Those of you who have read “On Writing” by Stephen King are familiar with the “toolbox” analogy. The world-famous writer makes the case that all writers need a toolbox, an understanding of the various aspects of craft that they can use as needed as they’re putting words on paper.

And he is absolutely right. Nothing makes up for having a firm understanding of how to craft good prose, characterization, plot… but in the digital age, I’m going to take it a step further. Writers should harness technology to improve their toolbox.

Most of us are familiar with Scrivener now (the single greatest tool that has ever been available to authors, in my honest opinion). But, there are several other lesser-known tools that can make a huge difference in your writing journey. I’ll go over three of my favorites. If you’re willing to learn how to use them, they can be faithful and trusty tools in that author toolbox of yours.

Three Apps for Your Writing Toolbox:

Aeon Timeline

As long as wordsmiths are putting pen to paper, there will be an argument about whether writing by the “seat of your pants” or being a “plotter” is the preferred manuscript crafting method. No matter which path you take, planning for your book is extremely important.

And Aeon Timeline is one of the greatest tools available to those who want to plan their books in advance.

This tool allows you to structure your entire story from the first page to the last, keeping days, weeks, months, and years in proper perspective. I write about Ancient Rome. Most of my books cover a span of 3 – 5 years, so making sure that everything is structured properly and there are no gaps in time is very important. Simply laying all the major events out in chronological form helps keep everything in perspective. It’s amazing how you can miss little things about when a scene has to take place for the entire story to work, like that a particular scene has to take place in the height of winter to fit in. Without a visualizer like Aeon Timeline, you very well might write it with sunshine and warm weather. (This may or may not have happened to me within the past week.)

Aeon Timeline allows you to create the backstory of your characters and establish and visualize the various relationships between characters, events, and story arcs. It ensures that nothing will slip through the cracks and your story doesn’t contain any plot-holes or inconsistencies. For instance, it automatically calculates character age for each event, so you’ll never make an error. It reminds you when they have a birthday, so you don’t overlook that (I’m sure your characters wouldn’t).

Oh, and you can also sync your Aeon Timeline with your Scrivener document, dragging and dropping the events of your book into the timeline, or the timeline into Scrivener. This allows you to keep everything structured, not only in your mind but also on paper.

For the “pantsers” among you, never fear! You don’t have to structure out every scene of your book on Aeon, but it might not hurt to see the 30,000-foot view of the entire story. Or, at least use the tool to make sure everything is consistent once the manuscript is completed.

Word Keeper (iOS)

Employees clock in. They have to keep track of their work hours, their breaks, and their production. Managers have to keep an eye on it and make decisions about promotions or potential layoffs in light of this information. As an author, you’re an employee and a manager.

You have to be willing to take a look at your own writing habits and gauge how you’re doing and where you want to be. Some of you might be cringing at the thought of recording your daily numbers, knowing that they wouldn’t live up to your quota. I would encourage you to keep things in perspective. Remember that writing is a journey, not a destination. Our goal is to focus on trajectory (getting better every day) rather than simply being perfect.

Recording in your author log (number of words written and length of time at the computer) can help you do that. You can’t get to where you want to go if you don’t know where you are right now. Using a tool like Word Keeper on iOS allows the manager in you to keep an eye on things, and it keeps the employee in you accountable.

Word Keeper lets you record basic information, such as word count and amount of time writing, but it also creates nice little info graphs about your writing output over time, average number of words per hour, days to your deadline, achievements, and more! This is some valuable information. It can help guide the future of your career as you learn about what your strengths and weaknesses are, and where you can improve. On top of all that, Word Keeper has an incredible journal tool as well, which can be rewarding to processing a writing session. It’s also really cool to look back and remember what you were thinking when you wrote a particular scene!

For those who use Android, never fear! Writeometer on Google Play does everything that Word Keeper does and has a nifty little reward system to keep you motivated!

Evernote Character Templates

This one is a bit simpler than the other two but is just as effective. Evernote has compiled a list of character templates that have been helpful for authors. With a total of 12, they’re certain to have one for you.

Those of you who use Scrivener know that there are template forms for characters available within, but I prefer Evernote’s. The reason for this is that the OCD part of me prefers to create characters by filling out a form, with boxes to fill out and laid-out columns to keep everything straight. Scrivener’s forms can be a bit more difficult to handle, as they’re essentially word documents.

These templates available from Evernote have been used by other authors and have been successful for me. The best part is that each of them can be interacted with, so you can add or subtract anything from the templates before you begin to fill them in with character details.

What digital tools are in your author’s toolbox? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Vincent B. Davis II is an entrepreneur, soldier, and freelance writer. In December 2016, he founded Thirteenth Press, LLC. His first novel, The Man with Two Names, is available on Amazon now. You can connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, or on his website at vincentbdavisii.com. He loves hearing from other authors!