Simitless helps writers plan their novels.
App 45/60: Story Planning
Simitless helps writers plan their novels.
Once upon a time, in the days long since gone, a little whisper took hold of your mind. A whisper so enchanting, yet troubling, so inspiring, yet… confusing. A whisper awakening a yearning inside your breast, a desire to put your thoughts to paper, a downright need for creating (and sharing!) a story that has been ripping within you for all those years, and not finding the means to manifest itself to you, waiting for the occasion. But the wait was long and tedious, and the story wanted out. So, here you are now, going through your daily routine, brushing your teeth, picking up your kids from school, taking out the trash, cooking wholesome dinners for your entire family, but everything is like in a fog. You are obsessed by this one idea alone – to finally write that story. But, now that your mind has been made up, where to start? How do you go about this business of writing? Granted, some are capable of simply taking a blank page and going at it with no second thought. On the other hand, there are those, who prefer to conscientiously plan their story lines, scenes and characters.
If you fall into this second category of writers, Simitless can help you. It basically has everything you would need to get going with such an undertaking. And when we say everything, we mean a carefully crafted app template geared towards helping you plan the writing of your piece of fiction. In fact, if you choose to think of yourself as the archetypal main character and of your writing process as the hero's journey that you know so well from classic literature, you should definitely give this app model a try in order to stack the odds of successfully completing the endeavor in your favor. More than anything, this app is an indispensable tool for building a cohesive story, that engages by means of its well-balanced pacing and is populated by multidimensional, complex, yet relatable characters.
Consult the application model, then click the " Use this model" button to create your copy of the app. Simitless is a system that adapts to your needs. Plus, it is risk-free. As opposed to an engaging story, Simitless does not have any Trojan horses to boast of. What you see (or need) is what you get. To save your progress, think of creating an account by following the instructions on the green buttons!
Now, let’s look at the app. The story planner defines 3 modules: characters, locations and scenes that tie the two former ones together.
The character table allows you to add a name and define a role (Protagonist, Antagonist, Love interest, Confidant, Deuteragonists, Tertiary characters, Foil), a type of character (Dynamic character, Round character, Static character, Stock character, Symbolic character) and an archetype (The Lover, The Hero, The Magician, The Outlaw, The Explorer, The Sage, The Innocent, The Creator, The Ruler, The Caregiver, The Everyman, The Jester). A description, an origin (link to a location), a list of values and a gallery of images (for illustration and visualization) complete this description.
A Location is simply defined by a name, a collection of inspirational images, and a text box for adding notes. If you need to include more data, you can change your app by adding supplementary fields. ( Edit app Edit data types "Location" )
Finally, you can define scenes by, first, giving them a title and then pointing out the corresponding story step (Ordinary World, Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Meeting the Mentor, Crossing the Threshold, Tests, Allies, Enemies, Approach to the Inmost Cave, The Ordeal, Reward, Seizing the Sword, The Road Back, Resurrection, Return with Elixir). You can go on and link the characters to a given scene as well as the place where the scene comes to pass. Finally, you can add a brief description of what is going to happen in the scene in question. We have also included an additional note field, in case you are entertaining other genius story twists that you’d like to include, but are still struggling to formulate.
This simple little story planner app gets you started with building your novel structure quickly and easily. Most importantly, it helps you avoid the pitfall that some authors get stuck in – focusing on the tiny details of the writing well too early in the overall writing process. Everything in its time. And by the way, you don’t need to simply content yourself with the app as it is, if it doesn't reflect your writing/thinking/planning style. Remember, you can easily add information fields or even entire new sections to your information system.
Good luck on your epic adventure.