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Electronic Cocktail Napkins:
Organizing Story Ideas with Liquid Story Binder
by Brian Mercer
To outline or not to outline? That is the writer's timeless question
for which there is no correct answer.
Very few writers sit in front of a blank piece of paper (or blank
computer screen) with no idea what they're going to write. Writing
usually begins with inspiration, the spark of an idea that compels
one to set thoughts down on paper. Similarly, I don't know of any
writer who outlines so meticulously that there are absolutely no
surprises when the narrative is fleshed out and stylized. Most of
us fall in the middle of the two extremes, where the line between
pure planning and pure spontaneity is blurred.
It's probably safe to assume that most writers do some measure of
planning before beginning the writing process, even if the ideas are
only in the writer's head. For some it's cocktail napkins and
sticky notes, for others its complex character profiles and
through-lines, historical notes, outlines, and chronological
charts. Every project is different. Some stories require deep
family backgrounds and carefully deliberated plotting, while others
just need a broad brush idea to get the pen moving.
The challenge is how to capture and organize story ideas so they can
be easily retrieved when you need them. I recently began using
writing software that has transformed not only the way I write, but
the enthusiasm to which I bring to the task. The program is called
Liquid Story Binder, a poetically titled medium for both documenting
story ideas and crafting the narrative itself.
The key to my success with Liquid Story Binder has been its
flexibility. It doesn't force me down a specific path for story
creation, but allows me to work the way I want to work. It does
this by offering multiple sets of tools that I can use or not, all
in an elegant, easy-to-organize package that motivates me to kick
off the covers at 5:30 AM and put fingers to keyboard.
The tools available in Liquid Story Binder can fit into roughly four
categories: atmosphere, story planning, story writing, and
productivity tracking.
Atmosphere
Liquid Story Binder allows me to set the mood for my writing
sessions. There are predefined color schemes that let me choose
something bright and sunny or something dark and shadowy or anything
in between. I can generate music play lists directly from the
program, permitting me to establish just the right ambience for the
scene I'm writing. Perhaps the most inspiring mood-setting tool has
been the ability to define a custom wallpaper background that lets
me feel the setting I'm trying to create. As simple as these
things sound, the power to double-click an icon and instantly have
color, scenery, and sound transport me into my story has been hugely
inspiring.
This
screenshot shows Liquid Story Binder for my Civil War novel. The
background, a Civil War battlefield, immediately allows me to feel
I'm part of the story. (Click to enlarge.)
Story Planning
Liquid Story Binder has all the tools you'll need to plan your
story: Outlines allow you to plot out your story in the
conventional top-to-bottom hierarchy. Timelines let you
organize characters and plot along a consistent timeline.
Builders give you a means to detail out scenes with titles,
subtitles and synopses (perfect if you like to summarize each
chapter and play around with sequencing). Mindmaps allow you
to diagram ideas or sketch out family trees in an org chart-like
format. Journals let you write a journal from the
perspective of your characters (a great way to keep writing while
you're busy with that historical research). If you're writing a
movie script or are just artistic, story boards let you
combine multiple images to form a visual narrative. And notes give
you a means to capture random ideas on small, note card-like
windows.
Dossiers
alone are worth the price of admission. With a dossier you can
flesh out characters, settings, organizations, etc. Easily define
your own prompts for main characters, minor characters, places,
family, animals and the like, and save them for easy retrieval. Or
customize your own sections on the fly. This was without question
the one function that made me most excited about using the
software. I loved filling in my characters' details section by
section: Physical Description, Friends, Enemies, Family History,
Internal Conflict, and so on, breathing life into them one step at a
time. There is nothing like seeing your cast lined up on the
screen, portraits included, to motivate you to do something with
them.
Creating all this information would be useless if you couldn't
easily retrieve it. With Listings you can create a handsome
index of all your content in a neat, collapsible, outline-like
format. You can even create short-cuts to access your external
programs and documents.
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Here is a dossier for General Grant. Cast your
characters before you start writing using Google Images and then
paste their portraits directly into their dossiers. You'd be amazed
at how this adds texture to your characters. (Click to enlarge.)
