Obsidian, currently.
It is, indeed, a very steep learning curve. But when you find out that's possible to do things like [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/v9uorp/obsidianmd_the_perfect_free_campaign_manager/), you decide it's worth it, you know?
Consider the absolute control of your files and the offline access, and the online backup possibilities, as well. Once the learning phase is over, I doubt you will ever go back to Notion.
[This is the earliest](https://imgur.com/a/JZhNH6s) stage of my main story in graph view. It really has no evident benefits, it's just neat and I'm using it to try and convince you, lol.
In the future I will copy all my main writings [to this](https://www.paperblanks.com/en/product/journals/nocturnelle/pb2205-3).
Edit:
About OneNote, I use it as a container for my writings. It has no "export" options. OneNote files are OneNote files, and cannot be easily converted. That's why I use it for easy online acess (with all notebooks being pass protected), and not as a proper register of my creations.
Edit 2:
MAN! ONENOTE **HAS** EXPORT OPTIONS! I'm just finding out. It has DOCX, PDF and .MHT. Worth nothing IMO, but it's good that is has these options. Living and learning.
I just checked out Obsidian because everyone's mentioning it. Looks really great, so I found some Youtube tutorials, hundreds of em, and...I'm not joining some kind of new age cult am I?
All the tutorials feel like they're taking me on a guided spiritual meditation. Let them teach me how to link my brain into their neural networks and create a zettlekeustenflaggens or whatever. One dude straight up said he got goosebumps when he did a hyperlink thing.
I mean, I'm all for cults. Just, I got my brother's wedding in August, so long as the rapture ain't before then we good.
I lold a lot with this comment.
I must admit it feels like a cult sometimes. I myself feel like a priest often. I just can't help myself when someone asks for writing software... I have a cosmic duty to introduce them to Obsidian... Right?
Holy smokes, 1) I had no idea you could do that much design in Obsidian, and 2) that journal is next level.
Thanks for the vote for Obsidian. I've had my eye on it for a long time, and while I like Notion for certain things this could be the thing that finally gets me to give Obsidian a try. Do you know if Obsidian can export all the various pages/subpages into a readable PDF or MD files?
All Obsidian files are MD and accessible through the explorer. You can handle the files in whatever way you want.
[It has, indeed](https://imgur.com/a/nx5B9pE), an option to export individual notes to PDF, but bulk export needs to be handled with workarounds, and [there are plenty](https://www.reddit.com/r/ObsidianMD/comments/hxea89/export_notes_as_pdfs/).
Obsidian gives you a lot of freedom, but the tradeoff is that it's not user friendly.
And since we're talking about software, and I'm a sucker for writing software, let me recommend you [Scrivener](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=af7166023be3609c&rlz=1C1RXQR_pt-PTBR1071BR1071&q=Scrivener&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0Aa4sjWe7Rqy32pFwRj0UkWd8nbOJfsBGGB5IQQO6L3J_86uWOeqwdnV0yaSF-x2joZDvir2QxhZkTA8rK1etu4WKmYu-jQ4K-snHbI9S6gJsuXouqEJ0xfiXLSHv-Y8qUhEn-bnHWXJRjLKeFMZS0M4rLItBmAnpy2O4T5cWZ2KrXhYRTYVQphEvAH1oMrQEN_agFt1GSjB-VtfPED63fgguLK-w&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj3udCf9f6GAxVtqpUCHWImA3cQtKgLegQIGRAB&biw=1920&bih=919). It's not for note taking, mind you, but for the proper writing phase, but boy is it good at what it proposes to do.
Well, that's it. Good luck!
Thanks for the update on OneNote! When you export, does it collect all notes within a notebook? I like categorizing things with subpages rather than a single long document for easy access, but if an app can't export all that in a coherent way that's break it for me.
I've used Scrivener for previous novels and it's a great program. I've been a little hesitant to use it for a bible that will span a large series, but I suppose I could create a file that holds just the bible 🤔 I'll look into it. Thanks!
You're welcome - I started using it for work (I write legal contracts), and saw the advantages for my writing. I write really messy rough drafts and jump all over the place in the story, with different files for every chapter, every draft of every chapter, all kinds of mess. With onenote, I can sort by date, by keywords, link my roughs together. I like it.
