rep
Buy my book!
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Her sister by her side, Abby stretches herself (and her own mental health) thin for the likes.
But what, and most importantly, who, will she risk to lose on her way?
Us Against The Likes is a heartwarming college-aged YA book about how social media shapes us – and changes us. Perfect for fans of Amelia Diane Coombs and Kara McDowell.
📌 Pin How I Use Notion for Writing on Pinterest!
Do you like these kind of blog posts about writing? Would you like to read more?
Do you use Notion for reading, blogging, writing, organizing your studies or even your life? I’d LOVE to hear all of your thoughts in comments!
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I love this, Marie!! I use Mix’s template too, for my writing Notion, and it’s been so helpful and fun (though you’re right, definitely a learning curve). I am so stoked about all of your writing progress!!!
Oh thank you so much, Nicole!! <3 <3
I love hearing about how other people write and what their process looks like!
I really like the way you have your notion set up! I might have to look into doing something similar. I currently have Scrivener which I feel like has some similar features and templates but that looks like a lot cleaner. My only bummer is that I got a Mac book instead of another windows laptop so now I have to pay for Scrivener again. But the last time I bought it was….12 years ago? So it’s about time. Or I’ll look into Notion. 🙂 I also use Google Docs a lot since I can write on my phone as well but Google Docs starts to freak out if you go into the really high word counts.
Thanks for sharing again!!
Oh thank you so much, so happy you enjoyed it!
I completely get that – I find it so annoying that you have to pay for Scrivener again, if you switch from Windows to Macbook. Aside from that, it’s such a great writing tool. I just love how much you can do with Notion, aesthetically. I hope you’ll have fun with it!! <3
I love those aesthetic templates. I like Notion but haven’t been regular lately. I mostly use it to dump my thoughts but I’m not good at organizing and Notion hasn’t help me change that yet.
Oh thank you so much! I can understand that, Notion really works after a bit of a learning curve as well. Thank you so much for commenting! <3
Oh no. I’m about to get obsessed with this 🙈
Oh oops 🙈 i hope this will be useful!! <3
I had never thought about using notion for writing, except for the occasional quote dump, and by that I mean I wrote one quote down once and completely forgot about it! But your post has inspired me to use it more because notion is certainly capable of organising notes better than any doc.
Plus the idea of a word tracker may be my saving grace, thank you! 🥰
Also, I’m happy to hear you feel so invested in writing and its creativity! I love that so much! Hope it goes well! 💗
Oh yay, this makes me SO happy! I hope you’ll have tons of fun with it and that it helps. I know the word tracker has helped and motivated me, a lot! 🥰
I love love love notion, but haven’t used it much for writing yet, I mainly use it for academics right now as I am still in school. These templates are going to be so helpful thank you!! Great post and it’s inspired me to do something similar 🙂
Zoë
zbestbooks.blogspot.com
Notion is such a cool place, I bet it’s amazing to use for academics! I’m so happy this could inspire you, thank you so much🥰
OMG, Marie … do I need to get notion?? I’ve always thought of it more as a scheduling tool, as you mentioned in the beginning, but with the templates you’ve shown, that sounds like a really fun way to draft and work on my WIP??? You’ve given me food for thought and I might have to take you up on the offer of those templates when I find the time.
AH YES you do! It’s a bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, it’s just amazing. I find it so motivating to work on my WIP this way! 😀