There are several tools you’ll need to help you organize your ideas. These are in no particular order and don’t worry if you don’t have some of them. Not everyone organizes and thinks the same, so just use what you’re comfortable with.
Writing program
- I personally use Google Docs since I can easily write from my phone, tablet, or computer without having to email the doc or upload it to Dropbox or somewhere else. It updates in real time across all platforms and you can revert to a previous version if you need to. You can do text-to-speech with Google Docs too. Also, it lets you make an automatic table of contents at the click of a button! Outlook / Hotmail / Live also lets you use browser based version of Microsoft Office for free. As long as you have a way to get feedback on spelling, grammar, and punctuation, I’d say that’s good enough as you’ll need an editor later.
Spreadsheet program
- Google Sheets or Excel works fine here. This can be used for character and world development, chapter summary, and all sorts of things. If you don’t want to do a formal outline in your chosen writing program, this is an alternative. Personally, I do everything in Google Docs because I’m a bit too lazy to deal with columns and rows and the like.
Character Design program -
This will definitely help those of you who have a hard time visualizing or describing your characters. Charactercreator.org is a decent website to do a quick point and click “sketch” of your characters. It has its limitations but for those of us who are not talented at drawing, this would work fine. Another alternative is loading up your favorite Sims game, and going wild with testing different things. Other games have extensive character creation systems, but I can’t think of them at the moment. Alternatively, you can Google Image search a general description of what you’re looking for. “Male square jaw,” will get you plenty of results of celebrities and other pretty people who were lucky enough to be compared to Brad Pitt at the top of the search.
Drawing Pad or Storyboard
- These types of things are great for people who can draw or those who are confident that they’ll be able to distinguish their stick figures from one another. I can’t, so I don’t touch these options.
Now that you have your tools, it’s time to start brainstorming. What do you want your story to be about? What type of characters will you need to support your plot? Are you using real world locations or are you creating a fantasy world? These are just a few questions you’ll need to answer in order to progress with an outline.