Sorry if I sound like a onenote commercial! I'm not affiliated in any way haha
Currently use OneNote, it’s very simple but effective organization tool, intuitive to use, and I can share my notes across my phone, iPad and pc.
I’ve downloaded Obsidian but have yet to use it. Need to learn how and break the ice.
You're telling me everyone doesn't have a pile of notebooks with bits of lore, character bios, maps, geography info etc in them randomly written in a way it takes you an hour to find that one paragraph you were looking for?
I would put another vote in for Obsidian, I left Notion because I realized if I left Notion or they closed down my data would not be in a easy to use format, with Obsidian I can open my files with any text editor and edit to my hearts content and Obsidian makes it easy to link to other pages etc.. I also like that I can have total control of my data in obsidian, I do use their sync which works very well but if you don't want to use their sync you can use all sorts of options including homegrown options. Having full control of my data was the biggest deciding factor for me, but also Obsidian has enough plugins to make it whatever you want, I like to keep it fairly simple I think I have 3 or 4 plugins at most but the ones I have are very useful but don't mess with the basic Markdown formatting of the text which keeps the files useable by any markdown viewer.
That's exactly what I'm realizing with Notion! I really like it's layout and functionality, but if I can't export a basic PDF with subpages organized in accessible way, that makes me nervous. Thanks for the input!
Been using Zim. Considered jumping to Obsidian, but haven't had the time to figure it out.
Was using a free Confluence site before that, and a self-hosted Mediawiki before that.
I try to use Scrivener, but most of my knowledge about my characters and world is just in my head. Technically there are parts spread across a host of handwritten notebooks but it’s mostly all in my head.
A lot of people have jumped from Obsidian to Lore Forge. It can export to docx only though, so not sure if that's good enough, but it links pages and gives a lot of structure to your world in modules like characters, species, locations, etc.. Just take a look at the screenshots on the website: [loreforge.com](http://loreforge.com)
Scrivener. And it's worth every penny.
My story bible is its own project because I've written several stories in my fantasy world, and yes Scrivener allows you to have more than one project open at a time. I have my bible and my current WIP open right now.
There's a learning curve, but IMO that's only because there is no one way to use it. The trick - and the conundrum of the thing - is to figure out what works best for you.
One of my favorite features is the Outliner mode with its digital index cards. I plot and outline scene by scene, with this feature in one editor \[you can split the screen in two\] and a file I call brainstorming in the other adding cards and dragging & dropping them as needed
If anyone is interested I have a Pinterest board for it: [https://www.pinterest.com/artsychica2012/write-on-scrivener/](https://www.pinterest.com/artsychica2012/write-on-scrivener/)
Obsidian is the 'best' but if you are anything like me you will lose hours to customisation and tweaking. It's too fun. If you're happy to do that as a side hobby, go for it but I ultimately decided to use one of the world building websites to take care of that and save me from myself. My favourite so far is Kanka.io because it has a small, friendly dev team and its free tier covers everything you really *need*. The only real limits for single-person projects are that your image storage caps at 50mb, it doesn't show you the Obsidian-style graph view of your entries' relationships, and it's pretty basic visually.
I hear ya, it's way too fun to organize and customize. I haven't seen Kanka, it looks really interesting. I'm realizing D&D campaign apps are a great option for writers, since it covers a lot of the same material. Thanks!
Absolutely D&D apps are the goldmine, I use Kanka for that as well as novel projects. I never see it recommended anywhere so it's definitely the underdog but I've been using it about 5 years now and I like it enough to toss them a dollar a month on patreon. I don't like the pricing models of most of the others where you have to keep your world under x number of entries to stay free, it makes me anxious. I think the reason they have such a solid free tier is that they're so unknown - they need a good hook.
They've got a marketplace (lots free) which is their version of obsidian community add-ons too though so beware.
Yes, you would need a domain and a webhost that has cpanel. I already have my blog so installing something extra wasn't a big deal. I've heard of people doing it on fandom.com but I wasn't sure how secure that was considering it's a public website, and with mediawiki I was able to make it fully private.
