Dabble helps you organize all the many parts of your story from your manuscript—the parts you will publish with the world—to the supporting story notes—the rest which does not make it into the novel.
Project items are like folders and files
Each entity or item in Dabble can be thought of as either a folder or a file. Folders contain zero or more items within them. Files contain text. Your book and chapters are folders. Each scene is a file. When click on a chapter to view it, it appears as one single page, but each scene is a separate file that is saved and edited separately.
This structure, treating each item as a separate folder or file, gives you a lot better organization. Select a single scene to focus on it without everything else. Easily drag and drop scenes from one chapter to another, and rearrange them without copy and paste. Jump to the right place in your story and see the structure at a glance.
Plotting is for your story events
Plotting helps you organize the events of your story. Learn more about Dabble’s plotting in depth.
Story Notes is for everything else
Anything that isn’t plot or your published manuscript goes into Story Notes. This section is a collection of folders and notes and is auto-populated with some of the more common folders author’s use. Learn more about Story Notes.
Some ideas of things you can put into your Story Notes are:
Characters: your protagonists, antagonists, secondary characters, and more can all have a file (or folder) in your Story Notes to explore their backstory, what makes them tick, what their eye color is, and anything else you need to plan or remember.
Front/back matter: your novel may have some front or back-matter material that doesn't fit within the manuscript. You can store this in your Story Notes. Your elevator pitch, synopsis, dedication, etc.
Unplaced scenes: throw down new scenes in your Story Notes when you have an idea but don’t know where to place it.
Brainstorms: jot down a bunch of ideas in a note, or write a series of poems that may (or may not) appear at the start of each chapter or part.
World building: magic systems, locations, peoples, governments, secret societies, clubs, school houses, anything you need to build within your world to support your story can be documented in your Story Notes.
Research: copy-paste from Wikipedia or link to online articles with information you need to support your story. Keep your research at hand in the Story Notes.