Storybook software is potentially a writer’s best friend.

So those of you who read my blog will know I am writing another novel. For those of you who don’t know about it, I am participating in a YA novel summer writing challenge where I hope to have my first draft completed by September. I am proud to say all 6,250 words of chapter 1 are done and I hope to start chapter 2 tomorrow. I have taken a completely new approach to writing this novel. I have actually planned it and I am making a major attempt to be more structured and organised.

I used to write all my stories using good old pen and paper and then transfer them to the computer after. During this time I would fill loads of notebooks with writing and if I were working on a longer piece such as a novel I would write character descriptions, names and notes about scenes in the backs of these notebooks so I could go to them easily if I needed to. Now I type my stories directly to the computer but for some reason every novel still gets its own notebook or at least section of a notebook for me to make those all important notations. This being the year 2011 I was sure there was a better way but I hadn’t quite discovered it yet.

Then a few weeks ago Kristi Bernard posted a link for a software program called Storybook on her blog The Neophyte Writer, entitled Storybook Software for Writers. I was curious because the software claimed to be a way to manage characters, scenes, chapters, locations and even develop ideas. I book marked the page but never downloaded it.

Then I figured with my fresh new start (both the novel and my new more organised approach to writing) I would give it a try. I have since downloaded and began to use it. It has been brilliant for storing data about characters, settings and even important objects.

I think this is certainly worth a try for most writers.

Advertisement