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Final Deadline

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Final Deadline

The Cure for Writer's Block

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The Cure for Writer's Block

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Final Deadline

The Cure for Writer's Block

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    The Cure for Writer's Block

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    Taskmaster

    Uninterrupted writing stint

    Write for minutes

    Taskmaster will scream at you when you stop paying attention. Be aware that Taskmaster cannot be interrupted for the duration of this stint.


    Turn your speakers all the way up...


    Writing stint finished

    Time's up. Have a rest.

    Timeline

    Character details

    Timeline

    Event details.

    Final Deadline

    Write yourself a story




    plan your novel write your novel refine your novel


    Final Deadline will help you write that novel, paper or thesis.



    Whether or not you've ever finished (or even started) a book before, Final Deadline will help you accomplish things you never dreamed you could do.




    You have stories in your head that no one else can see.
    Today is the day to write them down.

    Start Writing


    Plan your Novel

    Make sure your novel has a good solid foundation of plot, characters and setting. Plan details even if they won't feature in the book, and the result will feel fluent and cohesive.



    Call forth from your imagination...



    ...fleshed out characters


    Know Thyself


    Ten minutes on Know Thyself and you'll know your characters better than your own friends and family.

    ...a world with depth


    Genesis


    The better you know your world, the bigger and more immersive that world will feel to your readers.

    ...a complex plot


    Timeline


    Draw out the history, backstory, and narrative of your novel. Catch plot holes before they catch you.



    Guided writing exercises get you well and truly into the mind of your characters.

    By answering rapid-fire questions, the details of your setting will spring into life.

    Use our apps as a thinking aid when you hit a wall. Or load one up as a quick break from writing.





    Write your Novel

    Writing requires persistence and determination. Don't focus on the end result and obsess over how far away it looks. Make the act of writing a habit, and win the race steadily.



    Write a little every day.

    See how quickly you make progress.



    Track and plan your writing with the interactive daily tracker.

    Let Final Deadline worry about scheduling, wordcount goals and finish dates.

    Work with any writing software or even pen and paper.



    The only thing you need to do is sit down and write.



    Set yourself Deadlines



    Final Deadline will automatically schedule your workload. We will break it down into daily bitesize chunks, and email you to keep you on track.


    For every day you will be able to see your progress and targets at a glance.





    Scrawl


    Scrawl is our word processor custom-built for writers. Incorporating elements of psychology and gameification, Scrawl is optimised to suppress your inner editor and make you write - prolifically.





    Use Scrawl to write from anywhere, any time.

    Customise your writing environment to suit you.

    View Tables of Contents and jump between chapters quickly.




    Stay focussed!



    Use Scrawl's Taskmaster feature to overcome procrastination.

    Drift off for too long and it screams at you!





    Write at Knifepoint


    Our Sharp Edge service is our final, lethal, anti-procrastination tool.


    First you'll be terrified, and then you'll be astounded at what you achieve.


    Learn more.




    Refine your Novel

    Your writing isn't finished before you've put it before friends and editors to get their feedback. Never skip this stage. Everyone will know.



    Better Quality Editing


    Get direct, immediate, line-by-line feedback and suggestions. Instantly evaluate individual turns of phrase, or highlight specific spelling and grammar mistakes.




    Release excerpts of your work in progress for editing while you carry on writing the rest.

    Post a single link to Facebook, Twitter, etc. or email it directly to your friends and editors.

    Your editors can work from anywhere without managing files or printing out reams of paper.





    Work Side by Side


    You don't have to sit there on your own: write in the Workshop together with other enthusiasts in a busy, collaborative atmosphere and get the benefit of each others' attention and experience. You can choose to work in public or share only with fellow writers.







    Praise for Final Deadline:


    “Thank you so much for this, I like it a lot!” — from the NaNoWriMo forums



    “This has already proven in the last hour to be
    the single most useful thing ever!”— Facebook post




    “A friend found this website and instantly told me about how amazing it is,
    and I have to agree with him!”— personal referral



    “Fantastic. :) So effective!”— from the NaNoWriMo forums








    Final Deadline

    Write yourself a story

    You have stories in your head that no one else can see.
    Today is the day to write them down.

    Start Writing


    We like books. There should be more books. Write us a book.


    Final Deadline is for writers - any writers, from professionals to hobbyists to wannabes. If you have ever even thought about boldly putting pen to paper, then we have your back.

