Writer's Toolbox: Nimbus Note

One of the most frustrating things for me while researching for my novel has been keeping up with all of the information I need. I've had tons of Word documents. I've used a notebook full of notes. I have tons of websites saved and some emails sent to myself. When I want to save something for later, I don't want to take the time to write it all down or copy and paste a ton of things into a Word document that I then need to format and rearrange. I want to save it quickly and move on. But how do you do that in an organized fashion without purchasing writing software? It's been rather hard finding something that really works for me when I'm tossing around ideas, building up the best and eliminating the worst. That is, until I found Nimbus this week!

Nimbus Note is an excellent note taking application that you can access from your web browser; download on your PC, Android, iPad, iPhone, or Windows Phone; or add as an extension in Google Chrome. Any note you save is easily synced to your account, allowing you to access information from all of your devices. There are numerous features that help to organize your writing research:

• Basic text editing tools, including adding links and photos
• Tags for quick search and better organization
• Share your notes with password protection
• Source links saved automatically
• To-Do tasks for future reminders
• Add attachments to your notes
• Print notes

The most useful tool for me is the Chrome extension. While researching this week, I simply was able to highlight the information I needed, whether it was a full article, a photo, or a paragraph or two, and with a quick right click, I sent exactly what I needed to my notes. 

The only thing I had to go in and change was the titles for organization; every bit of information was saved for future reference, and I was able to tag my notes for quick searching. It made collecting my research information quicker and so much easier! Keep in mind that the Chrome extension does not have as many features as the full Nimbus app; however, for me, this doesn't matter. It takes a second to head to the Nimbus website if for some reason I need more than the basic text formatting, copy and pasting, and link insertion features, which is rare.

If you're looking for an easy way to organize research material, or even just notes and ideas, definitely check out Nimbus. It has just the number of features you need, and if you're like me, nothing's better than being able to access your notes anywhere, anytime inspiration strikes.

Writing Software: StoryMill

When I was researching scientific information for my novel, I found that my typical journal technique simply became a mess as I scratched out ideas that won't work and kept jotting ideas around the margins. I like neat notes and I like physically writing my ideas, but writing them quickly became a bigger mess than ever before. That's what happens when you write a complicated, detail-necessary work! How do I get organized? How do I make it easy to find my ideas without a ton of Word files in my research folder? I'm still trying to find a good solution that works for me, and during this process, I've come across quite a few writing tools that sound interesting. The first one on the list: StoryMill.

StoryMill is one of a few software packages by Mariner Software that work to help writers. While StoryMill is dedicated to various aspects of overall novel writing, Persona (character management) and Contour (story outline) are two other options that focus on specific areas of novel development. I'll be honest: Contour is not something I'll try because I am not the type of writer who outlines in any detail whatsoever. I have a general idea, pit stops along the way, and an endgame; however, my characters direct me better than any outline I've ever done. In other words, you won't see a review of it here because it won't be unbiased. With that being said, Persona is on my list because it has what I wished StoryMill did for characters: detail, detail, detail!

Character Screen

This is one of my problems with StoryMill. The most you have under the info block is what you see above: role, height, hair, race, weight, and eyes. You can add photos, tags, links, and blah blah blah, but the majority of your information is going to be typed in a blank word-like document. It's not very organized other than being under the name of the character. This is why I'll be testing out Persona for my characters; however, if I'm going to drop money on software ($40 a pop!), I don't want to have to buy something else I would think should be included.

It does have some simple planning features that make Contour unnecessary for many writers. The main screen for "Scenes" gives you a list of your scenes and the ability to pull up a timeline of your novel's scenes:

Scene Main Screen

In each scene's page, you can write the scene, make notes, add photos, select the chapter, choose the characters in the scene, pick the location, and choose the date and time it starts and ends.

Individual Scenes

When going back and adding the information for my novel, the most helpful parts for me were the chapter, date, and time. I was able to get a timeline going and really think about the amount of time that was passing in each scene and how plausible certain things were in the scheme of that time frame. On the other hand, the timeline feature is only so helpful. Rather than stacking scenes chronologically for each date, everything falls in a line to scroll horizontally no matter how short of a time frame you select.

Timeline

Notice above that the first time shows "The Ex....Dealing". This is because there are multiple scenes in that time period. It would be much more helpful if it was more of a calendar format where each day's scenes stacked in a straight line and then you could scroll right for the following days.

Locations

The locations option is helpful but still basic. You can add pictures, take notes, create tags, save links for files or websites, and see which scenes are related to the location. This is helpful for keeping together information for each location, but there's nothing special about it. The research tabs are similar. The only difference is that the "scenes" tab is missing. You can also create a list of tasks that you want to complete and use tags for them.

There are a lot of small features having to do with formatting, exporting, etc., but they are what you would expect from writing software. A few mop-up features of interest:

• Word Frequency - See how many times you use certain words in each chapter or the novel overall.
• Progress Meter - Set a word count goal and you'll see a meter at the top of the screen that shows your progress to the selected goal. It can be progress for the current session or the whole novel's completion.
• Highlight Cliches - Find possible cliches in your writing.
• Snapshot - Take a snapshot of your work before you make big edits or changes.

Overall, I give it 3 out of 5 stars. It's got a lot of basic features that help with organization and bring it up a notch from a normal text editor. Instead of having multiple files based on research topics, novel text, and outline notes, you have a neat list of scenes, chapters, characters, and research topics. There are many areas I'd like to see improvement, such as the character details and timeline organization; however, this is a decent starter software if you just need something to organize your work. StoryMill is available for download on Mac or PC. Test it out for 30 opens with the demo, and if you like it, you can buy it for $39.95.

Upcoming Reviews: Persona, Scrivener