What would be in your dream writing software?

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elsing
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02 Apr 2013, 5:03 am

I have not found a writing planning tool I am happy with so I am going to build my own.
I have some ideas but I am also interested in what other people think would make really good story writing tool?
By this I mean story planners to plan out a story plot and it's characters and it's settings, not word-processing software like word.

The best I have found so far was the Dramatica theory tool. Dramatica is a complex theory of storytelling which I have adopted partly into my own work. It's disadvantage is that it is very fixed to the complexity of the Dramatica theory itself and I only want to adopt this into my work partially not fully.

Another good one is Storrybook Pro as this allows the tracking of items, I use character emotions as items as often I forget a character should be stressed/upset/happy after all that has happened to it.

I have tried scrivener too but found it great for organising information but did not help me implement this into my plan of work.

My main frustration with what is already available is that tools seem to collect data but do not take the next step with guiding the use of the data. Or at least not in a way that is satisfactory to me. Often tools are biased to specific character personality builders such as ennagramme only tools without allowing exploration into other areas.

What have you tried and what did you like / dislike about it?



writerwill
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02 Apr 2013, 10:37 am

Have you tried contour?



Ganondox
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02 Apr 2013, 10:59 am

I use my brain.


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elsing
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02 Apr 2013, 11:25 am

I have not tried/heard of contour, downloading the trial now. Thank You.

Quote:
I use my brain.


That's really good, but unfortunately I do not have access to your brain :(

I rarely write. I am interested in the mechanics of story writing, in reading writing books and in what makes a story work. I like working out systems of how to plan a story and how to make use of research without ever actually writing it.

My planning needs evolve as I learn hence my desire to find / build the most flexible system of planning a story I can.



writerwill
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02 Apr 2013, 11:37 am

It's a beautiful art and very therapeutic, if you don't have writers block! 8O

Contour is specifically for film but I believe it would work across any story.

I believe many answers that you could be seeking are contained within a book called "Story" by Robert Mckee which I can't recommend highly enough if you are looking for tips on constructing stories, charaterisation and plot.



Fogman
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02 Apr 2013, 12:58 pm

I hate to say it, but the only one of these that will work for me is Storybook. --Until any of the others comes out with an actual *nix version instead of a Mac version, I really won't be able to use them.


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elsing
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02 Apr 2013, 1:02 pm

Quote:
Contour is specifically for film but I believe it would work across any story.


This reminds me of Dramatica, and this too is designed for screenplays .

I'm sure this is odd, I have developed many story ideas and 2 of these have been developed in great depth, I have researched and planned these thoroughly because I have felt compelled to do so. When it comes to the writing part I never feel this compulsion that I must write, it's like it's a chore. I don't really like reading fiction either. I wouldn't be me if I wasn't weird.

Not sure if this is writers block as I can write and do know what to write about. There is a part of me that feels that this is a waste of my time, learning about the art of writing fiction and developing story ideas but never actually wanting to write any, then I thought hey if I enjoy planning so much then maybe I could come up with a planning system that could help others making use of what I know that way, it will be unlikely to suit everyone but it may suit some as it is different to what I have seen available already.

That is why I asked the original question about what would feature in dream software/ web application for a story planning aid.