Has anyone tried this? I just found it by typing free writing software for plotting novels on ChatGPT. It seems to be really nice its free and its open source. I am going to try to use it. It allows you to develop all your characters, locations, and items. I think I will try it and see if it helps me get going better. Maybe if I use it to work on some fully developed ideas, I can implement them into my story easier than just flying by the seat of my pants like I have been trying to do. It doesn't use any AI I just used AI to find it. It's got several more features like "editors" and "Idea board" and things I have not figured out yet. Anyways I just wanted to share this free tool I found.
It looks similar to Scrivener, which is what I use. Software that helps you develop your ideas, characters, scenes etc can be extremely helpful. Ultimately though, in conjunction with it, you would want to learn about things like three-act structure, character arcs, character web, and a few more. Those are pretty much the basics. When you develop an understanding of how these things function in unison to create a story, you'll be better able to use the software, rather than letting it do much of the driving. Just dropping this here as a suggestion you might want to look into at some point (if you're interested in learning it of course, and it sounds like you might be).
Do you happen to have any links to good videos or tutorials on how to do use these techniques? I mean I am sure I can find some on my own but if you know any that you know you are good they might be better than what I find. I definitely want to learn.
As it happens, I do have some good links. These are things I became engrossed in learning since I got here a few years ago. These are some of the best articles I've found, but I recommend also doing a search and reading others to fill your head with this stuff. It can be very helpful to get different perspectives on these things (though some articles are way better than others). Three-Act Narrative Structure The shark analogy is a good way to remember how each act works. And the reason it works so well is because it's the way the human mind orders information. Not just in stories, but it's how we think. The only thing that's left out (strangely) is the importance of a powerful hook right at the beginning (that's really what the bite is—you gotta grab the readers quickly and not let 'em go). The Three-Act Structure: The King of Story Structures @ Reedsy When it comes to story structure, three-act isn't the only one, but it's the central one. For anything longer than a short story you're either using the three-act, some variation of it, or you're reacting against it. But you start by learning the original and still king, discovered (not invented) by Aristotle in his Poetics. Besides these articles I also found an excellent book: Aristotle's Poetics for Screenwriters by Michael Tierno It's aimed at screenwriting, but at the level of story structure it's the same as what we use for novels. Tierno really digs into what Aristotle wrote and opens it out and explains it in detail. Without that, direct translations of Aristotle are largely just cryptic sayings. What is a Character Arc? 3 Common Types and Examples from Fiction @ Reedsy Reedsy is one of the best sites for info on writing. Worth bookmarking and browsing. How to Write Character Arcs @ K M Weiland's Blog What I said about Reedsy applies equally here. Some of the best info you'll run across. Her books are also excellent. You'd do well to spend time on her blog, and use the links in the upper left corner to navigate to the various sections. Character Web links @ my blog I collected a bunch of videos from this guy who makes strange but excellent videos, almost all on the topic of character web. I also wrote about it with examples on my external movie analysis blog: Jessica Jones—All About Abuse - Exploring the Character Web - Initial Thoughts. Spoilers. @ CinemAnalysis Iron Man—Plot and Character Web—notes for Act 1 @ CinemAnalysis Crafting A Perfect Character Web Just found this one. It's kind of minimalistic, but has some good basic info.
I should say this here—K M Weiland really goes into a lot of detail about the specifics of character arc. Usually you don't see so much detail, laid out in so many steps. But if you study her approach it gives you a lot of options to think about, more so than you usually run across when looking into character arc. You can also do a search and find many other articles, as I said earlier. You might want to start with one of the less intensive approaches to it.