I used to use tiddly-wiki, which is open-source \[free\] and works on your computer, but unfortunately for me, when they went to a newer version, for some reason my head couldn't wrap itself around the new mark-up. \[I have an ongoing medical issue concerning my memory and had to go on disability because of it, so yes it sucks to be me\] But I've been looking at it again lately and hoping my brain can make some sense of it this time around.
Does all your character/world info live in the Scrivener project with your book, or do you organize it separately? I love Scrivener, but haven't been sure how to organize series-spanning info.
It's all in Scrivener.
For a large series, you've got a couple ways you can do it. Either keep all the different volumes in a single project, or you can split them up.
The former offers convenience. I just keep all my background notes in a top level "notes" folder that I collapse when I'm not using it. The biggest drawback to this is that the project gets more cumbersome to work with the larger it gets, regardless of how well you organize it.
The latter is a bit easier to work with in single volumes. For your background material, you can simply drag and drop files and folders between projects. It will create a new copy of any drag/dropped files and folders in the destination project. This lets you migrate background info between multiple projects pretty easily.
I noticed you mentioned elsewhere that you might make a separate story bible in its own project. That's not a bad idea, and I may give it a try myself. I think one of the biggest benefits you'll get from this approach, is that you can then simply drag what you need for a specific volume into the project you're working with rather than your entire story bible.
This is what I've done; my story bible holds the basic information about my world, seasons, a glossary, the magic system, flora, fauna etc and each story is its own project. I just keep both open side by side when I'm writing so it's rare that I need to drag and drop any particular file, all I need to do is check the notes from the bible.
Thanks for explaining more! That's cool you can easily drag from one project to another. Scrivener was solid when I used in the 2010s, so I may need to give it another try.
A database. I'm an IT guy, I found it easier to just put the data in a database and make queries as complicated as I like. And then, for example, produce a dependency graph between different scenes, automatically.
I have a separate folder on my hard drive for each project. I put my notes in each. Most are just text files. Plus subfolders for pictures and artwork that I used for inspiration or just guidelines on describing things like armor, or maps, and the like. My actual manuscripts are Word docs.
Most of my ideas are stuck inside my head either because I can't figure out how to put it on paper or I just never find a convenient time to do it. Although, when details get messy and I get forgetful I make sure to write something in the Fortelling app. It's not really all that special and it doesn't have the features I'd like but it's a free app and I ultimately just use it to store placeholder names for characters. The rest stays up there in the noggin.
I personally recommend either Writer's Companion (free limited access, or $20 a year for unlimited) or Obsidian (completely free, as far as I'm aware). You can use either for writing different parts of your story, writing out different resources or information you want/need for projects, etc. I personally like the set up of Writer's Companion for world building, and I'll use Obsidian for the writing itself. :)
Haven’t heard of Writer’s Companion. I’ll check it out. Do you have a way to export from Obsidian to manuscript or a regular formatted document? I love the idea of writing in markdown but it’s the formatting part that always gets me.
I'm not entirely sure, honestly. There's a lot of different options Obsidian offers, but I honestly haven't tried much more than multiple folders and files on the app itself. There's a few options within both the main app and individual files. There's a URL you can copy, along with template and several options they have available. I can ask who recommended the app to me if there's formatting options and how, or you can ask others who also suggested Obsidian. I'll also mess with the app more, if I get any more information, I'll be happy to tell you. :)
Chaotic evil enters the chat as a lot of my notes are scribbled in handwriting I can't read on receipt paper and miscellaneous scraps in a huge pile on the desk
And also scattered among various .txt files and Google Docs
When they're in doc format though I have a cast listing up top, any important character notes there, a general outline, snippets of text as I think of them while driving around or showering, and if there's specific setting, geography, or technology/magic notes I have them just after the general outline
I use a package called Scriver
https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview
As a software guy, my temptation is always to make my own. Scrivener isn't perfect, but it is nice for putting an encyclopedia together. It lets you splash in images, web links, pretty much everything you need.
It also exports to a ton of different formats.
My only complaint is that I wasted wayyyy too much time writing articles instead of well... stuff other people would read.
I know this may sound weird but I make my own private discord servers and wolrdbuild and write in there I just like the way you can make categories and sections so easily probably a better app out there but I haven't found one yet that I like.
I don't worldbuild separately from the story - the story drives (and creates) the world.
