A Novel Idea Productivity App Review (iOS, Free)

Description

A Novel Idea is the premier tool for plotting your story and recording bursts of inspiration. Use its simple interface to create your characters, locations, scenes, and novels and then link them together to create your story's plot. Use the Idea feature to quickly jot down your creative sparks and link them to your story elements. Arrange your scenes by dragging and dropping them into place. Add scene goals and objectives for each character. Plus more!

Items that can be edited include:

Novel – title, setting, theme, tone, point of view, premise, and plot.
Scene – title, act, time, plot type, description, tension level
Character – name, age, external conflict, external motivation, internal conflict, internal motivation, description
Location – name, description
Idea – description

Pro Version, available as an in-app purchase, adds the following:
Dropbox Syncing between devices
Scene writing
Word count
Export to iTunes
Ad Free!
Email export

Reviews:

"If you’re writing a novel, story, or play—or even a creative essay for school—this will definitely get the juices stirring and help organize your ideas." -- Appadvice.com

Customer Reviews

• Characters

  by Sari337

  I think the character section needs more options. I want my characters as realistic as possible.

• A Novel idea: A Writer's must!!

  by S.A.E. Ninjagirl

  Every writer needs this app! It is great for organizing your thoughts and characters. I wish you wold be able to add photos to Character profiles and places, maybe even covers to your book. I hope the creator reads this*cough cough* I love it and will always have it on the iPad!

• Fantastic!

  by EnvyLovesRed<3

  This app is perfect for any writer! It organizes your thoughts and helps you plan your book or story accordingly! I strongly recommend it to any writer!

• I love this app a lot

  by Syraphia

  It's very helpful to writing and I use it for many stories. I wish, like another user, that you could separate the characters and scenes and such from every different story. The only other thing I find troublesome is how the scenes can only be one of three things. I wish there were some more options there. Other than that, I really love this app, it's very useful for me keeping things in my stories straight and my characters actually in character.

• SO FAR, SO GOOD, BUT...

  by Hvalalipo

  I'm starting to use this for my current novel. I think it will be a useful tool for me, once I get used to being more organized with my writing (not easy for me to do - I write on the fly most of the time). I just wish there were a section specifically called "Chapters". At the moment, I'm cramming numbered chapters into the Ideas section, which is okay, I suppose, but not really ideal.

• For Writers

  by Z0MbiliCi0US:.

  if you actually plan on writing a book, this app is a necessary tool for the planning process. it will give you a place to put all of the key details you may not have even realized you needed, and organizes them. you have a place for everything and it is easily navigated to find all those things again when you need them. now you just have to find the motivation to use it and to actually write the book! (;

• Just what you need

  by Dandelion Man

  I have combined this with Penaltimate to write notes and track ideas, scenes and characters. The program could be improved by facilitating an easier transfer to Pages. Sequels and character development could be tracked on subsequent lines as a work around. I enjoy the program so far. I foresee subsequent novels getting unwieldy unless options are added to collapse novels, scenes, characters, etc. Great job.

• Great app

  by Isilme Sharr

  I really like the app overall. The only thing I don't like is that the division system is a tag thing. I wish that it was divided up by story or series a bit more firmly for organizational purposes.

• Was working great at first...

  by xcjugfcvbiycc

  When I first got this app it was perfect, but lately it crashes whenever I try to open my ideas or create a new one. Is this happening to anyone else? If so I hope the next update has a bug fix.

• Glorious

  by Clara_Bella11

  "A Novel Idea" is a great app. You can create character descriptions, scene descriptions, or simply put down ideas. This is perfect for coming up with your story's outline or even writing an entire novel!

• Amazing app but...

  by Riiikolaaah

  I've been using this app for quite a while and I have to say I miss when you could attach pictures in the idea tab. It was useful for location planning, scene building and character designing. The app is still the best one I've used in this particular field so don't hesitate to download it if you love to write!

• Best thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  by Too tired 213

  i absolutely & honestly think that this has been the BEST-THING that has ever happened to my iPod in forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:-)

• How do I write it? Other than that It's awesome!

  by Iursdgxb:)

  Awesome app ,this is really helping me get my thoughts organized .but I can't figure out how to actually start writing the book ,other than that great planner

• Organizational Tool

  by davistories

  Have been using as an organizational tool. Looking forward to exploring additional aspects.

• Fantastic App!

  by Nicolas Brown

  I love the organization that this app provides. I suggest it to my students for them to use for their English projects.

• Pretty good writing app

  by Kate Kat

  Kind of like ywriter but not as good.

• My favorite app

  by Lukkamoon

  I recommend this app to any writer who is itching to get those ideas down while on the go. The layout is very neat and everything is well put together. I use it more than any other app on my phone.

• Great

  by Kyle Gibson

  I forget things easily so this really help keep my thoughts in line.

• LOVE IT

  by Me who loves this movie!!!

  I love this app! It's so great for those random ideas and I write my stories on there!!!!

• Question

  by Creative attorney

  Great app, but does anyone know how to email the ideas to yourself?

• No!

  by grimmism

  I like the concept of having ideas, novel, and character plotted. But, I was so disgusted with the interface, it's just sections with lines where you save things like a notepad. Sure it groups things, which is why I thought it was a good idea, but the interface, and notebook like simplified made me uninstall it.o

• WOW

  by Gvdgcxg

  This app really helps. Period. When you sit down to write a book, you never think about as meany details as it helps you relize.

