Welcome back! In my last post we talked about the various types of note taking apps available and some of the features to look for if you are exploring other apps. Today we are going to take a closer look at OneNote because it is a heavier duty app. What do I mean by that? This app allows for long notes–pages and pages long. It has greater organizational function and allows images, audio notes, video notes, attachments, etc.
It is important to keep in mind that this tool is available for free. I think this is one of the things that makes it so dang amazing. How often are we given such powerful tools? I should state here that I am an avid OneNote user. I freaking love the app. 
So lets start with a little basic info about OneNote.
This app is made by Microsoft and either comes pre-loaded on your windows device or it is available for download. This app allows you to break things down first by notebook, then by section, and then by note. So if you picture a three ring binder with dividers and then pages between, that is how I think about OneNote.
Features:
- Font size, color, style, highlighting, etc.
- Paragraph settings
- Copy/Paste and format painter
- To Do symbols and check boxes
- Searchable Notes
- Syncs across tablet, phone, and computer
- Works on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and Web
- Allows template creation
- Allows stylus interaction with touchscreen devices
- Version history functionality (only on PC/Mac)
Pro’s:
- Notebook, section, page structure and color coding
- Standard Microsoft fonts and editing ability
- Templates
- Undo button (only on PC/Mac)
- Version history (only on PC/Mac)
- Spell check (only on PC/Mac)
- Auto sync with the cloud/desktop app
I love to color code stuff, being able to use color to organize my notebooks and sections helps me visually know one notebook from another. I also use the templates a lot to create new notebooks using my favorite page layouts and structures.
Con’s:
- No undo button on tablet/phone app
- Version history missing on tablet/phone app
- Spell check missing on tablet/phone app
- Unable to drag and drop page order on tablet/phone app
On more than one occasion I have managed to delete text on my tablet while trying to select it and either copy it for pasting or to format it. Since the tablet app doesn’t have the version history or an undo button, you simply lose the text when you mess up.
Remember how I explained that OneNote uses a Notebook->Section->Page structure like a three ring binder? Well now I am going to show you how that all breaks down.
As you can see below, everything is divided into notebooks. Next to each notebook is an arrow to expand it.
As you can see, once you expand the notebook the sections are revealed.
From there you can select a section. Now, the sections run both down the left side and across the tabs at the top. You can also see the pages in the section on the right side.
So, the way I build a notebook for plotting and drafting is to start with a name for the notebook. I may go with an actual title or just an idea. Whatever serves my purpose at the time. Then I create my sections. Now, depending on how long the book is I may use all of my standard sections or I may only use a few for something short story length. For a full book and/or series I use these sections:
- Plotting
- Worldbuilding
- Research
- Tracking
- Book (drafting section)
As I get later into development I may add sections such as Promo and Beta Readers. For now let’s start with my standard 5 sections.
Plotting is my first Section. In this section I have the following pages: Timeline, Story Board, Conflict Grid, Character Dossier, and Other Characters. Plot notes is for important plot related details they may not be obvious by the event alone. Writing notes are just other notes to myself.
I recently added the story board. Sometimes I don’t use my timeline at all and I rely solely on this since it offers me far greater flexibility! Each little block of text can be dragged and dropped around on the page so as my story develops I can move plot points around on the board as needed.
The next page is the conflict grid page. This is a tool I learned from Lynn Cote. When I share my templates (and I will!) with you there is a sub-page associated with an interview that talks about the Conflict Grid. You can check it out from there and I can try to answer questions if anyone has any.
The next page in this section is the Character Dossier. I typically end up creating one of these per main character, so you may have multiple of these. I typically rename them by character. I suggest if you are writing a series where some of the secondary characters may become main characters in future books, go ahead and create dossiers for them.
The last page I use here is for other characters. These characters are the cast of supporting players who may not be important but you may need to keep track of some basic information about them. Again, use of this page may vary based on the type of book you are writing.
The next section to cover is Worldbuilding. This section may be more valuable to those writing Sci-fi and fantasy or even paranormal. But honestly, anyone can use these tabs as well. The pages in this section are: Introduction, Map/Layout, and Dictionary. Other pages can be added as appropriate based on subject matter and your world.
The introduction page is a place to lay out the basics of your world. After creating this page, you may find you need some additional pages for specific things.
One of the major things I discovered I needed was a map of my world. This could be a very basic self-created map, a picture of a map with some alterations made on top of it, the layout of a house, whatever suits your needs.
The dictionary may be useful if you are using terms your reader may not be familiar with whether because they are older, foreign, or simply replacements of modern terms you’ve created for your world.
In some cases, as I mentioned earlier, other pages may be required to amplify a concept or record something important that doesn’t fall in one of the other pages already created. In creating Love & Punishment I added a page specifically for Pit Night. I needed to identify the rules and some specifics about what it was and how it worked.
The research tab (not shown) is a section for you to keep your research notes. Nothing fancy here, just add pages as you require with images, web pages, whatever you need. Keep in mind you can embed audio, video, copy and paste web pages, insert images, whatever you need.
The next section is Tracking. Now, you can track a lot of things and you may have other things you wish to add here, but I simply track production. Word count by chapter (I like a well-balanced book) and word count by day (I am a fan of metrics. LOL!). I also make a quick note about what content was covered in the notes. So you’d see H/h dance at a ball, or H/h have hot sex. If the type of sex is key I’ll note the important elements as well.
The last section is the actual book. This is where I write the first draft of the story. Whether you are a linear or non-linear writer, you can add pages by scene or chapter, move them around until you’re happy and then assemble your book. I also like that with limited editing functionality it is easier for me to turn my internal editor off and just put words to the page like this.
It used to be that once I got to the business of writing I would swap back and forth from my tablet to my laptop, but now I have a fancy new lightweight laptop so I just take that with me. But this flexibility to move across devices is one of the things I love most about using a note app for drafting. I can very easily write from either device (and even my phone in a pinch) without missing a beat. As I mentioned in a previous lesson, if you’re on the tablet and accidentally delete words there is no way to reverse that. So, what I do is at the end of each writing session (or at intervals if I’m working for a long time) I copy what I wrote and paste it into a word document. This way I slowly build my manuscript for editing later and I preserve a back-up copy of what I wrote in case I dork out and delete stuff.
So, now you may be wondering how to set your own stuff up? Let me show you.
Click the File tab at the top left corner of the page and then select New. I create all my notebooks on OneDrive so that they are synced. You get 15 gigs of free storage which most of us won’t use up and if you refer a friend you can earn additional free storage. (Need a OneDrive Account? Get it here.)
Next you need to name your notebook and then click Create Notebook.
You will be prompted to invite others. Unless you are collaborating with another author (which would make this feature extra awesome) there is no need to do that, so click Not Now.
Notice now that your notebook has been created and there is a blank section created.
You will also see that things were randomly colored. If you are a color coder, you can change the color of both the notebook and the sections at will. I color mine to all match. For me Purple are things I am working on actively, Pink are simmering ideas, Blue is business stuff, and Green are class things. The templates are Yellow for visibility.
To change the color of the section, right click on the section and you will see the menu below. This is how you can rename a section, add new sections, password protect sections, and change the section color.
I selected Apple to match my notebook. Then right click again and you can rename the section. In this case we will call it Plotting.
That’s it for this post. In the next one we will cover Importing Notebooks and Creating templates so you can begin to populate your new notebook.