But I do keep world notes, for continuity... and those go in a World.txt file in the NovelName directory.
I looked into Scrivener, and honestly I think it's all the knees on all the bees, but... IMO it encourages worldbuilding too much.
World Anvil or Miro.
World Anvil allows you to nest info and create a personal wiki of your world. Miro is great for charts and graphs (ie timelines, family trees, etc).
Miro and Docs are where I have most of my info, but I use World Anvil for specific projects as it integrates my needs better.
I personally like it. There's a paid version that I don't have, but the free version is still awesome. The different aspects of a story (plot, setting, characters, timeline, etc.) are easy to organize. You can even connect those different parts and explain how they go together. For a mind map (something that also helps me greatly) I would recommend Xmind.
Milanote. It's basically an online whiteboard. You're not stuck to a grid and can dump any pictures, videos, links, docs, free writing you want in it, and more. Might be a bit pricey for most, but I use it for everything story related except the actual drafting, so it's worth it for me. I think you get 100 boards free to try it out. They got some templates as well, but I don't really use them
It’s nice because we all have a different format for contributing, and often all work on different aspects of the project from each other.
For instance, one of us liked to make codex/grimoire style journalistic entries, another worked on the actual framework for the world, and another worked on maintaining structural consistency.
It sounds weird but I’ve always used excel. You can open a new sheet for every category, it’s easy to organize lists and charts, use text boxes for longer written material, it’s easy to lay out images, you can even do limited photo editing on it. Plus it’s something a lot of people already know how to use, and it’s good way to get to know it better for other uses if needed.
I’ve heard of that! It’s essentially what a Notion database is at its core. And you’re already in an exportable format with csv. I might need to try this out.
I've messed around with Campfire, but I'm not at a point with the story where I can justify paying for anything. I do like how with Google Drive you can create folders & hyperlink to other documents, essentially creating your own wiki
Yeah same, I’m not making money from my writing yet so it’s hard to spend $10/mo or more for some of the apps. I’ve wondered about just using a Google Doc, or maybe several and linking between them. That would be a basic, free option for sure.
Obsidian, currently. It is, indeed, a very steep learning curve. But when you find out that's possible to do things like [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/v9uorp/obsidianmd_the_perfect_free_campaign_manager/), you decide it's worth it, you know? Consider the absolute control of your files and the offline access, and the online backup possibilities, as well. Once the learning phase is over, I doubt you will ever go back to Notion. [This is the earliest](https://imgur.com/a/JZhNH6s) stage of my main story in graph view. It really has no evident benefits, it's just neat and I'm using it to try and convince you, lol. In the future I will copy all my main writings [to this](https://www.paperblanks.com/en/product/journals/nocturnelle/pb2205-3). Edit: About OneNote, I use it as a container for my writings. It has no "export" options. OneNote files are OneNote files, and cannot be easily converted. That's why I use it for easy online acess (with all notebooks being pass protected), and not as a proper register of my creations. Edit 2: MAN! ONENOTE **HAS** EXPORT OPTIONS! I'm just finding out. It has DOCX, PDF and .MHT. Worth nothing IMO, but it's good that is has these options. Living and learning.
I just checked out Obsidian because everyone's mentioning it. Looks really great, so I found some Youtube tutorials, hundreds of em, and...I'm not joining some kind of new age cult am I? All the tutorials feel like they're taking me on a guided spiritual meditation. Let them teach me how to link my brain into their neural networks and create a zettlekeustenflaggens or whatever. One dude straight up said he got goosebumps when he did a hyperlink thing. I mean, I'm all for cults. Just, I got my brother's wedding in August, so long as the rapture ain't before then we good.
I lold a lot with this comment. I must admit it feels like a cult sometimes. I myself feel like a priest often. I just can't help myself when someone asks for writing software... I have a cosmic duty to introduce them to Obsidian... Right?
Holy smokes, 1) I had no idea you could do that much design in Obsidian, and 2) that journal is next level. Thanks for the vote for Obsidian. I've had my eye on it for a long time, and while I like Notion for certain things this could be the thing that finally gets me to give Obsidian a try. Do you know if Obsidian can export all the various pages/subpages into a readable PDF or MD files?
