Have you ever started writing a story and found that you should have recorded important details about characters, locations, and customs for future references? If not, you are one of the smart ones. However, some of us don’t realize our mistake until it’s too late – and searching through a half-baked manuscript to find the forgotten hair color of a particular character isn’t a good pastime.
Fortunately, a good worldbuilding app makes documentation easy. Let’s take a look at three free applications – two web-based and one downloadable – that can help you keep track of the critical details of your story.
Campfire Blaze is one of the most stylish free worldbuilding web apps out there. The user interface is attractive, the menus are well designed, and the features included offer everything you could want from a good writing tool for creating engaging content.
The app lets you design characters, locations, magical systems, languages, and more. However, the free edition limits the number of entries you can add. For example, the character limit is a hard 10. Fortunately, Campfire Blaze not only offers a professional all-in-one package, but also premium post-module content, which means you only pay for what you need.
The free version of the application also grants access to the plotting tool, which allows you to map the main plot of your story, additional storylines and character arcs. In addition, the application’s user interface is customizable, so you can create a theme that suits your taste.
The best features of the free Campfire Blaze edition are:
-
Numerous design options for characters and worlds
-
Smooth and intuitive user interface
-
Customizable GUI
-
Plot and drawing sheet mapping
-
A web app that you can access anywhere
-
Flexible premium payment options
If you’re writing a short story or don’t need a lot of documentation for your novel, Campfire Blaze’s free edition is a worthy world-building app.
Notebook.ai is the ideal free worldbuilding web app for anyone who wants to avoid restrictions. Premium access is required for some features such as timeline mapping, buildings, and creatures. However, the app doesn’t put any limits on the number of characters, items, and locations you can create.
The user interface is simple, but the menus are functional and intuitive. Creating a character is easy and the application allows you to add all the necessary details like appearance, story and skills. Unfortunately, the most interesting worldbuilding items such as vehicles, technologies and traditions exist behind a premium paywall, but it cannot be denied that Notebook.ai offers a lot for nothing.
The best features of the free Notebook.ai edition are:
-
Unlimited characters, items and locations
-
Detailed entries
-
Functional and intuitive menus
-
Web app that you can access anywhere
-
Appropriate monthly premium payment options
If you want to create characters and places without borders, Notebook.ai is the ideal world building app. However, if you need more versatility, unlocking the numerous premium panels is worth considering.
Bibisco is a free downloadable worldbuilding app that offers unlimited character and location entries as well as handy story design features. The application is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, although there is no way to automatically sync data between devices.
The character creation is detailed and has the features that most writers need. You can even fill in detailed answers on personality and psychology, and the background and evolution fields round out your characters.
Additional features, including access to objects, relationships, and timeline, require a premium purchase, but the minimum price is reasonable.
The best features of the free Bibisco edition are:
-
Unlimited characters and locations
-
Comprehensive character design options
-
Downloadable app for Windows, macOS and Linux
-
Ability to import and export projects
-
Reasonable premium price
If you need an offline app with unlimited character creation, Bibisco is an excellent solution.
What’s the best worldbuilding app for you?
Even imaginary worlds can get quite large, and documenting the important details is critical to maintaining the consistency of your story.
Whether your story is big or small, the ideal world building app can help you manage your creation. The features in these apps differ, so take a look at each of them and decide which one works best for you.
Continue reading
About the author