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Introduction

In 2019, I was lucky enough to be one of the first people who knew about Plottr. I was there in 2021 for their big update. And to this day, I still use the software Plottr to outline my stories and series.

What is Plottr?

Plottr is a subscription-based software (now app as well) that allows you to outline both novels and series, as well as to keep track of your characters’ timelines and items, locations, and much more.

You can check it out here.

How do I Use It?

Well, first of all, I found a “trick” to outline any type of stories I want. Screenplay? Sure! Comic book? No problem! Novels? Absolutely!

But how?

Let me tell you something first: When I started using Plottr, I had trouble making sense of how to actually outline the whole book and the characters’ timelines in something cohesive and intuitive directly into the software. But at the same time, I was deep into studying the Save the Cat method for both my screenwriting (Daphné and Philip) and other stories.

You can see where I’m going with this, huh?

So, one day, I figured “Why not?” and began creating “Chapters” with the beats’ names—this way I knew where to head to and which beat to hit next. Then, I created scenes to expand the chapters. I got through a lot of my Rise of a Heroine story like this!

Nowadays, you can purchase the Save the Cat method in Plottr as an add-on. While I do have it, I prefer creating my own. It suits me better and I can tweak it like I want; however, theirs is an excellent resource and/or starting point to customize your own.

I am now outlining the whole series of Rise of a Heroine (you can add covers to the books in your series in Plottr! Neat!), a comic book, and a novella.

Anything is possible!

As long as it’s for plotting and outlining. Otherwise, you might be at the wrong place…

In Conclusion

Plottr is definitely one of my top softwares to work with as an author/writer—and it was right from the start. Sometimes, it just needs a bit of customization to really grasp the tool, but once you do, you’ll get a-plotting with Plottr in no time!

Don’t forget to check it out here for more info: Plottr

See you next post, lovelies!

Hello again, folks! I promised you a review of two free writing apps available in the Google Play Store. Well, here it is! Let's start with World Scribe, my favorite of the two.

World Scribe by Averi Studios

Just like its name says, this app lets you build a world along with all the connections, concepts, characters it must have for it to be believable and great.

Positive points:

It is cute but simple and easy to navigate and create new files (or even worlds). There's a big ''+'' button for that need and it's quite hard to miss.
We can add pictures!!! (I cannot stress this enough as I am one who loves casting my characters or even add a picture that resembles the place I am creating.)
There is a space for general information, the possibility to create memberships and roles to groups YOU create, residences (worlds), various connections such as relationships to one another or with a certain item, and snippets of information that do not fit in the bio.
A fact I particularly liked: it can backup to Dropbox! So even if you lose the app or it doesn't work anymore for whatever reason, you can find all you need in Dropbox (if you backed it up once or more, of course).
There are different app themes which consist of five colors and even a night mode (the background then becomes black).
You can create as many worlds as you wish!
There is a search function in each tab (or category) if you ever have too many characters or else.
You can even create concepts about your worlds, items, characters, or whatever it is you want the concept to be about. It is fun to have this possibility because we know that there are many concepts in a world in order for it to feel real…
Last but not least, no ads!

You're probably wondering where the negative points are… I am as well for I couldn't find any! For an app, it is quite interesting and worth the downloading and installing bits. Now, you can have your worlds and basic character descriptions at your fingertips, wherever you are. Doesn't this sound magical? It is!

So, I give this cute and useful app a rating of 5 out of 5. I recommend it to everyone who writes! Even if you're not worldbuilding, you can just enter the basic information of the real place your characters are set in and then expand on the relationships, groups, concepts, etc. Thus, you'll have all you need to start writing on a whim on the subway or on the bus or anywhere, really!

Writing Prompts by Datamix Soft

This app gives you writing prompts for when your creativity fuel is running low or only to exercise your writing skills.

Negative points:

There are ads, which is annoying.
The interface is dark (bleh) and the pixels show; it doesn't have a nice and beautiful finish feel to it.
There is a tab titled ''Writing Guides'', but when I click it, it tells me to download another app from them in which there are all of their writing guides. This would have been very interesting if it were integrated in the Writing Prompts app. Otherwise, one must use more download in order to get to them…

Positive points:

The prompts are fun and diverse. However, they are not precise enough with ideas – they're more about techniques.
Easy navigation.
The ''Online Writing Communities'' tab lists the 7 most popular writing communities you can find online along with short descriptions and direct links to them. I even discovered a few! This is, by far, the best point of this writing app.
The interface's main screen is a fun space – it mimics a corkboard with the prompts written on a small piece of paper pinned to it. If only it weren't so pixelated…

Unfortunately, I don't really recommend it unless you want to explore the various online writing communities, that is. I give this app a rating of 2 out of 5 for the easy interface and the discovery of online writing communities. Next up will probably be a book review or my review of K.M. Weiland's outlining software!

P.S.: I'm so glad I re-read my last post because I had completely forgotten about my sci-fi short story… Don't worry! I'll get to it and share it with you in due time. Once the research and writing parts are done, of course.

P.S. 2: Also, if there are apps or sites you want me to review or anything you'd like to know, just comment and tell me! I'll do my best to help you.

Will you try one of these two apps? If so, what did you like and dislike about them?

As always, thanks for sticking with me and see you next post!