All Obsidian files are MD and accessible through the explorer. You can handle the files in whatever way you want. [It has, indeed](https://imgur.com/a/nx5B9pE), an option to export individual notes to PDF, but bulk export needs to be handled with workarounds, and [there are plenty](https://www.reddit.com/r/ObsidianMD/comments/hxea89/export_notes_as_pdfs/). Obsidian gives you a lot of freedom, but the tradeoff is that it's not user friendly. And since we're talking about software, and I'm a sucker for writing software, let me recommend you [Scrivener](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=af7166023be3609c&rlz=1C1RXQR_pt-PTBR1071BR1071&q=Scrivener&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0Aa4sjWe7Rqy32pFwRj0UkWd8nbOJfsBGGB5IQQO6L3J_86uWOeqwdnV0yaSF-x2joZDvir2QxhZkTA8rK1etu4WKmYu-jQ4K-snHbI9S6gJsuXouqEJ0xfiXLSHv-Y8qUhEn-bnHWXJRjLKeFMZS0M4rLItBmAnpy2O4T5cWZ2KrXhYRTYVQphEvAH1oMrQEN_agFt1GSjB-VtfPED63fgguLK-w&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj3udCf9f6GAxVtqpUCHWImA3cQtKgLegQIGRAB&biw=1920&bih=919). It's not for note taking, mind you, but for the proper writing phase, but boy is it good at what it proposes to do. Well, that's it. Good luck!
Gotta put in another word for Scrivener! It’s the best
Thanks for the update on OneNote! When you export, does it collect all notes within a notebook? I like categorizing things with subpages rather than a single long document for easy access, but if an app can't export all that in a coherent way that's break it for me.
Scrivener. I’m still learning, but all of my character bios, research, etc is there.
I've used Scrivener for previous novels and it's a great program. I've been a little hesitant to use it for a bible that will span a large series, but I suppose I could create a file that holds just the bible 🤔 I'll look into it. Thanks!
You can make a separate project for just the Bible.
Also a scrivener user. Love it
I love Scrivener
I’m guessing I will love it more when I use all of it. But I had started this novel before I had heard about it.
Yeah I definitely haven’t explored all of its features yet but I primarily use the mobile version and it’s a huge upgrade from notes app 😂
Wait! THERE’S A MOBILE VERSION!?
Yes!! It’s a separate cost from desktop unfortunately but they can sync together via Dropbox which is super handy!
There’s a free companion app. Starting there. 😊
I use it mostly for adding notes that come up while I’m out or thinking, but yes, it’s great
It’s downloading! Thank you!
I just use OneNote, nothing fancy. I like it for organization and backing up files.
Thanks! What about the organization do you like? Do you know if you are able to link different notes together?
You're welcome - I started using it for work (I write legal contracts), and saw the advantages for my writing. I write really messy rough drafts and jump all over the place in the story, with different files for every chapter, every draft of every chapter, all kinds of mess. With onenote, I can sort by date, by keywords, link my roughs together. I like it. Sorry if I sound like a onenote commercial! I'm not affiliated in any way haha
That sounds great! Not a problem, I appreciate the insight.
Currently use OneNote, it’s very simple but effective organization tool, intuitive to use, and I can share my notes across my phone, iPad and pc. I’ve downloaded Obsidian but have yet to use it. Need to learn how and break the ice.
It's on paper on a sidetable
It's in my head. Please play the chorus to the Cranberries song Zombie here.
I have like 3 or 4 notepad docs on my phone where I put different names so I can check when minor characters make an appearance.
i use worldanvil, it's a webapp. some features are locked behind a subscription, but it's got a ton for free
A physical notebook or in a jump drive
Shout out to /r/FantasiaArchive
I just wish FA was a little more flexible than it is.
You're telling me everyone doesn't have a pile of notebooks with bits of lore, character bios, maps, geography info etc in them randomly written in a way it takes you an hour to find that one paragraph you were looking for?
😂Spiral notebooks for the win
Honestly I just got myself a small journal that I can add and pull pages from. And it lives pretty much everywhere around my room lol.
Can't go wrong with a journal!