    Final Deadline makes tools, apps, exercises and services to assist with every aspect of writing. Our single goal is to get all the stories in your head down on to paper.






    "I don't need time - I need a deadline."


    — Duke Ellington



    About Us


    Final Deadline was started by a couple of students during their last year at university. It was created when they became enthused with writing after joining the local students' Creative Writing Society.

    The intention of the company is to promote writing, help contribute towards a healthy crop of good books to read, and to recreate the atmosphere of a quaint student club even after all its members have moved on to new lives outside of the university.


    We also want to have fun! We love the idea of creating new tools to tackle writer's problems in a more imaginative way. We think technology has limitless potential to better our lives in countless ways - and it's our job to find out what those are.

    We're coming up with new ideas all the time - good ones and bad ones, we'll try them all - and we're always keen to hear other people's input. If you have any cool new concepts, suggestions or comments about the site, we want to hear all about them!



    Rationale Behind the Name


    The vast majority of good ideas out there are going to die quietly, simply because people like you and me have other things to do with our time. We may lack confidence, we may lack willpower, but fundamentally we lack the time.

    Giving yourself a deadline, declaring your project to be something important enough to spend time on, is the only way to change that.

    Every great author did it, either consciously or un-. We have to as well. It will be worth it when we do.



    (Scrawl)(Know Thyself)(Genesis)(Timeline)(Fortune)

    Choose a pricing plan to determine your usage of the website.

    Final Deadline plans allow different levels of resource usage, depending on what you need.

    FREE

    ---


    useful comparisons...
    • The best things in life are free
    • Freedom is slavery
    • There is no such thing as a free lunch
    • It is better to die free than live life in a cage [citation needed]


    Sample Final Deadline's apps and finish a respectably-sized project, at no expense.

    USAGE

    • One project of up to 60,000 words
    • Free use of planning apps, without ability to save
    • One deadline per month
    • One excerpt for feedback and critique

    BASIC

    money / month


    useful comparisons...
    • One good cup of coffee or pint of lager could cost money, but you'll probably want another one
    • money might get you a bus ticket to somewhere close-ish
    • Or you could buy two bars of chocolate (once a month)


    Get a little bit more elbow room, have space to think with more than one idea on the go.

    USAGE

    • Three projects of up to 100,000 words each
    • Save up to ten reference files for planning
    • Three deadlines per month
    • Three excerpts for feedback and critique

    SILVER

    money / month


    useful comparisons...
    • At one point, money could take you one-way between zones 1 - 6 on the London Underground
    • It may also be the price of one low-cost gym class
    • If everyone gave money to Wikipedia, they say they'll stop nagging us about it


    Be working on new ideas while slugging away at projects and editing up finished works.

    USAGE

    • Five projects of up to 200,000 words each
    • Save up to twenty reference files for planning
    • Unlimited deadlines per month
    • Five excerpts for feedback and critique

    GOLD

    money / month


    useful comparisons...
    • I can't get a takeaway pizza for less than money
    • Or a cinema ticket, for that matter. Even excluding popcorn and fizz
    • money could stretch to maybe two packs of cigarettes, if they're cheap cigarettes.


    Final Deadline is at your disposal. There are no limits, so do whatever you want.

    USAGE

    • Unlimited projects and unlimited words
    • Unlimited reference files for planning
    • Unlimited deadlines per month
    • Unlimited excerpts for feedback and critique

    The Sharp Edge is our devastatingly effective coercive motivation tool


    For anyone who finds it easier to reach for an excuse than pick up a pen:


    • If you want to write, but never have the time.
    • If you're trying to build up a writing habit but you keep forgetting, or real life keeps leading you astray
    • If you know you have a great book inside you, but you're afraid you lack the confidence or stamina to see it through

    The Sharp Edge will make you write. At knifepoint.


    If that's not for you, turn back.




    Why?

    Think back to the last significant piece of writing you completed.


    Was it a report for work, or an essay for school? In which case, you damn well got it done: because if you didn't, you knew there would be consequences.


    It's always our own, personal projects that slip, because it never really matters if they get put off until tomorrow.


    If not finishing your novel was as scary a prospect as not showing up for work, you'd see to it that thing got finished.


    The Sharp Edge is designed to bridge that gap. We will make that project matter to your immediate future, as it never has before.




    The Rules

    How much does your novel mean to you?


    You set yourself a deadline (or interim milestone), then you put a big chunk of your own money up at risk. You want that money back, you have to start writing.

