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Brainstorming & Thinking Tools
There are many tools for writers that are fantastic, and to each his/her own. Some I particularly like are:
—Microsoft products:
Microsoft Whiteboard – it’s free on Win 10 apps. Freewrite on a big whiteboard on your screen just as if you were using an actual whiteboard. This frees up some part of my brain for some reason and lets me think differently. And, it’s kinda fun to use.
OneNote – Free in Win 10 apps. Some use it for actual writing, but it doesn’t transfer well to Word or other writing software. Great for organizing like a notebook with tabs and files. Takes all kinds of media. Good to share among different devices. I have this synced on my Kindle, phone, and laptop.
Microsoft Excel – free in Win10 apps. My favorite for organizing my story. There are beat sheets that go in Excel or your favorite spreadsheet as well
Microsoft Word – check out the “navigation” menu option to list your scenes/chapters beside your text screen.
—Google products: free, benefit, it’s in the cloud so is always available as long as you have internet. Can be accessed offline if set up.
Google Docs
Google spreadsheet
etc—Other:
Airtable – airtable.com Is one of my faves. Free or pay. It comes with templates for writers (and others of course). It’s a spreadsheet online and pretty easy to use. Great for people who avoid Excel because it can get complicated fast.
Evernote – good to share with your different devices. Has free and paid versions.
Freemind – freemind.sourceforge.net open-sourced, free, java-based
IBrainstorm – ibrainstormapp.com
Klaxoon – klaxoon.com I haven’t used this one. Not free. Looks like Trello. It calls itself a brainstorming app.
Name Dice – on itunes
Scrivener – literatureandlatte.com It’s like uber-Word. In Word you can use the “navigation” tool to organize your scene/chapter titles in a list on your screen beside your text window. Scrivener takes all that and more to the next level. Organizing scenes/chapters, index-like cards, takes images and links, comes with many templates for writers. Exports & imports from Word. Definitely worth checking out.
Smartsheet – smartsheet.com Not free has trial. I actually really like Smartsheet but I’m not paying for it because I can do those things it offers in Excel myself, mostly. However, Smartsheet makes spreadsheeting easier with templates and instruction and easy buttons for most stuff. If you’re really into laying out your story in a spreadsheet, look at Smartsheet.
SpiderScribe – spiderscribe.net
Text2MindMap – text2mindmap.com Kinda like visualthesaurus.com, but with mindmapping, visual mapping ideas.
Trello – trello.com free. I’ve used this and it’s a nice app to organize writing and to-do lists. I personally don’t like it because it doesn’t go with my way of thinking (I get things lost in it, but I’m scatterbrained so nevermind me.) You use cards and columns.
Wridea – wridea.com for organizing ideas
WritersApp – on itunes 99 cents
Pulled from searching for “brainstorming apps for writers”
and find many more at:
Novelicious.comWhat are your favorite brainstorming apps or programs or methods?
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1 Reply
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For brainstorming, I rely heavily on Dan Wells’ 7 Point Plot Structure.
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