Like many writers, I have lots and lots of ideas. And, like many, I sometimes struggle to get those thoughts out of my head and onto the page in any kind of coherent order. The longer the story, the harder that is.

For a long time, my solution was a simple document file. Just fill it with notes, loosely organized in chronological order, and hope I didn’t miss anything important as I was writing. When that got too frustrating and confusing, I tried some of the organizers I found online. There was nothing inherently wrong with those particular organizers, and I’m sure lots of other writers found them incredibly useful; but they didn’t work for me.

Then, a month or so ago, I found an unused copy of The Ultimate Novel Planner: Fantasy Edition at a local used bookstore. Intrigued, I flipped through it and decided that I really liked what I saw: sections for characters, scenes, dry plotting, chapter breakdowns, magic systems, world maps, cities and ecosystems, and much more. I took it home and immediately started to fill it with notes for my magical Regency novella, Jane Fairfax and the Siren of Weymouth.

The Ultimate Novel Planner comes courtesy of the Storyfolk, a writer’s group based in Canada. While I haven’t joined any of their writing and critique groups, I did look through their products. In addition to a regular novel planner, they also offer specialized planners for romance, historical fiction, fantasy, high fantasy, urban fantasy, romantasy, dystopian, and mystery/crime thrillers, as well as character crafting, world building, and story outlining journals.

After waffling for a bit, I ordered The Ultimate Novel Planner: Crime and Mystery. It’s smaller than the Fantasy Edition, which I like, and includes special section for clues, the villains, and secondary characters. Once again, I immediately started to fill it notes for a cozy-ish mystery I hope to someday write (Murder, Mayhem, and Your Heart’s Desire), and the notes were coherent and organized! Thrilling!

And then I discovered the app. Yes, the Storyfolk have a novel planner app. I looked through the description, but hesitated. Did I really need another app? Then I decided, what the heck. The print journals were already proving useful. I figured the app had to be just as good, particularly since the pages can be exported as a .pdf and printed.

I uploaded a few of the covers I’ve already had made, and started filling the prompts with information: back cover blurb, character names, magic systems, the world, the flora and fauna, and finally the plot broken down chapter by chapter. It has proven incredibly easy to use; streamlined and pretty, with clear instructions and intuitive icons.

At the moment, the app is specifically for fantasy stories, but there is a note in the introduction that the Storyfolk are planning more apps for different genres. I certainly hope so. Being able to carry the app around on my tablet and add notes on a particular story as I think of them is terrific; so much better than scraps of paper or disorganized meanderings in my Notes app.

So, my fellow writers, if you are looking for a planner and organizer, give the Storyfolk a chance.