    If you complete your target as intended, nothing happens and we don't charge you at all. If not, your card is debited by the amount you risked.

    It's that simple.


    The Results

    What could you do if you had to?


    The Sharp Edge is the most effective tool in our toolkit.

    It may seem rather scary. It's supposed to be - it has to be. Because that is how it works: Your novel has to matter to you more than the everyday life that's currently blotting it out.

    There needs to be a hard edge - something to overcome the fatigue, apathy and lethargy that unavoidably sets in halfway through any worthwhile project.

    Once your novel is as large a priority as your job or your school, once there are real-world consequences, you can be damn sure you'll get it done. Never seem to find the time? You'll make the time. Writer's block? You'll think of something. You'll have to.



    This is the Final Deadline shop, where we assemble things you might find useful.


    The products here aren't from Final Deadline, but gathered from around the web. Your buying them still helps support our site via affiliate marketing.

    If you don't see your needs reflected in the shop, but you do see something elsewhere, contact us and let us know! Lots of different people use Final Deadline and we want to look after all of you.


    Buy stuff here to help support the site. This is affiliate marketing, we get a small percentage of any products bought through this page - that money allows us to keep Final Deadline going. So buy here and get your friends to do the same.

    Suggest Something

    Feedback received.



    We want this to be a focussed shop, a place for the best products specifically useful for writers. The obvious thing then is to ask our users for their say.

    The Shop exists to make money that helps support the site and keep it available for free users. But we want to make it more than that - we see an opportunity to build a tight, focussed resource of the best products specifically useful for writers. So the obvious thing to do is ask our users for their say. If you can recommend any product or service that you found genuinely useful, and you think others might benefit from, please let us know. The vendor must offer us an affiliate program with a sensible commission.



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    Your Work

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    Biography

    Work

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    Settings

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    Planning

    Use this page to assemble notes and resources for your project.

    Several apps are available to help you. Open a saved file to read or keep working on.



    Create a new planning file.

    Open an app directly here. Ensure you have space to save it on your plan.






    Or continue working on your project.


    Writing

    Use this page to track your progress and schedule your writing.

    This dashboard shows your daily progress. Update your wordcount every day using the 'Update' button below.

    Last updated 10.30 a.m., 5th July 2014


    Update wordcount directly:



    Or keep writing with Scrawl using the 'Keep Writing' button below


    Calendar

    Tell us how long you want your project to be, and how many words you want to be writing every day, and we'll schedule the work for you.


    You can schedule deadlines and days off. If you have deadlines, the scheduler will let you know what you need to meet them. You'll always know what date you're on track to finish.

    Final novel length:

    Daily target:

    Deadline safety margin:

    The daily targets you have to meet are shown below. Click any future day set a deadline or day off.

    You can set yourself deadlines or days off by clicking on a day. We'll alter your daily targets to keep you on track.

    CALENDAR SECTION

    Editing

    Create and manage excerpts of your project to get critique in the Workshop.

    In the Workshop you can get feedback and critique of an excerpt while improving the next version in Scrawl.



    Create a new Excerpt for others to read and critique:

    Give the excerpt a name to help you refer to it.


    Give a quick line to tell other users what kind of critique you're looking for:

    This text will be shown to readers in the workshop.


    Add an author's preamble, if desired

    Use this to say something, as the author, to readers before they start the excerpt.


    Select the content of the excerpt

    Click the dots to set the start and end points of the excerpt.


    Add an author's post-amble if desired

    Use this to say something, as the author, to readers once they've finished the excerpt.


    Set the censorship and visibility of the excerpt

    Regardless of these settings, the excerpt will never be visible anywhere the overall Project isn't.

    Visibility:

    Censorship:



    Publishing

    (Read)

    Critique

    Read and offer feedback

    The author is looking for critique on:

    The author says:



    “

    ”


    highlight some text or click a marker line to begin:

    The author says:



    Leave a review.

    Constructive criticism is better than not:


    See what our users are working on:

    Some users have chosen to allow you to see their work in progress, and their projects are visible here:















    Critiques

    Published Excerpts

    Project

    Scrawl

    Know Thyself

    Genesis

    Timeline


    Click any icon to try our various apps and offerings

    Each app is designed to help with a different facet of writing

    New Project

    Create your project now





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    Censorship:



    A Final Deadline project allows you:

    Pace Yourself, Stay Organised



    Choose the approach that suits you best - fit the workload around your own calender with our interactive timetable planner.

