Fortelling - Writer Tools 4+

I have struggled with motivation to write, partly due to not having a good outlet to organize my thoughts and ideas for world and character building. This app helps to organize such things, in such a helpful and effective way. My favorite part is the story map (which is seriously a lifesaver). I can connect characters and places I have made and how they work together and are influenced by each other, and it really helps to have that visually in front of me. I do wish I could connect chains to chains though, it would make things much easier and be a lot more helpful. I also wish the chains had more room for the titles of how places and/or characters are connected, and also for the titles for characters and places as well. Other than that, it’s been a helpful and fun tool/outlet for my writing. I’m glad I can write my chapters in the app as well.

I have been looking for an app like this for a long time. Right away, you can see it has a very clear, easily navigated design and setup, not like some other story planning apps which glitch all the time and look messy. What I love the most is that it is extremely comprehensive. All the story elements that you could need have some place in here and you can create and describe them here at length, even different of magical creatures. For each character there are prompts (name, DOB, eye color, etc) to describe them but they also have some deeper ones (morals, secrets, childhood, etc) which really helped me further develop and round out my characters. Perhaps my favorite feauture, however, is the linking: for any element of the story (characters, items, settings, etc) you can link one to any another and title it (Friends, working partners, estranged siblings, etc). Then you have the option to write the POV/perspective from each linked element in regards to the link itself. That feature has been incredibly useful in pulling together my story. Finally, probably my second favorite feature is the way you can make multiple timelines (plotlines) and write, add, and arrange events in each one. Usually I would do that on paper but being able to move events around and add indefinitely is awesome.
Overall, best story planning app I have ever encountered, and I would recommend to any storyteller who needs to outline a story.

I downloaded Fortelling out of desperation, trying to find a space where I could flesh out my characters the way I wanted, and was instantly overwhelmed. I nearly deleted the app but decided last minute to keep it and keep trying, and goodness was that a great choice. There is so much I can do with this app, I haven’t even scratched the surface! I can create my characters by answering the premade questions and then if I have anything else I want to add, I can just add more sections. The timeline tool is ALSO very handy, giving me a space to work out my stories’ plots. The ‘LINK’ ability is also amazing because it allows me to connect my characters, leading to clear character relationship references. Oh course, every app has it’s issues. There was an issue where the app wouldn’t let me delete an accidental project, no matter if I was connected to the WiFi or not, so I reported it to the developers and the issue was corrected within a few days.