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Aeon timeline 3 review series#
I want one section for characters, one section for places, one section for dates, and two timelines-timeline one is the actual series of events, and timeline two is the order of events as they take place in my novel. I’m fond of linear and completely separate, distinctive notes. Now, if you’re like me, you’re a note-taker. You can mitigate this through practice, practice, and more practice. Of course, whenever you have a ton of information to organize, zooming in on specifics can become a daunting task. They’re both pretty straightforward and easy to use, too.
Aeon timeline 3 review free#
If you’re operating within a tight budget, Mindmeister and Mind42 are completely free and you can use them in-browser, so you don’t have to worry about bloatware. Now, I’m not a huge fan of mind-mapping because I personally find it overwhelming, but I have writer friends of superhuman nature who can’t live without their mind-mapping tech. To get your ideas into a visual field, you’ll be more inclined to use tech that allows you to have massive brain spills all over the screen. Mind-Mapping Appsįor the abstract thinker, you’ll probably enjoy mind-mapping tech more than linear timelines. And, if you’re not a timeline sort of person and prefer planning out your novel with more abstract concepts, this may not be the right app for you.
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In this case, you can’t see the trees for the forest (to invert the adage). Even if you’re a planner at heart, you may go back in and see the information all laid out and want to head for the hills because it’s too comprehensive and zeroing in on specifics can be a challenge. Sometimes it’s difficult to input data and if you’re a novice user, you may find it overwhelming. With AT, you can just link to external sources for your information, and even images to help you visualize deeper.īut as with everything, there are shortcomings to Aeon Timeline. If you’re writing something that requires extensive research, this can be especially useful. Got more twists in your plot than a five-strand braid? It’s helpful for tightening the interwoven natures of your characters’ world, as well.Īnother great thing about Aeon Timeline is that you don’t have to bookmark a billion external research links in your browser.
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If your characters are vampires or other long-lived species, or if you’re writing historical fiction, this program will help you lay it all out so that you’re not only consistent, you’re accurate. Perhaps the best part about it is that it’s not limited to a series of events-it gives you an opportunity to expand your world into places, story arcs, and how they’re all interrelated. It’s especially helpful for visualizing your world, all in one space. One of the helpful tools to get you through planning out your timelines and keeping your universe organized is Aeon Timeline. Planning your novel will help you do it right the first time and save you the headaches of having to retcon down the road. If it can happen to Sir ACD, it can happen to you. Think of how many people still make fun of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for accidentally renaming John Watson as James. If you called your town Newbury in one chapter and Newburg in the next, readers are going to notice, and they’re not going to let it go if that actually gets to print. It matters because nothing will ruin a story and take your reader out of your world faster than an inconsistency. Why should I bother with novel planning instead of just writing by the seat of my pants, you ask? Planning it out will help you when you’re into chapter twelve and can’t recall whether Jonathan was born in Mississippi in 1830 or whether he was born in Missouri in 1803. The savvy geek writer knows to use the wonderful world of the internet to plan out their novels. Luckily for all of us, with the advent of technology, we have one less headache when planning a novel and can avoid devastation should the worst happen. If those notebooks were lost, stolen, or worse, destroyed, all that original work was gone. Planning your novel typically involved a notebook (or ten) to outline your plot, structure, list of characters, list of places, and timelines. If you’re old enough, you remember the days of pen and paper writing, or dragging out the typewriter or word processor to write your novel.
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