My mother introduced me to this fantastic note-taking app called Roam Research. I’ve been using it for a while and have to say, it’s precisely what I have been looking for! I’ve tried Evernote, OneNote, and various other note-taking apps, but this one works the best for me.
I have two graphs, one for my daily life called Amber and the other called Series Bible. When you log in, the first page you see is called daily notes. It’s where you can do a brain dump about the day. Each of my children has a page within Roam, and so when I click their name, I get a breakdown of what they did or something funny they said on a day to day basis.
Making pages in Roam is so easy, all you have to do is type [[ ]] and whatever word(s) is between the brackets will become a new page. You can also use the # to create new pages, but they have to be one word. The blue words (pages) you can click on and see the other places you mentioned that specific word, phrase, name, etc.
If you ever get stuck or forget a key command, click the handy little question mark in the bottom right corner, and a box will pop up, providing you with the most useful key commands. Also, if you want a page to show up under the shortcuts click the star in the upper right corner.
So, now, how to use it to outline.
I set-up a page with the working title of my novel, and then linked the various pages that go along with it. When I click the setting, it will lead me to a page with the two cities my novel takes place in. There I can make mental notes of the weather or other fun, interesting facts that may be useful. The plot leads to my elevator pitch, the outline to my three-act structure.
When I click on the Opening image, it leads me to a page that describes what this act should entail. I use the space above to pinpoint specific things that have to take place and people we have to meet.
My character page contains, my characters. When you click on a name it takes you to a page showing all about that specific character.
Here it even breaks it down by each act where her name is mentioned and what she’s doing. For some reason, this way of taking notes works the best with my brain. I love that everything is in order, labeled, and I can easily find what I need. It’s a bit pricey at $15 a month, but you get a 31-day trial to see if you like it before buying it.
You can find a bunch of videos about Roam on YouTube that will give you a more in-depth look at the things you can do within this app. I haven’t even scratched the surface 🙂 If you end up trying it, let me know what you think!
Roam Research does not have an affiliate program, just love the app 😉
Interested in writing prompts? Check out my blog So Novalike!