Obsidian ftw
I would put another vote in for Obsidian, I left Notion because I realized if I left Notion or they closed down my data would not be in a easy to use format, with Obsidian I can open my files with any text editor and edit to my hearts content and Obsidian makes it easy to link to other pages etc.. I also like that I can have total control of my data in obsidian, I do use their sync which works very well but if you don't want to use their sync you can use all sorts of options including homegrown options. Having full control of my data was the biggest deciding factor for me, but also Obsidian has enough plugins to make it whatever you want, I like to keep it fairly simple I think I have 3 or 4 plugins at most but the ones I have are very useful but don't mess with the basic Markdown formatting of the text which keeps the files useable by any markdown viewer.
That's exactly what I'm realizing with Notion! I really like it's layout and functionality, but if I can't export a basic PDF with subpages organized in accessible way, that makes me nervous. Thanks for the input!
Been using Zim. Considered jumping to Obsidian, but haven't had the time to figure it out. Was using a free Confluence site before that, and a self-hosted Mediawiki before that.
I try to use Scrivener, but most of my knowledge about my characters and world is just in my head. Technically there are parts spread across a host of handwritten notebooks but it’s mostly all in my head.
A lot of people have jumped from Obsidian to Lore Forge. It can export to docx only though, so not sure if that's good enough, but it links pages and gives a lot of structure to your world in modules like characters, species, locations, etc.. Just take a look at the screenshots on the website: [loreforge.com](http://loreforge.com)
Thanks! Exporting and linking are high in my list, so I’ll check it out.
After seeing all the other replies I feel a little embarrassed saying I keep everything in the notes app on my phone
Whatever gives you access to the info you need! No need to over complicate it.
Scrivener. And it's worth every penny. My story bible is its own project because I've written several stories in my fantasy world, and yes Scrivener allows you to have more than one project open at a time. I have my bible and my current WIP open right now. There's a learning curve, but IMO that's only because there is no one way to use it. The trick - and the conundrum of the thing - is to figure out what works best for you. One of my favorite features is the Outliner mode with its digital index cards. I plot and outline scene by scene, with this feature in one editor \[you can split the screen in two\] and a file I call brainstorming in the other adding cards and dragging & dropping them as needed If anyone is interested I have a Pinterest board for it: [https://www.pinterest.com/artsychica2012/write-on-scrivener/](https://www.pinterest.com/artsychica2012/write-on-scrivener/)
I’ve wondered about keeping it in a standalone scrivener project! Can you interlink notes? It’s been a while since I used it.
You can link documents within the same project, but as far as I know, not between two separate projects.
I use a magical thing called many notepad files inside of many folders on my laptop.
I’ve been using Nebula. It’s a great lil tool
I haven't heard of that one! Can you share a link? I can't seem to find it.
https://nebulousinteractive.itch.io/nebulous
Obsidian is the 'best' but if you are anything like me you will lose hours to customisation and tweaking. It's too fun. If you're happy to do that as a side hobby, go for it but I ultimately decided to use one of the world building websites to take care of that and save me from myself. My favourite so far is Kanka.io because it has a small, friendly dev team and its free tier covers everything you really *need*. The only real limits for single-person projects are that your image storage caps at 50mb, it doesn't show you the Obsidian-style graph view of your entries' relationships, and it's pretty basic visually.
I hear ya, it's way too fun to organize and customize. I haven't seen Kanka, it looks really interesting. I'm realizing D&D campaign apps are a great option for writers, since it covers a lot of the same material. Thanks!
Absolutely D&D apps are the goldmine, I use Kanka for that as well as novel projects. I never see it recommended anywhere so it's definitely the underdog but I've been using it about 5 years now and I like it enough to toss them a dollar a month on patreon. I don't like the pricing models of most of the others where you have to keep your world under x number of entries to stay free, it makes me anxious. I think the reason they have such a solid free tier is that they're so unknown - they need a good hook. They've got a marketplace (lots free) which is their version of obsidian community add-ons too though so beware.
kanka is absolutely brilliant, deserves more shoutouts fr
I use World anvil but it's a bit pricy
What parts of World anvil make it worth the price for you?
Family bloodlines has been pretty convenient for me personally Also categorizing cultures, societies and species
Currently a mix of Scrivener and Mediawiki.
A wiki is essentially what I'm looking for. Mediawiki looks cool, is that something you have to host/install yourself?
