The Project
*Update: The backend of the app is now fully powered by Google Cloud Platform, Firebase, Firestore and Cloud Functions.
JumpWriter is a free web-app designed for creative writers, created and maintained by JumpOff. The idea is to promote the practice of freewriting, which is a writing exercise in which a writer writes non-stop for a chosen period of time, without editing, just writing whatever comes to mind. It also aims to encourage serendipity by providing randomized image or text writing prompts.
The Architecture
JumpWriter consists of a client-side React/Redux application served at blazing fast speeds (often under 1s) by Netlify. Once loaded by the browser, this React app communicates with a WordPress installation via the WordPress REST API to get data via a customized REST endpoint. It also communicates with the Unsplash JSON API to fetch random images for writing prompts.
Over the years, JumpWriter has undergone many incarnations. It started off as a WordPress plugin, allowing writers to do freewriting exercises on their own WordPress sites. Later it was transformed into it’s own web-application, as a server-side rendered React/Express/Redux/WP-API app. Upon learning about Netlify’s awesome git deploy process, JumpOff rebuilt the app to remove the Server Side Rendering and allow the app to be hosted by Netlify.
Writing Prompts
JumpWriter provides writers with randomized text or image prompts to encourage creativity and serendipity in the freewriting exercise.
JumpWriter pulls random nouns and verbs from it’s WordPress API and creates a unique (and often strange) phrase to jumpstart the writer’s imagination.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so JumpWriter offers writers photo prompts as well, utilizing Unsplash’s ever-expanding collection of high-quality photos.
The Future
The current app only allows for users to fetch prompts and write. The next step will be to add user authentication, and the ability for users to save and edit their writing, all using WordPress as a backend.