Yarny, write your novel in the cloud

Our Chief of Operations, Clinton, has been talking about his first attempt at NaNoWriMo for awhile now. As software developers, besides advising him to not quit his day job, we dove into evaluating creative writing software for him to use. Adam, our Chief of Technology (yes, a lot of Chiefs around here), led the charge.

We studied dozens of software packages and web apps. We found some apps simple and creative, like OmmWriter, which we love, but it is designed for writing very short pieces. We found "lite" web based editors that are good for capturing thoughts and taking notes, but not for novel writing. As alternatives, MS Word, Google Docs and other word processors just don't facilitate creative writing--they weren't designed to.

We found the software packages designed just for novel writing bloated with features added over years of development resulting in their being complicated and not very easy to work with. After all, we just want to write.

Today's technology has moved past the current market leaders in terms of what novel writing software could be. No matter how many features they add, it's still installed, complicated software, built for the pre-web app world. Web apps are changing nearly everything software-related, and we think creative writing software is due for a change.

Each of us here at Blue Burro are restless with technology anyway. Our passion is to advance it, not accept the status quo. So, it was exciting for us to realize that we could advance the state of creative writing software. We knew we could create a modern writing environment that we would love to use. Yarny is the result.



What you see now at yarny.me is just a start. We're quite happy with it, but it's still early in the development cycle. As we continue to develop Yarny, here are some promises we have made to ourselves and those that also choose to use Yarny in their craft:

• We will never make Yarny complicated. We just don't think anyone should have to learn to use software anymore. Today, software should be self-evident and forgiving. Just start using Yarny. If some part confuses you, let us know, we'll work on that.


• We won't stop tinkering until it's the leading creative writing environment on the planet (even then, we probably won't stop; it's just the way we're wired).


• You will always access it through your browser and an internet connection from any computer and will never need to install anything. Soon you'll be able to write offline in your browser and automatically sync later when you have an internet connection.


• We will never force a specific method of writing. We create spaces and tools inside Yarny to use in any manner that works best for you.


• You'll be able to simply and securely share your writing with others.


• We will add some formatting capabilities, but not get carried away. Formatting gets in the way of writing. If you think you need a lot of formatting, look at the Tom Sawyer manuscript; Mark Twain w-r-o-t-e it on a TYPEWRITER.


• We will integrate with other online apps that provide things you will need such as book layout and publishing, making it easy to take what you create in Yarny and turn it into a published work.


• We will always have a free version. A few things won't be free, but not many. Further, the paid plans, which will begin in December, will be dirt cheap. It's the internet after all.

We hope you enjoy using Yarny and it becomes your favorite writing tool. Our plans for the future of Yarny are shaped by what you tell us. So please send us an email, click the Feedback button in Yarny, or post something on our forums to let us know your thoughts. We know that we created Yarny for us to use - we all write, and Clinton will be using it for NaNoWriMo in a little over a month. We also know we created it for you, the creative writer, wanting a better way to write.

For WriMo 2011, it's free. It's currently in beta, but that doesn't mean we don't take running it seriously. We've had it running for awhile now and writers are depending upon it as their writing tool. While using it, feel free to give us feedback and suggestions in the forum or the in-app feedback button.

In December, we'll be out of beta and begin our subscriptions. Don't worry though, we'll always have a Free Forever plan, so if you don't want to pay - no worries. The subscription plans will add some additional features you may want. Good news though, it's going to be inexpensive, well, actually, dirt cheap. And, for some added motivation to be a WriMo winner, all winners get an annual subscription at half price - that's 50% off of dirt cheap!

We wish you the best during November and please let us know what we can do to make Yarny a better place for you to write. Thanks. Now, start writing.


Love,

The Yarny Team

www.getyarny.com (site and support forums)

www.yarny.me (the place to write)

I'm excited this is free. I've been trying it out, and what I see, I think is great so far.

The offline option will be awesome. I'm pretty excited about that, too.

Mostly, I just want to say I appreciate the privacy. I'm kind of leery about posting any of my content on the internet in the first place. It's a comfort to know someone still takes privacy seriously, and doesn't take the opportunity to make a buck off it.

