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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/12776
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/12776
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Allow me to introduce you to [Scrivener.](http://literatureandlatte.com/)

Scrivener is a word processor which allows you to create unlimited documents within a single project, and organize them into folders.

You can have each book project as a folder, and within a book folder have multiple subfolders.

You can see all your documents in a nice document tree in a side pane. You can drag items around from here to there, link documents within the project, tag documents for easy searching, and even display your documents as note cards on a cork board. You can also have two documents open at once, top/bottom or side by side, so you can look at a reference document while typing in another document.

Scrivener exports as Word and text, so you're not stuck in a proprietary format, and it has a full-screen environment if you need to cut out distractions.

$45 for Mac OSX, $40 for Windows. You can test it full-featured for 30 days.

You can search for other discussions of Scrivener [on this SE](https://writers.stackexchange.com/search?q=scrivener), including a lot of cheerleading from me. :) In fact, I picked up this answer from another similar question:

[What is a good tool for organizing story notes?](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/10412/what-is-a-good-tool-for-organizing-story-notes)

I also use Excel to keep track of scene details, and some people use mindmap software (although I find that kind of interface overwhelming).

Original score: 7