• Keeps me organized and on track

  by Stellathelion

  This app has helped me keep my thoughts in order and has gotten me through my stories far more efficiently than any method I've tried before. Totally worth it!

• Perfect

  by cirix20

  This is the best app to organize your thoughts. I doubt I'll ever forget another story idea thanks to this wonderful app.

• Quick and dirty

  by RonAtCM

  My projects are intertwined and complex, but this app is a good way to capture and retrieve facts and thoughts quickly in an organized manner. I write in Scrivener so I can gather the necessaries from A Novel Idea and paste into a Scrivener research folder. The data linking is sometimes tedious, but that's a tendency with a lot of XML.

• Alright

  by Fenn Fey

  Not very fancy, but too simple. No inspiration, but is functional.

• Okay

  by Henryj56

  It would be great if it'll allow me to get the pro version.

• Great buy pro!

  by 242typerhun

  As everybody else stated this app is a dream for writers. Buy the pro version for complete functionality. You'll love this!

• A-MAZING

  by Alan Reeves

  I love this app IT IS PERFECT

• Awesome

  by TheWriter23

  This app is really great, but could you add a notes section where you can add information that doesn't go under any of the categories? And also, a place where you can put a picture of the characters.

• Just what I need

  by CelluliteSale

  I love creating different stories and I I've tried writing it in a notebook, but it always turns out so sloppy. This is what I was looking for.

• Just Perfect

  by *Axelle*

  This app is amazing. It lets me organize (and lock up with a pass code) all of my ideas, characters, locations, everything really. It goes much farther in depth than I thought and helps me develop all aspects of a story. It lets me set the relationships between characters, traits, fears, and goals of characters, etc. I really, really love it and recommend it to anyone writing a story, play, or something of that nature to keep things very organized and well thought out. I don't think I could ask for more. Definitely worth your time.

• Very helpful

  by St E of H

  A very helpful app. Keeps you organized, and great for jotting down ideas before you lose the train of thought! The pre-set headings for character traits is helpful for a new writer like me. I only wish there were an easy way to print things out; there are times I need a hard copy.

• Nearly perfect

  by AppleBlossom12100

  Aside from a few tiny bugs and weird things (I can't figure out what Groups are at all, I can't tell if they're broken or I just don't understand them), this app is great. Easily earns five stars.

• Great!

  by RacheleHeart

  This app is something that I have searched for and is very useful and wonderful for compiling story ideas (which I usually do but never actually write the story; : P). Five stars!

• Terrific

  by The Alchemist Lord

  I love this app! It's terrific for my writings. The only thing I suggest is to put in more sections, like organizations. Other than that, the app is perfect.

• Very helpful

  by Fungamegirl2000

  I love making stories and this app is the best for helping me with them. It keeps all of the characters, places, and ideas in the right place. Greatest app ever!!!!!

• A great help!!!

  by Ayumi "Kitsune" Nobara

  This app has really help me organize my ideas and plans. Love it!!!!!!! Such a great app!

• Good app, needs updates

  by ShagsterP

  Nice organizational app for the creative writer. I upgraded to the convenient ability of being able to write within the app, but I hope for an update that allows you to view what you've written in a full screen. It is difficult to proofread when the keyboard takes up half the screen.

• Thank you!

  by HaJaLe

  I'm so glad someone had made this app, its a great help. Now with the organization I might be able to write a full book.

• So far so good

  by Froggychan

  I like how easily I can organize my thoughts with this app. It would be better if I could save any not recognized word to my dictionary, especially as this is an app for writers and we often need to invent words, etc! I'd like to be able to add or omit categories as needed, but I don't see a way to do that. For example, what is one of the characters has a pet, or is one? It would also be a great idea to have an editable relationship chart between characters, or even build their family trees.

• Perfect for organizing and visualizing your story

  by Craze Maze

  Love, love love love it! Not a thing I would change

• Absolutely perfect

  by

  I love this app SO MUCH. IT'S AMAZING. Thank you (to the creators) Get it.

• Absolutely fantastic.

  by Ani5193

  My new favorite app. Every writer needs this.

• Little suggestion.

  by Rikuforever

  I love this app. However, i think it would be better if it could sync not only novels but also ideas, locations, etc which are not attached to the novels. :)

• LOVE

  by Me Ninja! Did you see that?

  I love this app! I enables me to write down my ideas whenever I want. I also helps me organize everything! This is a great app and If I were you I would download it!

• Meh

  by PatrickETurner

  Needs iOS7 optimization. Would also love to see an OSX version, or at least a way to access and edit my data within the app from a website via account login. Other than that it does a decent job of helping you organize all aspects of any kind of novel.

• Sorting

  by GerbX

  There needs to be a way to tag characters or ideas to more than just one thing aka a novel or scene. Otherwise the app is great.

• Absolutely freaking fantastic!!

  by Raphael Morg

  Everyone needs to get one, even if you don't write very much you will now.

• Love it, but...

  by shydacat

  3.5 This is great for keeping your writing organised. I have a really hard time getting/staying organised on my own as dozens of half full notebooks exemplify. I've also written a lot more since I started using it. My problem with it is it's lost things on me twice before. Fortunately, I had another draft of one piece in another app and the other piece was short and recent enough that I recalled it nearly verbatim. I would give this 4-4.5 stars if I weren't worried about losing data. Still, it's a great tool, but I keep and multiple copies of what I write thru email, Dropbox and another writing app.

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