Evan Marshall, author of The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing which I’ve mentioned here before as the first novel outlining system I used (and one I’m still pulling elements from for other projects), has released a new program for the plan.

The software, The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing Template Generator, allows you to use the novel writing system from his book (and workbook) a bit more intuitively. I’ve been playing with it a bit. It took me a little while to get used to it (not at any fault of the software – I usually just do my outlining and such by hand), but I’m enjoying it.

When it comes time to edit the novel outline I created with his system, I plan to enter the outline into the program rather than only keeping the hand-drafted copy around. I have no idea when that’s going to be, as I have another book project I’m focusing on before that, but when I do, you can find out more over at AllBookWriting.com.

Something interesting (and admirable) that Evan pointed out is the fact that he actually learned programming himself in order to create this. He had the feedback from authors. He knew what they wanted. And rather than outsourcing the programming he took the DIY approach (which I’m a big fan of) and actually created this software himself!

I’ll be talking a bit more about the software when I do a review of the two Marshall Plan books over at the book writing blog, but I wanted to take the time to mention it over here first for those that may be interested in giving it a shot. Anything that makes life easier and more productive is worth it in my eyes, and the program will certainly do that. I’d just suggest familiarizing yourself a bit with the plan through the book first – it’s one of my favorite writing resources, and I couldn’t recommend it highly enough.