Storybook

Writing a novel is an exciting challenge but it can be hard to keep track of complicated plot lines and characters. Storybook is a dedicated planning tool that makes this easier and also helps organise chapters and locations.

It's opensource, so there is no charge to use it although Java is needed to make it work. There is also a demo book installed that helps explain some of the functions.

There are three main views that help organise what is going to happen in the plot and who is involved.

A toolbox on the right of the main program gives quick access to the different sections of the program.

Once the information has been entered into Storybook it can be presented in different reports to help you write the novel itself. They can show which characters are present in different scenes, significant dates and even a Gantt chart of character lifetimes.

These reports can be exported in lots of different formats including HTML and PDF.

A version of Red Hat Linux, openSUSE Linux, Debian or Ubuntu can be found on the StorYBook download page.