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Hi! I'm Kat, creator of The Novel Factory.
Below you can find out a little more about me, and how The Novel Factory came into being...
The Novel Factory
I’ve been writing stories for as long as I can remember, but around 2010 I set an ambition to become a published author.
As I began to learn my craft and write terrible apprentice novels, I found that I was always losing track of my notes, and although I kept reading creative writing books filled with valuable information, I couldn’t remember the methods and techniques around creating characters or plotting when I actually needed them.
So I decided to build the tool I so desperately needed...
Which is how The Novel Factory was born.
The Novel Factory was originally a simple desktop app designed to be a database to keep track of all my notes. I designed it to have sections for each of the areas I wanted as a writer – characters, plot, locations, word count statistics and so on. I also integrated a number of character questionnaires and plot templates I had gathered so that I could access them easily and fill them in digitally, rather then having to constantly copy and paste from a Word document.
I decided to share the software with other writers, and at first it was a very small community who were using it.
However, over the years I kept updating the software, adding more features I found useful for my own writing - and then I started to add features requested by other writers too.
Through this process, The Novel Factory has evolved to boast a wide range of interactive tools, not only purpose-built for novel writers, but also tried and tested by working writers – including myself.
Here are some of the key tools of The Novel Factory which I use every day for writing my own novels...
The Manuscript
I like having a visual interface that looks like a physical piece of paper for writing my novel – it helps me get into the right frame of mind. And I also like having all the most relevant notes easily to hand at any given time. I therefore designed the manuscript area as a simple, clean section, with a 'Related Info' sidebar, which displays the scene synopsis, associated characters and locations, and notes on relevant plot points which happen in that scene.
The Character Section
I used to find it hard to keep track of all my characters, and their various attributes. So I designed a dedicated character section that allowed me to easily enter all this data in simple, structured forms. Later down the line I also developed custom forms to meet the varying needs of different writers – and characters. One of my favourite parts of the character section is that it includes a gallery, so you can add images to help you visualise each character.
The Plot Manager
The Plot Manager is a section of the software I use constantly. It contains virtual drag-and-drop index cards where you can write a summary of what's going to happen in that scene. This evolves through my process of writing each novel, and I frequently go to the Plot Manager to get a high level overview of the story and make sure my plot is still well-structured.
Want to know more about the features of The Novel Factory? Click here to discover the full suite.
The Novel Writing Roadmap
The other thing I developed as I was learning my craft was a loosely repeatable process for writing a novel – based on distilling the many techniques I’d learned about novel writing into a system that works for me.
Writing a novel is a mammoth, nebulous task, but I do believe it can be broken down into a series of smaller tasks, which makes it feel infinitely more manageable.
It made sense to me to use something similar to the Snowflake Method as proposed by Randy Ingermanson, so I used that concept of starting small and building outwards.
I also integrated techniques for plot structure, character development and emotional impact from a range of craft books including:
- Getting into Character by Brandilyn Collins
- Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain
- Into the Woods by John Yorke
- Save the Cat by Blake Snyder
- Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
- How to Write Damn Good Fiction by James N Frey
- Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell
– and quite a few others.
My final Novel Writing Roadmap comprises fifteen steps to take you from initial idea to final manuscript, with each step building on the last and including a discrete, practical task to complete.
With each task you learn about an element of writing a novel, such as writing a premise, or a plot outline, or developing a character’s internal and external motivations.
In essence, you learn the craft of novel writing while completing your first manuscript.
This Roadmap is available completely free on our website, but it’s also integrated into the Novel Factory software, where you can check off the tasks, and fill out all the information in dedicated sections of the software.
My writing success
Alongside developing The Novel Factory and The Novel Writing Roadmap, I continued to work hard on my own novels, accumulating the traditional hundreds of rejections, and writing novels that slowly but surely got better.
Then, in early 2024, the dream came true and I was offered a major book deal with none other then Penguin Random House UK.
My debut novel, Blood of Gods and Girls, a YA feminist fantasy, is due to be released in early 2026 as the publisher’s lead YA fantasy title.
You can read more about my journey to publication here.
Building an ethical business
I have poured, and continue to pour, all that I learn about writing into The Novel Factory and the Roadmap, as well as using the software daily myself to write my own novels – so I am constantly striving to make it better for my own creative flow, as well as for that of our now thousands of users.
We often get feedback from users along the lines of ‘I’ve tried all kinds of software and this one is game-changing’.
I’ve never had access to big marketing budgets; I’ve built everything up based on word of mouth and focussing on striving to create the best writing software and providing the kind of service I expect as a customer, rather than on maximising revenue or profits.
Part of that is making sure that writers only buy the software if they’re sure it’s really going to help them, which is why we’ve always let people try it out before they buy.
This means giving people a meaningful amount of time to use the software, rather than making them feel like they’re under pressure to make a decision, and it means not asking people to give us any money (or credit card details) before giving them access.
"From the day I started my company, I maintained that having a successful business and holding ethical practices were not mutually exclusive, and I stand by that fifteen years later."
Another part of that is providing high quality customer support and really listening to our users and assisting until the issue is resolved, rather than fobbing them off with FAQs or robotic, irrelevant answers.
From the day I started my company, I maintained that having a successful business and holding ethical practices were not mutually exclusive, and I stand by that fifteen years later.
We may not grow as fast as some other companies, or have enough profits to be building rocket ships, but we feel good about our contribution to the writing community, and to the world.
So, if any of that resonates with you, then please do join our community, and I hope some of what I’ve built can help bring you joy and success in your writing.