Ooh, I like this. I've used Google Docs for everything previously, but Yarny looks like it'll provide the same convenience as Google Docs, but be made for writers. I'm trying it out now, and it looks great! I assume details such as formatting will be added later.

Love the idea. Just tried it and found it to be a little glitchy, tried giving feedback but couldn't access the form. That said, I'm on an unsupported browser, so I shall try on Chrome when I get home. Definitely an interesting idea for NaNoWriMo because I write on different computers through the month and tend to spend a lot of time emailing my story back and forth to myself.

[off topic post removed by mods]

It looks great, but I really want something that will work for someone whose writing computer does NOT have an internet connection. Period. Other than hoping you don't lose your flashdrive...
I'm fine with a USB/ethernet/what have you to connect to another computer, just not the internet. (It's capable, via ethernet or modem, but there's no browser or virus protection software on it...)

It looks pretty interesting. Will give it a try this november and see how my work browser likes it ^^

I've been trying out Yarny lately and I like it so far! It will be useful to have a distraction-free environment once November 1st rolls around. :)

I do like the look and ease of use of this. I've tried yWriter and Scrivner in the past but didn't like either of them leaving me using google docs and MSword.

This however, looks great and I look forward to really sinking my teeth into it.

I got a chromebook this summer, and I was resigned to having to type everything in google docs, so that I could write on all my7 computers, but this seems so much better! So far, I really like the snippets, and the built- in notes on the side... but I
heavily depend on being able to mark certain things in bold, and other things in italics... any word on when that will work?

This looks like a very cool writing tool. I'm using it on the Opera browser and so far it seems to be working fine. Will you be testing Yarny in the Opera browser in the future?

Also, I know that the formatting and such is going to be kept simple, but are there any plans for a highlighting tool? As I'm writing I like to be able to quickly highlight individual sentences or paragraphs that I know I'll need to come back to.

This really just rocked my day~! Thanks Chris! I'll try it for this years NaNo. If I have any problems with it, I'll just post them here.

We have just released a minor update to fix the problem some users were having. Yarny will no longer lie to you, telling you that you're "not logged in," when you very clearly are.

I already started planning out my novel and writing character profiles in Yarny! It's easy to use, distraction-free, and I can get on it from pretty much anywhere! Definitely using it for NaNo this year.

This is exactly what I needed to keep all my information in one place! I can add notes on my characters on the right side which is easily accessible. So much easier than rifling through paperwork or skimming through my wordpad. I am positive that Yarny is going to be my best friend for the next two months. :)

I found this about a week ago. It's pretty neat, and I'm liking it, but I seem to have a bit of trouble committing to writing software. Be sure that I'll use it; the question is just how often. I'm eager to have italics and bold and, particularly, an indent button. :X I just can't stand having to double-return so my paragraphs don't meld into each other. If I have to copy/paste into a Word doc that I can print for class, those extra spaces are a pain. :(

Overall, though, I'm liking where Yarny is headed.

The first thing I thought was "Argh no speelcherker" but then I realised that, when I use Chrome, I've got one built in to that anyway.

I've downloaded and trialled a load of different software and I confess I've had the same thoughts as the Yarny folk - it's all a bit complicated and needlessly 'in your face' feature wise. This looks like the winner for me.

I plan on trying Yarny once there are basic formatting capabilities (bold, italic etc)

Nothing bothers me more during writing than being distracted because I cannot indent, bold or italicize something. Its like an itch on my frontal lobe and I cant scratch it.

That said, Yarny is definitely the most promising writing app Ive seen! If all else fails, I will be using OpenOffice and a flash drive XD

This looks really great, but I won't always be connected when I'm writing, so the offline feature is a must for me. I'm going to play around with it, though. Looks like fun.

I'm actually really impressed so far. I write in notepad and this gives me a really nice way to keep track of everything, check word count and save at the same time, and break everything out without using clunky folders or downloading software. Definitely looking forward to an off-line mode, too.