When Wyl Menmuir sat down to write his first book, he was well aware it was something many aspire to but few achieve. "I knew I needed help to avoid it being just a stack of paper that sat in my bedside drawer. I know too many people who have written half a novel," he says.
So Menmuir deployed every tool he could think of. He embarked on a creative writing MA for which the planned novel was his thesis. He set himself daily goals. He deployed software to block his access to social media. And he also downloaded an app called WriteTrack (later renamed Prolifiko), which allowed him to set word counts and track his progress.
The result was the Booker-longlisted novel The Many and, thanks to the data he collected through the app, we have a rare glimpse into the process that made the book a reality. The following excerpts are a collection of the notes Menmuir posted in the app and the word count he logged at various points.