Introduction to Hiveword
Hiveword is a web-based novel writing organizer designed to help authors streamline and manage the complex elements of their stories. Since its inception in 2011, Hiveword has been a valuable tool for writers, offering a balance of simplicity and customizability to cater to various writing styles and needs.
Key Features
Organization Essentials
Hiveword provides the fundamental tools necessary for organizing a novel, including:
- Scenes: Each scene can be detailed with a name, summary, characters involved, point-of-view character, setting, items, and the plotlines it advances.
- Characters: Rich character profiles can be created with detailed attributes, aliases, and the ability to track character development. Hiveword also includes a character name generator to help with naming.
- Settings: Settings can be defined and linked to specific scenes.
- Plotlines: Manage main plots and subplots, visualizing how they weave through your scenes to ensure coherence and consistency.
Customizability
One of the standout features of Hiveword is its customizability:
- Custom Types: Users can create their own types (e.g., religions, clans, companies, countries, weapons, spells) and add custom fields to track any aspect of their story.
- Extension Fields: Augment standard types like scenes, characters, and settings with additional fields tailored to your specific needs.
- Tags and Filtering: Use tags to mark scenes, characters, or other elements, and leverage powerful filtering options to quickly find specific components based on various criteria.
Advanced Search and Filtering
Hiveword offers robust search and filtering capabilities:
- Filtering: Available in all accounts, filtering allows you to narrow down story components by various characteristics. For scenes, this includes filters by POV character, setting, and plotlines.
- Text Search: Exclusive to Hiveword Plus users, text search scans all story components, images, notes, and journal entries, enabling global searches across your entire dataset.
Additional Tools
Other notable features include:
- Images and Notes: Attach images to characters, settings, or custom types, and manage notes for each element. Images and notes can be tagged and filtered for easy access.
- Bookmarks: Organize web research by linking bookmarks to characters, settings, or other elements, and use tags and notes for categorization. Hiveword’s search also indexes the content of bookmarked web pages.
- Scene Board and Visualization: Visualize your scenes and plotlines, and easily reorder scenes to refine your story structure.
User Experience
Hiveword is designed for ease of use:
- Dark Mode: Available for users who prefer a darker interface.
- Private Workspace: Ensure your work remains private and secure.
- Data Export: Export your data at any time, with no lock-in to the platform.
Accessibility and Pricing
- Free Account: Offers unlimited stories, scenes, characters, settings, items, plotlines, tags, and basic filtering and sorting features.
- Hiveword Plus: An upgrade option available for $25 a year, which adds advanced features like text search, custom fields, and enhanced customizability.
Hiveword is a versatile and powerful tool that adapts to the unique needs of each writer, helping to streamline the writing process and ensure that every element of the story is well-organized and easily accessible.