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OT: Story organization software

KatteyKattey Posts: 2,899
edited December 1969 in The Commons

I need a program (preferably free or not-expensive) that will help to keep notes about story and interconnections in plot. I envision it as a big board with stickers and threads but maybe there is some better kind of organization.

Can anybody recommend any?

Thanks )

Comments

  • SylvanSylvan Posts: 2,711
    edited January 2014

    There is some great software for character development and such, but most cost a few bucks.
    One is called character writer, but I haven't taken the time to work with it much.
    Haven't heard about interconnections within software but it sounds too logic that it should be out there.

    Post edited by Sylvan on
  • StratDragonStratDragon Posts: 3,167
    edited January 2014

    did you try any of these?

    http://www.techradar.com/us/news/software/applications/best-free-software-for-writing-10-programs-to-unleash-your-creativity-1141280

    Last time I looked I ended up trying a demo and then it told me what it would cost to buy and I gave up writing, but Libre office is what I highly recommend to people who don't want to buy Word or MSOffice and it's a really fantastic package with no restrictions and it's 100% free with no malware or ads or any crap and it runs on Win, Mac, Unix.

    Post edited by StratDragon on
  • KatteyKattey Posts: 2,899
    edited January 2014

    I have both Libre and Open Office, but what I need is some kind of software that helps with organization of notes as just text file isn't easy to navigate and In-Design isn't really made for that kind of things. For example, there is a note: 'Deamons of Wel-Bery prefer souls of deers over souls of humans (don't ask why)" and this note is connected to note in a different part of the story "day seven: Sharadir kills and eats a deer here, so some timid deamons from nearby ruins (secretly a well-pass to Third Castle but deamons forgot about it) might be interested in some trading" where this note is connected to 1) a big note about what Third Castle is and 2) what kind of well-pass it is and where this well-pass was mentioned before (day 2, old dusty scroll on a window of pawnbroker in Taladiar Pits).

    It isn't really for a story but for DnD campaign but I found even less note-taking DnD software.

    I'm currently using Story Turbo v2 for this purpose but it has its limitations, so I wonder if there is anything better.

    Post edited by Kattey on
  • MJ_VivianightMJ_Vivianight Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Just chiming in, not free, $40.00 when not on sale, but look up the Scrivener program from literatureandlatte since yes, it does have a virtual corkboard. Plus a heck more.

    Cheers. :)

  • ArtiniArtini Posts: 9,455
    edited January 2014

    There are many free software packages available at: http://sourceforge.net/
    Just search for: mind
    and you will get many to choose from, like: vym -view your mind, mind map architect and so on.
    I have not used them, but they look useful.

    Post edited by Artini on
  • Lissa_xyzLissa_xyz Posts: 6,116
    edited December 1969

    Sounds like mind mapping. Try something like this: http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

  • KatteyKattey Posts: 2,899
    edited December 1969

    Oh, these are some new keywords I never through about. Thanks, MJ_Vivianight, Artini and Vaskania. Did any of you tried any of those?

  • jerriecanjerriecan Posts: 470
    edited December 1969

    My favorite program for this is Papel:

    http://papel.en.softonic.com/

    I've used it quite extensively over the years. Hope you find it useful. :)

  • FirstBastionFirstBastion Posts: 7,760
    edited December 1969

    The Dramatica Pro software offers a free demo trial that might be of interest. http://dramatica.com/

  • KatteyKattey Posts: 2,899
    edited December 1969

    jerriecan said:
    My favorite program for this is Papel:

    http://papel.en.softonic.com/

    I've used it quite extensively over the years. Hope you find it useful. :)


    I've just downloaded it and Malwarebytes anti-malware gave it a warning. Should I assume it is a false positive?
  • ArtiniArtini Posts: 9,455
    edited January 2014

    I have just tried FreeMind on Windows 8 and it works well (vym could not save a file). Too early to have some opinions yet.

    Post edited by Artini on
  • ArtiniArtini Posts: 9,455
    edited December 1969

    Kattey said:
    jerriecan said:
    My favorite program for this is Papel:

    http://papel.en.softonic.com/

    I've used it quite extensively over the years. Hope you find it useful. :)


    I've just downloaded it and Malwarebytes anti-malware gave it a warning. Should I assume it is a false positive?
    Thanks for the warning. I will stick to the FreeMind instead.
  • RawArtRawArt Posts: 5,889
    edited January 2014

    I picked this up earlier this year and really dig the structure of it

    http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html


    Rawn

    Post edited by RawArt on
  • jerriecanjerriecan Posts: 470
    edited December 1969

    Kattey said:
    jerriecan said:
    My favorite program for this is Papel:

    http://papel.en.softonic.com/

    I've used it quite extensively over the years. Hope you find it useful. :)


    I've just downloaded it and Malwarebytes anti-malware gave it a warning. Should I assume it is a false positive?