    We provide pretty graphs and visualisations where you can watch your efforts piling up.

    Continuous Tracking throughout your Deadlines



    Or track your project with Final Deadline and we'll handle all the organisational stuff for you.

    We divide your work into bitesize chunks and set you up with clear daily targets. All you have to do is write!

    The Steel Taste of Fear



    The Sharp Edge is the most effective tool in our toolbox, but it's not for the faint of heart...

    Blow through procrastination and apathy by threatening yourself where it hurts: in the wallet. With the Sharp Edge, you attach a price to your own performance, forcing your future self to work, or suffer the consequences.

    Fear is the greatest motivator there is. Living on the Sharp Edge is the one sure way to get the best out of yourself. It's scary now, but worth it afterwards.

    Polish and Hone your Work



    Get specific, line-by-line feedback using our Critique app. Critique allows your editor to record immediate thoughts and ideas as they occur.

    Send a private link to a select circle of your most trusted friends and editors, or stick it out in public and let anyone join in.

    Work in Good Company



    Our Workshop provides a busy, constructive atmosphere that's much more fun and focussed than hiding away in isolation.

    Make yourself visible in the Workshop and anyone can sit down next to you and talk about what you're doing.

    Get inspired by reading the writings of others, and share your own expertise by offering critique.

    Scrawl

    Sit down and Start Writing



    Scrawl is an online word processor designed with writing in mind!

    It is focussed around motivation, tweaked in all sorts of little ways designed to encourage free thoughts and high wordcounts.

    Try it out now!

    Go

    Know Thyself

    Get inside the Minds of your Characters



    This exercise helps you get to know your character inside and out. Flesh out preexisting ideas or create a whole new personality on the fly!

    If you ever find you've hit a wall and your plot doesn't seem to be going anywhere, there's no better way to get out of the mire than by spending some quality time with your characters!

    Go

    Genesis

    Build your World



    The counterpart to Know Thyself is Genesis, a guided writing exercise that helps with your worldbuilding.

    By answering rapid-fire questions you'll turn a shallow stage set into a developed, complex and detailed world. Your readers will feel the difference!

    Go

    Timeline

    Plot out your Plot



    Timeline lets you graphically plot out the narrative of your story!

    By linking up characters and events and spacing them out across time, you organise your thoughts, hone the pacing and avoid creating plotholes and inconsistencies.

    Go

    Scrawl

    Keep Writing

    Keep Writing!

    Just type anything to stop the noise!

    Scrawl

    Keep Writing

    Options

    Show wordcount

    Game Mode (progress bars)

    Flow Mode (don't allow delete)

    Editor width:

    Ambient noise:

    Taskmaster

    Show timer during Taskmaster stint.

    Timer counts

    Do not pause for more than seconds.



    Read, app for reading books

    Know Thyself

    Get to know your characters

    Know Thyself

    Get to know your characters

    Options

    Move on after a pause of seconds.

    This exercise gets you create and flesh out a character's personality.


    It doesn't matter if your character is already well-defined, or if you haven't thought about them at all.


    You will be asked rapid-fire questions about your character. Answer as fast as you can, without hesitating or pausing for thought.


    Click 'Begin' to interview your character

    Genesis

    Flesh out a setting

    Genesis

    Flesh out a setting

    Options

    Move on after a pause of seconds.

    This exercise gets you create and flesh out a world or setting.


    You will be asked rapid-fire questions about your world. Answer as fast as you can, without hesitating or pausing for thought.


    The setting of a story can vary drastically - one author may be describing a whole fantasy universe while another just wants to flesh out a single inner-city school. Skip any questions that don't apply to you.


    Click 'Begin' to interview your character

    Note

    For jottings and scribbles

    Timeline

    Lay out a narrative

    Timeline

    Lay out a narrative

    Time direction:




    Use Timeline to lay out your plot graphically.


    Add characters and events by clicking anywhere on the canvas. Lay them out by dragging them around.


    Time moves forward from left to right, so events on the right side of the page happen after events on the left.


    Link events to characters with the little link icon. You'll be able to see at a glance who does what, and when, in your story.


    To unlink a character from an event, click the circle above the event on the character's timeline. You can zoom in if clicking on the right circle feels too fiddly.


    If you have the 'Drag' buttons active, moving something will move past or future events along with it. That way you can insert things, without having to move every single event along to make room.



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