Liquid Story Binder
I’ve mentioned Liquid Story Binder a few times lately, and I wanted to give a little more info on it in case anyone was interested in checking it out. Basically, it’s a great, reasonably-priced piece of writing software. Free for the first 30 days, and I think 45 bucks if you decide you want to purchase it. But it’s definitely not for everyone. It’s a great way to organize and plot, and if you’re a “pantser” then it probably isn’t worth it for you, at least for first drafts. I do think it could be a very useful tool for revisions though.
Here are some of the features I’ve been using that I find useful:
- Full screen writing mode
The internet is distracting, and I have a bad habit of multi-tasking when I’m writing…or doing anything really. Which is why full screen mode is cool. It does what it says, takes up the entire screen. I can’t see any other windows or tabs. It’s just me and the page. And it works really well for me. I set a word count goal–usually 500–and don’t exit out of full screen mode until I’ve reach it.
- Timeline
I mentioned awhile ago that I was looking for some timeline software that didn’t cost a gazillion dollars. Well, I found it! Basically, you can create a timeline for the entire plot with a line for each character. So, you can see what all the major players are doing at any given time. I think it’s really useful, especially for my first person stories, because I can get a good visual display of what other characters are doing off-page. Here’s a screenshot for an example. This is actually easy to do in Excel, but I like the visual aspect of it.
- Dossiers
Love the dossiers in this program. You can create a dossier full of important facts for each character and location in the novel and attach pictures. Since I love visuals, I always go around the internet searching for pictures that remind me of people, places and things in my manuscripts. Plus, I can’t keep everything straight. I have a tendency to forget last names and eye colors. So, I love this feature. Once again, this is something you can do in Excel or Word, but I like the visual aspect and the organization to it. Instead of a jumbled Excel doc or a bunch of random Word files, it’s all in one program with several little uniform windows. I don’t know if the whole uniform window thing is important to anyone else, but being very organized helps me concentrate.
So, that’s what I’ve been mostly using. There are lots of other tools that come with this program. Storyboards, outlines, mind maps, repetition visualizer, automatic backup, typewriter mode and journals. It’s a whole lot of stuff, and you probably won’t use it all. In fact, using it all would be a little overkill. Does anyone really need a storyboard, timeline, mind map and outline for one novel? Probably not. But it’s the kind of program you can experiment with and find the right combination of tools that’ll help you get organized, if that’s what you need.
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Comments
Looks way cool. I’m not good with anything organized though lol. Chaos loves me, and though I hate living it, when it comes to my writing and anything creative, I tend to thrive with it. If I ever do end up learning how to work with organization, I’d give this a try first.
And I wasn’t sure if you were still up for the writing prompt, but it’s up! http://christacarol.blogspot.com/2009/07/writing-prompt-july-1.html
Hi
Do you find Liquid Story Binder easy to jump into and use when you first downloaded it? cat
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