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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/4223
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/4223
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Far be it from me to let my fans down... ;)

There is no one standard way. I have found that my old friend [Scrivener](http://literatureandlatte.com/) is great for this.

You start by gathering your information about your world (characters, settings/places, plot events, world-building notes) on Scrivener pages. Just infodump. Then you create folders.

Everything about your characters goes into a Character folder (protagonists, antagonists, friends, allies, neutrals, hostiles, enemies, NPCs, people of myth, people in the government).

Everything about your world and its customs (eating, sleeping, housing, clothing, marriage/relationships, parent-child relationships, jobs, death rituals, money, magic, familiars, evil beasts, good beasts) can go into a World folder.

Notes about your plot (general broad outlines, scenes which occurred to you out of sequence, character moments you'd like to include) go into a Plot folder.

Any research you do (how to build a world, things you like about other fictional universes, names, mythology, writing tips/tricks, the hero's journey structure) goes into a Research folder. And so on.

Once of the nice features of Scrivener is that you can create internal links, like a website. Let's say my main character Abby is a mage. Her main weakness is that because she got her magical powers from a dragon, she can't attack dragons. Dragons have scales everywhere except the backs of their legs, where a poisoned dagger or arrow will kill them. You need to remember this so during a big battle, you can recall that _she_ can't attack the dragon, but her trusty sidekick Hepsibah the centaur can.

So you have your "dragons" document in the "beasts" folder in the "world" folder. You just drag the "dragons" document right into the window in the middle of Abby's character document, and it creates a link to "dragons." As you're fleshing out Abby's character and the plot, you'll have that link to remind you (even if it's six months later). You click on the link, it takes you to the dragon page, and now you're reminded of the dragon's weak spot.

As you create your plot outline (whether it's a literal outline, a series of bullets, a snowflake, whatever), you can drop in as many links as you need to remind you of critical bits of information.

Original score: 4