Why Nocturne Writer, and Why Now?
Nocturne Writer is a calm, distraction-resistant writing environment
designed for thinking and long-form writing.
Looking for the Right Writing Environment
I spent years looking for the perfect thinking and writing application to assist me in getting my ideas out of my head and onto ‘paper’. Perfect is obviously subjective and mostly impossible to attain, but I had a pretty well-defined set of requirements that, if met, would tell me that I was very close to finding my ideal writing environment.
I’ve tried many different writing applications and I once came close to finding the ideal environment. But over time, I found that the multiple levels of complexity I introduced to try achieve my desired workflows required too much ongoing management to maintain environment stability and keep my writing and research organized, and me focused.
Why Environment Matters
I also recognize that I work best in deliberately designed environments, where calm, focus, and a consciously constructed aesthetic (colour, typography, and visual structure) support sustained creativity, while minimizing distraction and fatigue. I know these needs aren’t unique to me. The ability to adapt writing environments to my moment-to-moment needs was extremely limited.
This is why I decided to build Nocturne Writer as a focused, standalone writing tool. But what about why I decided to build and release it now, in the middle of the AI revolution?
Why This Isn’t an AI Writing Tool
Centering Nocturne Writer around the human acts of thinking, planning, and writing was a conscious decision. While it doesn’t include any AI functionality, this isn’t an anti-AI stance. Love it or hate it, AI with all its generative capabilities is here to stay, so we need to learn to live with it. We decided to happily live with it, but as neighbours with a good fence, not as bedmates. We also didn’t feel the need to add another title to the growing stack of AI-enabled writing tools that are already very good at what they do. We recognize that there is little use in trying to compete in a space that you’re not really interested in playing in.
Who Nocturne Writer Is For
If this way of thinking about writing resonates with you, Nocturne Writer might be worth exploring. We’re entering beta now at https://nocturne-writer.com.