Have I Got a Writing Program For You!
Hereās lookinā at you, fantasy writers!
I just discovered the program Plot Factory, a cloud-based writing program with functionalities similar to Scrivener (with a pretty interface and not nearly as steep a learning curve)
Disclaimer: It is, unfortunately, a subscription service. But all the important functionalities are FREE (with ads. I think you get 3 stories on a free account). They offer a two-week trial and the important functionalities are available with the $9 tier. IMO, the price is worth it.
LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THIS PROGRAM.
I say this is for fantasy writers (or speculative fic writers of all stripes) because the worldbuilding capabilitiesĀ are astounding. You can start, if you so choose, by creating a Universe.Ā This includes creating laws for the world (statutory laws, laws of physics, whatever you want), various settings, important objects, etc.
Then, you create your Story.Ā (The Universe step can be skipped if you want to go straight to the story, but whatās cool about the Universe option is that if you create a Universe and input a bunch of setting/character profiles, you can import them into any story thatās linked to the Universe - if youāre creating a multi-book series, this is a really neat thing).
From there, you can go create your Characters. Non-pro accounts come with a basic character sheet that you can customize however you want, but pro accounts come with aĀ ācomprehensiveā character sheet that I am in love with. (Itās so thorough!)
Anyways, the worldbuilding elements are all well and good, you say.Ā
But what about the Writing Interface?
If you look at the navigation bar on the right, itās not quite as neatly delineated as Scrivenerās. You can create chapters and then scenes within chapters, but the distinction isnāt very clear, visually
It seems youāre not able to name scenes? You ARE able to name chapters, though. I just solved the scene-naming problem by making the first line of text the scene name (ex.Ā āScene 1: Illyon)
The word count per scene/per chapter is nice
Chapter box notes in the top right corner! (Not to be confused with the Notes section in the navigation bar, which can include anything from research notes to ideas/brainstorming, to a cut passages graveyard)
My FAVORITE thing: see that little character icon next to the first line of text? You can set a POV CHARACTER for the chapter!! As someone who has a lot of POV characters, this is a life saver
My other favorite thing: see that little microphone button in the bottom corner? If you have a pro account, you can choose a narrator voice and have it READ YOUR STORY BACK TO YOU
Itās really easy to rearrange scenes/insert scenes into pre-existing chapters
You can set session goals!
Some other aspects of the program that are super cool:
The home screen will show you a words per day breakdown
Thereās also a plot-mapping tool that I havenāt explored yet because Iām overwhelmed by everything else
You can sync to dropbox and set up automatic backups
Thereās a built in name generator, for some reason?
You can import stories from scrivener
There are forums AND a discord server. I havenāt looked at the forums, but Iām in the server and it seems nice enough so far
(Also, I have a taglist going for the novel in my screenshots! Itās a gothic fantasy story - like Crimson Peak, but gayer and with bigger stakes - that I post online for free! Let me know if you want to be added to the list!)