    I'm not sure - I've had my copy for years and may have obtained it from another site. Probably better safe than sorry. Sorry to lead you astray on this. :( If you can locate one without malware warnings, I'd definitely try it out.

    Once again, sorry for the bad link. :(

  • jerriecanjerriecan Posts: 470
    edited December 1969

    RawArt said:
    I picked this up earlier this year and really dig the structure of it

    http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html


    Rawn

    I really like Spacejock software. He's got a lot of nice, simple, useful stuff. Need to go back and redownload the latest versions...

  • SnowSultanSnowSultan Posts: 3,595
    edited December 1969

    I have yWriter 5 too, it's easy to learn, stable, and free.

  • KatteyKattey Posts: 2,899
    edited December 1969

    jerriecan said:
    Kattey said:
    jerriecan said:
    My favorite program for this is Papel:

    http://papel.en.softonic.com/

    I've used it quite extensively over the years. Hope you find it useful. :)


    I've just downloaded it and Malwarebytes anti-malware gave it a warning. Should I assume it is a false positive?

    I'm not sure - I've had my copy for years and may have obtained it from another site. Probably better safe than sorry. Sorry to lead you astray on this. :( If you can locate one without malware warnings, I'd definitely try it out.

    Once again, sorry for the bad link. :(
    I'm pretty sure it is false positive, don't worry. I wonder if I can somehow ask Papel creator about it.

    Great suggestions, everybody. Thank you very much!

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001
    edited December 1969

    Kattey said:
    jerriecan said:
    Kattey said:
    jerriecan said:
    My favorite program for this is Papel:

    http://papel.en.softonic.com/

    I've used it quite extensively over the years. Hope you find it useful. :)


    I've just downloaded it and Malwarebytes anti-malware gave it a warning. Should I assume it is a false positive?

    I'm not sure - I've had my copy for years and may have obtained it from another site. Probably better safe than sorry. Sorry to lead you astray on this. :( If you can locate one without malware warnings, I'd definitely try it out.

    Once again, sorry for the bad link. :(
    I'm pretty sure it is false positive, don't worry. I wonder if I can somehow ask Papel creator about it.

    Great suggestions, everybody. Thank you very much!

    If you clicked the big green DOWNLOAD button, then MBAM is flagging it because it isn't an 'installer' but rather a 'web installer'/downloader.

    If you look, underneath, there is a link to an 'alternate' file that is the actual installer...and dumping it on Jotti showed no threats. For those that don't know, virusscan.jotti.org/ is an online file scanner...it runs a file you upload through nearly 2 dozen AV programs and shows you the results.

  • Testing6790Testing6790 Posts: 1,091
    edited December 1969

    This is a little out there, but check out UMLet. It's a totally free application for easily creating UML diagrams, a software design model. You could easily use it to create a storyboard, however.

  • CybersoxCybersox Posts: 9,053
    edited December 1969

    I strongly recommend CELTX, from https://www.celtx.com/index.html It's an all in one scriptwriting/budgeting/breakdown/scheduling/storyboarding program designed for collaborating over the internet, and includes such useful features as scene shuffling, a timeline history that retains previous versions for cross comparison and integrated catalogs for characters (inc bios, illos, etc), significant props, locations and general notes with the ability to attach almost any kind of media file, including audio & video. Both the free basic desktop version and the $14.99 step-up CeltxPlus (which adds index card style shuffling, a bunch of clip art for storyboarding and the Performance Tracker analytics) are available for Windows, Mac & Linux (and with support for 33 languages.) They've also got some pretty nifty apps for ios and android.

  • SiennaBlueSiennaBlue Posts: 224
    edited December 1969

    Kattey,

    There's Liquid Story Binder which you can get a 44% discount on from BitsDuJour.

  • CbirdCbird Posts: 493
    edited December 1969

    Love Index Card on the ipad.

  • StormlyghtStormlyght Posts: 666
    edited December 1969

    MJ_Vivianight said:
    Just chiming in, not free, $40.00 when not on sale, but look up the Scrivener program from literatureandlatte since yes, it does have a virtual corkboard. Plus a heck more.

    Cheers. :)

    Hi @Kattey
    Ditto that! I use Scrivener (http://literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php) for everything from curriculum development and technical papers to my latest YA novel. I’m not linear in my thought process and this application compliments how I write. Literature and Latte also have another application called Scapple that you might like as well.

    Trish #2

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