Liquid Story Bridge...any good?

Why not just make a folder and organize it yourself? I don't really understand what the point of having an organizer is. I've got a folder for writing, then in that a folder for different types (story ideas, WIPs, just playing around), then inside my WIP folder, each project has it's own folder, which combines all of the notes, various drafts, and research. Whatever project I'm currently working on has a shortcut in my dock to make it easy to get to without sorting through all the folders.

Liquid Story Binder? I have used it and it's good, but very complex to work with. I found it distracting to try to keep up with the complexity.

I recommend yWriter instead. It's developed by a multi-published writer, easy and intuitive to use and, best of all, FREE.

If you have a Mac, use Scrivener. It's also developed by a writer. I'm testing it at the moment, and I may have to switch to Mac...

I have used various liquids to aid the organization (and other aspects) of my writing. I've found that Talisker or Laphroaig work best.

caw

It has a very steep learning curve. Some of the things are counter-intuitive. You do need to read all the tutorials you can find. It has a 30 day trial (non consecutive).
There's a yahoo group: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Liquid_Story/
There's a good tutorial created by an author here: http://notenoughwords.wordpress.com...tutorial-part-1-setting-up-for-brainstorming/

There is also StoryBox which is free to use but you can pay $25 to get rid of the nag screen.
http://www.storyboxsoftware.com/index.php Also created by a writer. More like Scrivener. There is a thread over on the nano forums discussing it. http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3268768

Seriously: What do these programs do that you can't accomplish just by creating folders in an organized fashion? Kaitie pointed this out a few posts above, and pretty much nailed it, as far as I can see.

The other recent comments containing the phrases "very complex" and "steep learning curve" in relation to certain of these programs is a complete non-starter, as far as I'm concerned. You have to reeeeeeeeeealllly produce something worthy of that amount of mental investment for me to be even remotely interested.

Back to the OP: The key phrase addressing your problem is: "everywhere on my desktop" Why is any of this stuff on your desktop? My (computer) desktop is as free of clutter as possible (in contrast to my meatspace desktop, which makes Afghanistan look organized and disciplined). The desktop is an awful place to leave anything. Really. Organize your stuff in sensible folders with clear and obvious names. And don't over-hierarchy the thing. I keep literally thousands of files on my computer(s), because I do most of my business on them. I never go more than two levels deep in the structure of these things. To do more than that is tantamount to creating a labyrinth. But leaving them on your desktop is just inviting disaster. You don't need any specialized program to help you set up a sensible folder system. These programs strike me as unnecessary at best, and a ripoff at worst.

caw

Scrivener is a very intuitive outliner that gets out of your way when your thinking about your story. The other programs in this thread mostly deal with bogging down in detail, and fiddling with dialog boxes.

For the way I work, that's the kiss of death to a story. The best way to describe Scrivener is that you can zoom in your story, from the very top to the very bottom. And you never loose the continuity of it.

So, it's a great work-flow enhancer - for me. I wish, I wish there was a program like that on the PC.

LSB looks fabulous and it is on sale. I took a look at it and now I am really interested in hearing what someone with experience has to say about it, but at the price, you would not be out too much if you buy at the sale price. The things I like best (just looking at the web site) are the brainstorming and outlining tools. I am going to the bank tomorrow and seeing if I can spare the purchace price on this. (of course as a novelist, I won't have all the cool pictures).

I installed the trial of Liquid Story Binder two days before NaNo started, then found the two resources that para has listed, along with another - http://www.todayiread.com/lsbxe-nanowrimo-tutorial/. Between the two, I figured out a set up that worked for me, to start with. When the price dropped for November, I decided that I liked it enough to grab a license for it. The price drop was extended, but I don't know the end date.

It is complex, but to get used to it and use it during NaNo, I only used the bits described in the two tutorials. Now, I'm playing with the other parts, to see what will fit my own workflow. It's been designed to adapt to various needs. You don't need, and shouldn't try, to use all of it - just what works for you. I especially like that I can run it from a USB drive. So, it's installed on my desktop, netbook and a USB stick; then, I use SyncToy to keep them synchronized.

I had a problem with restoring from backup, but I'm hoping the user group will help me figure that out.

You should check out those tutorials and download the trial, to see if you like it.

Btw, I'm on a PC.

For brainstorming I prefer something simple and powerful like a personal wiki. I use Zim, which is great on Linux, but on Windows you'd have to install Perl and a few additional modules to get it going. There's others to choose from that don't require anything too fancy.

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I thought I would mention that there is a personal wiki named Trunk. For a writer, a product with that name - used to assist in writing - seems to be pretty much the kiss of death. I want one called Publishable.

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tailstrike said:

I found Liquid Story Bridge and was wondering if anyone here uses it and if it is any good?

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Well and truly off topic but Story Bridge is the name of the most famous bridge in my city. Brought some strange images to mind.

Kenzie said:

Well and truly off topic but Story Bridge is the name of the most famous bridge in my city. Brought some strange images to mind.

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"Bridge" is a type-o of some kind. It is called Liquid Story Binder, not Bridge.

I downloaded it and started to use it almost immedietly. It was not all that hard to use. It has plenty of instruction built in. I think it might baffle someone who was not that used various computer things. I franklyu thought it was fairly easy to use. Instead of help, it had pre-built-in samples with instructions. I liked thinks like "liner notes" where you put two periods before a sentance, and it becomes an "invisible" part of the page, not counted, or printed. You can build dossiers on your characters which is really neat, you can build timelines, mind maps-- Merge all files, change globally throughout all your files-- when you buy it, you own it for a lifetime, (long enought to learn to use it) and every upgrade is free. Hm. Not bad. I wonder if you can pass it down to your children too?

Interesting also is the Typewriter function. It is a word processor but does not allow you to make any changes to the work, it only types forward. You can't change anything! Sort of like an old fasioned typewriter.