One of the things that has been difficult to manage through the rewrite process, is the sheer volume of characters and places within the setting. As a result, the story was confusing for me to write, because this is the world that never ends.

To help me wrangle this beast, I started looking at tools that would help me define character motivations, scenes, etc. For the Mac, a lot of writers recommend Scrivener. Unfortunately, the software is only available for the Mac, so I was pretty much out of luck there.

After checking out several other options, it pretty much came down to two: Liquid Story Binder and a shareware tool called Storybook. I ended up selecting Storybook because I don’t have the time to learn a new software program, and Storybook is pretty intuitive. If I pass the thirty day mark, I’ll definitely donate to the interface.

Here come’s the cool part. I’m a big fan of Dropbox.com, which allows you to store your files online and access them from anywhere. After installing Storybook on my laptop and my netbook, I saved the database file for the program in my Dropbox account. Translation? I can access the same “binder” from any computer provided I’ve installed the Storybook software on it. That provides me with a fair amount of flexibility, since it’s easier to haul my netbook around town.

I’ve only just “begun” documenting the characters and the setting locations, but I have to tell you — this part is a LOT of fun. Now, I can build in all the little secrets that I may (or may not) share with you in this story because everything is spelled out in one location. I’m not reaching back into my brain; I’m just reaching for my laptop.