What about an ensemble cast, or if the timeline is played out in not in sequence (such as Pulp Fiction)? What if there’s no protagonist and the main character isn’t supposed to triumph or lose but simply is (such as American Psycho)? Rigid software like that are only marginally useful for those who want to write the most mainstream and predictable Hollywood movies. I can’t think of anything worse for a writer than to force some clichéd Hollywood story structure onto any story idea, regardless of what it is. And you also have to follow a rigid pattern of small and large defeats and triumphs in the structure of your story. Contour is particularly laughable because it only allows you to create one character–the protagonist, and then you must tell the software how your protagonist is an orphan at the beginning of the story, then a wanderer, then a warrior, then a martyr at the end. All of them get in your way if you know how or what you want to write. Other software in that category includes Contour, WriteWay, Storybase, Master Storyteller, Story Weaver…etc. If I was the kind of person who couldn’t write my way out of a paper bag, had no original idea, and understood nothing about dramatic pacing, structure, character development, then maybe I’d try Dramatica Pro, but anyone who actually knows how to write would hate being told or prodded constantly about how and what to write. Then the software’s story engine tells you how you can construct the conflicts between your characters and how they can become your plot points, themes, and so on. The worst of the bunch is Dramatica Pro (AKA Storyview), where you have to answer a ridiculous number of questions about your characters, their background, their personality traits, their motivations, their various psychological traits, and a bunch of other stuff that may or may not have any relevance to your story. I personally think software like that are useless for people that actually know how to write and does not want to be lead by the nose by some writing software designer who has his own idea of what a good story entails. The most popular type seems to be the “creative writing aid†software, where the software holds your hand and actually helps you develop your storyline, characters, conflicts, pacing, structure…etc. To my surprise, the market seems to have grown quite large, with a lot of different software competing for your money. I simply got tired of having all these different files of notes, character profiles, prose, screenplays…etc in various folders. Visually and interactively displaying a story across time, you can arrange the scenes of your novel in chronological order.īottom line.StoryMill gives you all the tools you’ll need for writing your own best seller.I recently researched into the writing software market to see what’s changed since the last time I checked, which was several years ago. StoryMill is the only novel writing app that includes a Timeline feature. There’s a place for all your research – add pictures, files and notes right into StoryMill – keeping it altogether and available whenever you need it. There are handy things to help you keep track of cliches and monitor how many times you use a word. You can set a daily writing goal and keep track of it using the Progress Meter. StoryMill is built so that you can develop your characters, locations and all the other elements of your story. With StoryMill, you can take your idea for mystery, romance, adventure, action or science fiction and turn it into that novel you know is within but just needs a little help getting out. StoryMill will be appreciated by the professional novel writer, but we really designed it for folks like you. Writing a novel is a creative process and like all creative processes, sometimes it’s hard to get started. This Mac App Store version of StoryMill is English only and is El Capitan compatible. "No matter how sprawling your novel, StoryMill offers the necessary tools to write and manage the entire project." “StoryMill provides an impressive workflow approach and toolset that can’t be replicated in your current word processor.” “Each time I delve deeper into StoryMill and take more full advantage of its abundant resources, the writing process just gets simpler and simpler." EXCLUSIVE MAC APP STORE STORYMILL PROMO! SAVE 50% OFF UNTIL THIS SUNDAY!
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