One of the most entertaining parts of writing a story is the world development phase, well, at least to me it is! There is so much lore that can be explored and developed in stories, especially when they fall into fantasy categories such as Tolkein or Rowling's work.
I would like to start with one of the most troubling parts of writing lore...storage. I don't know about you guys, but finding a decent place to keep information has been hard for me over the years. Google docs here for X story, Microsoft doc for Y story's lore, a website for character information, Ideas saved on notecards, Z in a notebook/journal, etc. It's hard keeping a consistent line of information when your story is inconsistently placed everywhere. Of course, people have different preferences on what works for them and how their minds best hold information. This being said, there are a few common ways people store information that come with a fair share of pros and cons:
Journal - A journal is always useful to have on your person due to its flexibility of being taken places to jot ideas down. However, it can be lost and if it sustains damage, then your notes will be messed up. If you're a heavy brainstormer, these can also be annoying as your journal is then filled with useless ideas that take up space.
Microsoft/Google documents - Useful for those who carry around a laptop, it also offers flexibility and access to ideas that can quickly be found with shortcuts and commands. However, once documents start gaining length it can be a hassle to deal with and ideas could start flowing that could be forgotten if not quickly noted down.
Personal Website/Wiki - This is something I see often in places such as Reddit. This can be good for giving each section its own page and being able to expand on it and navigate them well, however, there are a few issues with this. The first one is that certain sites/wikis can be seen by the public. For those who write for fun, this wouldn't be much of a problem and may even be welcoming of it! For others who wish to flesh out their stories, this could be a bit of a problem as it would surely show spoilers. Another thing to think about is the time it takes to set up a site. You may end up spending a long time "pretty-ing" it to make it look presentable and distract yourself from the actual writing. (This is even a hole I found myself falling into not too long ago even which is what made me branch into other ideas.)
These seem to be the most common storage methods that people use. They're simple and sweet, but they aren't all that's out there. There are other options too for those who may be interested!
Trello - Website/Program/App - Trello is very nice for storing ideas that you wish to mess around with and develop with more flexibility. I used Trello for years for both personal and school work and I REALLY love it! It is a FREE program that lets you collaborate with others and add them to a "team". Ideas you upload have comment sections people can talk on and leave input, it has a time history of when people add/change things, and it has a lot of format options on its signature "cards".
Here is an example of how one could use Trello for writing a story:
As much as I love Trello, it is a bit difficult to use with larger stories. It has a lot of flexibility in its design with its ability to label things, add attachments, covers, and the like but when it comes to bigger stuff, it can become as stuffed as a google document. This leads me to the next program that I have currently swapped over to using:
Obsidian Note Taker - A truly amazing site that is unlike any I've run into before. I want to start by saying that this is a free program that anyone can use for personal storage of their stories. There's a lot I could talk about with this program but I'll try to keep it brief. Essentially, it is a program that works like a brain. Users can write down notes and link words/phrases into new notes all from one document. It can also export everything within it effortlessly into a PDF once you're down with it. There are many customizable options within it as well as community plug-ins that make it fantastic! Here's a playlist on youtube that dives into details of it and shows just how wonderful it is!
Another really cool thing with obsidian is that it has "backlinks" these backlinks allow for terms to be connected and show relations you may not have even noticed before!
Another great thing with Obsidian is that it is super easy to use. I personally have no coding abilities (I mean look at me, I use Wix lol) besides BBC forum code from my days on Neopets and I was able to figure out how to use this program thanks to the playlist linked above. I would HIGHLY recommend this to others to use as it is very flexible and easy to use!
Discord - I bet you all weren't expecting this one! Yes, Discord is also great to use for storing information as well. It's not as amazing as the other two but one things it IS great for is storing images. Trello and Obsidian are both amazing programs but when it comes to the information itself but images can be a little finicky.
For example:
Obsidian requires 2 slots to hold images and can't be resized. (Pictured to the right). This results in large images that wouldn't be fun to scroll through if you have a selection saved of your drawings/references. One positive note with Obsidian is that you can assign an "image" folder so the 2nd slot automatically goes where needed. But due to its sheer size, it can make things a little more difficult. There is another way to deal with images by directly Embedding them, but that requires coding knowledge to an extent. There are, however, add-ons that may change this and make it easier.
Trello also holds images, but they are done in such a way that it can still be mildly annoying to sift through if you have a variety. It's definitely doable and possible, but it isn't quite for me, unfortunately.
Discord on the other hand, holds images better as they are larger, and quicker to navigate. Keywords can also be added to put into search to find easier too. Since the addition of threads, this has also been made easier as you can now have a selection of images in a neat space!
Of course, this would entail creating a private server and there are definitely risks to doing this method as well. If you lose your Discord login then you won't have access to your stash of images that you have been putting together for example. However, this is just something I have grown to use and enjoy. There are many ways to keep information and hey, maybe you don't need multiple images saved so something like Trello or Documents could work for you! It's all about trial and error until you find something of use! I hope this helps!
~Laughinghouse
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