Writing
If you love your current word processor, then there's no need to
look further; however, using Liquid Story Binder's built-in
application for writing has some distinct advantages, like the
Planner tool, which creates a tidy little catalog of chapters
and backup files. Dividing the work into separate chapter files
makes the effort of writing an entire manuscript seem easier by
breaking it down into smaller, bite-sized chunks.
The word processor comes with a spell checker, although it doesn't
automatically underline misspelled words. There is also a built-in
thesaurus, which returns synonyms in one long list rather than
Microsoft Word's answer of breaking like-words into meaningful
subsets. This admittedly makes the function less useful when the
lists get too long. But Liquid Story Binder has a hot key to Word
Web, a free, third-party dictionary that will instantly define the
highlighted word.
Along with this there are some other useful functions. The Word
Analyzer tool looks at word usage and highlights overused
words. The Typewriter function makes your screen resemble a
blank piece of paper, simulating a typewriter in that it stops
allowing you to edit your work in-progress or even use the Backspace
key. This is perfect if you’re the type who tends to revise so much
while writing that it prevents you from advancing. The
Typewriter function forces you to press on, even if the writing
isn't word perfect. (I just wish it made the click-click-click
sound of a real typewriter.)
When you complete your work, it's easy to combine chapters into a
single document and export them to your word processor of choice.
Here is a typical layout showing a Listing, a
Builder, a Timeline and an Outline. Liquid Story binder makes it
easy to save layouts using its Workspaces menu. (Click to enlarge.)
Productivity Tracking
Liquid Story Binder keeps track of words written and time spent
writing. It provides a means for goal setting and writing
timelines, even projecting the number of words you'll need to write
per day to reach your goals. You can set session goals for number
of words to write, or specify the number of minutes you'll spend
writing and use the built-in timer to discipline yourself to follow
through. Read your novel out loud using the recording feature and
hear it played back in your own voice. Or create checklists of
tasks to get done for each step of your project. This, together
with extensive backup and auto-save features, supports your goals
every step of the way.
Try Before You Buy
Like many software programs of its kind, Liquid Story Binder is free
to
download and try free for thirty days
(after that, if you want to buy it, the cost is only $45.95). Don't
be intimidated by what seems upon first glance to be complexity.
The question you'll immediately want to ask is, "Where do I
start?" Think of Liquid Story Binder as a golf bag with putters,
wedges, irons, and drivers. Just as you might play several rounds
of golf, even go through an entire season, without using every last
club in your golf bag, so too might you never use all the tools in
Liquid Story Binder. Because it's so flexible, there is no one
place to start.
I have a few suggestions for you, though, to make the most of your
evaluation time. When you begin using the software, first browse
through the example files. While this will give you some sense of
what you can do with the program, the example files' high production
values will likely make you think you won't be able to create
anything that looks as good. Don’t worry too much about it. Try
playing with the different color schemes listed in the Display Menu
until you find one that suits you and your story. Then move on.
Create a new file for a story you might have in mind. Set the color
scheme you discovered while playing with the example file and, if
you'd like, use the Display menu to set appropriate background
wallpaper and the Display Preferences to tweak the fonts to your
taste (I'd recommend resetting the Title Font to 14 pt. and the
Description and Caption Fonts to 11 pt.).
Now you're ready to start using the tools. Start by creating a new
Listing using the Create menu. This will be the index of your
content. Now use the Create menu to create a note. Type something
in the note and save it. Now use the listing tool to add the note
to your listing (use the Listing's Item menu and select "Add
Files"). There, now you have a new note and a means to quickly
access it via the listing.
Proceed by creating a new type of file using the Create menu:
Create a Builder, play with it, add it to the Listing. Create a
Checklist, play with it, add it to the Listing. Dossiers, Mindmaps,
Outlines, etc. Take each one out for a little test drive and add it
to your Listing. This will begin to show you the many things you
can do with this very powerful software.
Brian Mercer is the author of
Mastering Astral Projection (Llewellyn, 2004) and The
Mastering Astral Projection CD Companion (Llewellyn, 2007).
He is a board member of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association.
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