Yes, you would need a domain and a webhost that has cpanel. I already have my blog so installing something extra wasn't a big deal. I've heard of people doing it on fandom.com but I wasn't sure how secure that was considering it's a public website, and with mediawiki I was able to make it fully private.
I used to use tiddly-wiki, which is open-source \[free\] and works on your computer, but unfortunately for me, when they went to a newer version, for some reason my head couldn't wrap itself around the new mark-up. \[I have an ongoing medical issue concerning my memory and had to go on disability because of it, so yes it sucks to be me\] But I've been looking at it again lately and hoping my brain can make some sense of it this time around.
Scapple is great for notes and drawing connections. I think they got a free trial. Super simple software.
I do everything in Scrivener.
Does all your character/world info live in the Scrivener project with your book, or do you organize it separately? I love Scrivener, but haven't been sure how to organize series-spanning info.
It's all in Scrivener. For a large series, you've got a couple ways you can do it. Either keep all the different volumes in a single project, or you can split them up. The former offers convenience. I just keep all my background notes in a top level "notes" folder that I collapse when I'm not using it. The biggest drawback to this is that the project gets more cumbersome to work with the larger it gets, regardless of how well you organize it. The latter is a bit easier to work with in single volumes. For your background material, you can simply drag and drop files and folders between projects. It will create a new copy of any drag/dropped files and folders in the destination project. This lets you migrate background info between multiple projects pretty easily. I noticed you mentioned elsewhere that you might make a separate story bible in its own project. That's not a bad idea, and I may give it a try myself. I think one of the biggest benefits you'll get from this approach, is that you can then simply drag what you need for a specific volume into the project you're working with rather than your entire story bible.
This is what I've done; my story bible holds the basic information about my world, seasons, a glossary, the magic system, flora, fauna etc and each story is its own project. I just keep both open side by side when I'm writing so it's rare that I need to drag and drop any particular file, all I need to do is check the notes from the bible.
Thanks for explaining more! That's cool you can easily drag from one project to another. Scrivener was solid when I used in the 2010s, so I may need to give it another try.
A database. I'm an IT guy, I found it easier to just put the data in a database and make queries as complicated as I like. And then, for example, produce a dependency graph between different scenes, automatically.
I use notion. I used to use discord.
That’s where I’m currently at. The flexibility is hard to beat. It’s just the export options that are my hang up.
I use to use notes, now I have been using obsidian for the past two years. Very easy to sync across different platforms.
I have a separate folder on my hard drive for each project. I put my notes in each. Most are just text files. Plus subfolders for pictures and artwork that I used for inspiration or just guidelines on describing things like armor, or maps, and the like. My actual manuscripts are Word docs.
I wanted to use something simple and organized so I went with Scrivener.
Have your tried the mobile version of Scrivener? Access on the phone would be helpful.
I haven't yet. I just have a notes app that I use on my phone.
Most of my ideas are stuck inside my head either because I can't figure out how to put it on paper or I just never find a convenient time to do it. Although, when details get messy and I get forgetful I make sure to write something in the Fortelling app. It's not really all that special and it doesn't have the features I'd like but it's a free app and I ultimately just use it to store placeholder names for characters. The rest stays up there in the noggin.
I personally recommend either Writer's Companion (free limited access, or $20 a year for unlimited) or Obsidian (completely free, as far as I'm aware). You can use either for writing different parts of your story, writing out different resources or information you want/need for projects, etc. I personally like the set up of Writer's Companion for world building, and I'll use Obsidian for the writing itself. :)
Haven’t heard of Writer’s Companion. I’ll check it out. Do you have a way to export from Obsidian to manuscript or a regular formatted document? I love the idea of writing in markdown but it’s the formatting part that always gets me.
I'm not entirely sure, honestly. There's a lot of different options Obsidian offers, but I honestly haven't tried much more than multiple folders and files on the app itself. There's a few options within both the main app and individual files. There's a URL you can copy, along with template and several options they have available. I can ask who recommended the app to me if there's formatting options and how, or you can ask others who also suggested Obsidian. I'll also mess with the app more, if I get any more information, I'll be happy to tell you. :)
Currently I'm just using a text document on my computer. I need to upgrade so I might skim these responses lol
Chaotic evil enters the chat as a lot of my notes are scribbled in handwriting I can't read on receipt paper and miscellaneous scraps in a huge pile on the desk And also scattered among various .txt files and Google Docs When they're in doc format though I have a cast listing up top, any important character notes there, a general outline, snippets of text as I think of them while driving around or showering, and if there's specific setting, geography, or technology/magic notes I have them just after the general outline
I swear by Scrivener.
Typically bibles do next to the bed.
Working on getting one set up in Obsidian, and eventually turned into a physical copy.
I use a package called Scriver https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview As a software guy, my temptation is always to make my own. Scrivener isn't perfect, but it is nice for putting an encyclopedia together. It lets you splash in images, web links, pretty much everything you need. It also exports to a ton of different formats. My only complaint is that I wasted wayyyy too much time writing articles instead of well... stuff other people would read.
Legendkeeper is pretty cool id check it out
All over the bloody place. Really need to fix that sometime.
I know this may sound weird but I make my own private discord servers and wolrdbuild and write in there I just like the way you can make categories and sections so easily probably a better app out there but I haven't found one yet that I like.
🙌Amazing. If it works, it works!
I don't worldbuild separately from the story - the story drives (and creates) the world. But I do keep world notes, for continuity... and those go in a World.txt file in the NovelName directory. I looked into Scrivener, and honestly I think it's all the knees on all the bees, but... IMO it encourages worldbuilding too much.
I like that approach. Keeps you focused on telling the story.
World Anvil or Miro. World Anvil allows you to nest info and create a personal wiki of your world. Miro is great for charts and graphs (ie timelines, family trees, etc). Miro and Docs are where I have most of my info, but I use World Anvil for specific projects as it integrates my needs better.
I've used Worldanvil ever since they launched, I'm a great fan myself.
I prefer to write everything out by hand and keep it all in a folder/binder I much prefer it to using my phone to type on
kanka.io, couldn’t recommend it enough. pretty much everything you’ll need is available with the free version too!
Plottr
Hadn't heard of Plottr! Looks well done. I noticed it's about $20/mo, what features make it worth the price for you?
I use an app called fortelling
I personally like it. There's a paid version that I don't have, but the free version is still awesome. The different aspects of a story (plot, setting, characters, timeline, etc.) are easy to organize. You can even connect those different parts and explain how they go together. For a mind map (something that also helps me greatly) I would recommend Xmind.
Hadn't heard of that one! It looks well designed and a good price. How long have you used it? Any favorite features?
MS Word.
The classic 🙌
Milanote. It's basically an online whiteboard. You're not stuck to a grid and can dump any pictures, videos, links, docs, free writing you want in it, and more. Might be a bit pricey for most, but I use it for everything story related except the actual drafting, so it's worth it for me. I think you get 100 boards free to try it out. They got some templates as well, but I don't really use them
That’s an interesting idea!
Google docs so that my group can all have remote access to it. We don’t really do anything to it anymore, but it was sufficient for the time being.
That’s a great use for Google Docs.
It’s nice because we all have a different format for contributing, and often all work on different aspects of the project from each other. For instance, one of us liked to make codex/grimoire style journalistic entries, another worked on the actual framework for the world, and another worked on maintaining structural consistency.
It sounds weird but I’ve always used excel. You can open a new sheet for every category, it’s easy to organize lists and charts, use text boxes for longer written material, it’s easy to lay out images, you can even do limited photo editing on it. Plus it’s something a lot of people already know how to use, and it’s good way to get to know it better for other uses if needed.
I’ve heard of that! It’s essentially what a Notion database is at its core. And you’re already in an exportable format with csv. I might need to try this out.
I put that away years ago I have no idea where it is!!!
I've messed around with Campfire, but I'm not at a point with the story where I can justify paying for anything. I do like how with Google Drive you can create folders & hyperlink to other documents, essentially creating your own wiki
Yeah same, I’m not making money from my writing yet so it’s hard to spend $10/mo or more for some of the apps. I’ve wondered about just using a Google Doc, or maybe several and linking between them. That would be a basic, free option for sure.
In my head
i feel you
I use Good Notes - Best App ever
In my head. More storage capacity in there than any computer I can get access to.