Plottr Reviews

Very easy to use with a lot of helpful videos to unlock new features. A lot of care has been taken to provide educational support to make best use of the product.

I have been using this program for a few years to plot my novels. There are lots of great features, including the ability to create a book bible for series. What I love about it is that you can use it in many different ways. I'm a plotter, but I don't plot in super great depth. This program has all that I need and, should I decide to plot in even greater depth in the future, then I know I can continue to use Plottr and exploit additional features.

The only complaint I had was the inability to change main characters within a series but this has since been addressed.

My experience has been very positive, making my whole plotting system easier! It is my starting point for each new book that I write, and a place to go back and keep track of details.

I've been using Plottr for several years now and find it indispensable in my plotting process. As a very visual person, this system has allowed me to go from a mass of index cards and a bulletin board to a very organized process right on my computer, AND then I can print out my synopsis which is huge.

The only thing missing for me is a place to add word count for each chapter and a total. For now I still do that on an excel sheet, but it would be nice to have that with my Plottr synopsis.

For the price, features, and the amount of help this brings to any writers career. This app is an easy 10/10 in my book, love this app and will continue to use it for the rest of my career.

The interface is easy to use.
Constantly having free updates which improve the experience.
I love the templates that are constantly added.
It helps me organize my ideas.
Super easy for character organization.
Easy for world building.
The list goes on, I'm a screenwriter and structure with organization is crucial when writing a movie.
An amazing price.

I cant think of any, I would like them to add the Japanese Manga story structure template known as Kishotenketsu. But that's really more of a request than a con.

Overall, it is a very useful writing software and I will definitely recommend it to friends! The price is a bit too high.

Especially suitable for multi person split acting scripts, it achieves the arrangement and combination of different elements (time, location, characters, emotional nodes, deductive stages, game stages), etc., making the work of script weaving a great pleasure. Bringing a flow of mind experience to writers, when using this software to create, you don't feel the passage of time at all, just want to write and continue writing.

During the writing process, there may be a phenomenon of stuttering, which sometimes leads to a lack of textual content. We hope to find a solution.

An excellent experience. Once I had set up my intended chapter structure, weak points in my plot became obvious. Using features such as scene colour coding I could mark and track those that required revision. The provision of Templates for Scenes and Characters are particularly useful in encouraging me to think in new ways about what is taking place and to whom. Finally, the ability to track almost all of the elements in one place is excellent. I save a lot of time that I can spend on actually writing!

Once comfortable with the program, the ease of (re)constructing plot flow elements from individual scenes to whole timelines. Also the wealth of templates at timeline, scene and character level are a very useful resource. Sometimes I just pick a never before used template to think about an element in a new way!

The initial learning curve can be challenging, and the tutorial videos do not always support easy entry to some of the more detailed elements. I could not find a template for the 27 chapter outline when I decided to give that a try. There doesn't seem to be a template option for Places either.

If you have trouble plotting in straight lines, and don't have walls you can cover in moveable post-it notes (and/or you want to be able to take them with you).

It is so visual, and easy to move things around. I'm also impressed by the speed at which they are adding features, and outstanding customer service.

Sometimes I've got confused about which version of a manuscript I'm working on. This may be my fault -- perhaps there's a better way to play with multiple options than I've figured out.

As long as I can keep coming up with the disposable income, I’ll keep paying the annual fee. The ability to read my notes without having multiple files at once is a serious reprieve for my computer’s hard drive.

I have been working on writing projects for years now, and it’s challenging to keep files related to my novels organized the same way I do with academic writing. I love that I can have a separate app to hold all the plot and character building I am doing. I enjoy writing thorough outlines and clipping together complex ideas; the separate features of Timeline, Notes, Characters, and Places allow me to compile the notes not only for one but of several books without creating a mess.

I found Plottr because of its collaboration with Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Method (who had just discontinued his own $100 software). I found the transition seamless and user-friendly. I appreciate having the option of both Ingermanson’s and others’ templates to work with when I want to follow a set structure.

Lastly, I love the affordable annual price. I’m a student with low disposable income, and being able to spend less than $30 on such an useful tool is a heaven-sent.

The only complaint I have is the exporting feature. As I said, I like the organization on the app but the transition to a word document can be messy and all over the place with the formatting including odd spacing and font size changes at random paragraphs.

Great. Would recommend. For the price the best plotting tool on the market. I still use other tools for editing and planning. But now I've narrowed it down to using just Plottr and Scrivener. Together they have everything I need.

Gives a clear view of the whole plotline. This helps me weave the threads of the main plot, subplot and various POV's.
The thing that makes Plottr the best tool for me though is the export to Scrivener feature. I do a lot of work with the layout and how I want my nesting to work in Scrivener, and do all this in Plottr. As soon as I have everything nailed down its a quick export and I'm ready to write. Great tool.

It could be made simpler to use regarding the dashboard and series. It took a little while to get used to it, but thats a small gripe for the heavy lifting it does.

Using Plottr changed my writing, which means it changed my career and how I work -- that's a major influence and impact on my life!

There is literally no software out there like Plottr. The true usefulness is that Plottr doesn't just provide the most streamlined tool for outlining, but also templates--many of which thoroughly explain HOW to outline. The guides didn't just help with structure, they helped me brainstorm new ideas. I needed that hand-holding for my first few outlines, and then I was ready to take off on my own, making this software useful for beginners and seasoned plotters alike. This truly changed the game for me; overhauling the entire way that I write.

The biggest reason this is a 4.5 star and not a 5 for me is the needed improvements in accessibility for the visually disabled. The font on the cards is too small for my eyesight, making the software difficult for me to use. I've given this feedback in an email, but didn't hear back, so I'm uncertain whether this will be improved.

On a smaller note, it's still a newer software. One bug was when I transferred timelines to a different project and nothing happened.

I think it’s great! I love it and it helps a lot. I’ve recommended it to a lot of other writer friends.

I love the visual set up and it helped me to plot short stories and novels. The templates are fun and helpful!

Honestly there’s not too much that I don’t like. I haven’t been on for a little while so I’m not sure if you’ve added it but adding pictures to the characters would be nice :)

I'm a relatively new user of Plottr, but not new to writing books. I am using Plottr to vet new story ideas, create new book outlines, and check storyflow after writing the book. What more can I ask from one digital writing tool? :-) Thank you, Plottr designers.

What do I like about Plottr? Everything. No joke. This is the book writing support I've dreamed of ever since my first book. No more volumes of 3-ring binders and boxes of note cards to wade through.

I love how easy Plottr makes it to create a series and keep track of characters, plotlines, and all of the moving pieces in each book as well as between the related books. But the best feature for me? Finding plot holes and keeping the story on track, no matter how many plots, subplots, characters, locations, and actions I mix in.

This has to have been designed by writers, or at the least with tech paying close attention to what writers need in a digital writing tool!

The only complaint I have is I want more! And even this becomes a positive because of the way the Plottr team encourages feedback from the users and makes it easy to ask for new features.

So far, I have used Plottr for a number of different projects - to help outline a short story, to structure my personal and professional goals, to produce a high level work breakdown structure for a development project - and it has excelled at all of these.

The reason is because it focuses on doing the fundamentals really well, and avoids letting the noise of too many bloated features getting in the way. This is perfect, because there are other tools which can provide the next level of detail in your workflow, and Plottr exports really well to those.

The concept is simple, implementation is clean, and I couldn't recommend it enough if you are a fan of outlining or if you are looking for a tool to help you get there.

I really like the simplicity of Plottr. It brings structure and clarity to outlining in an easy way. Software can have a tendency to become bloated in the quest for being feature-rich. Plottr focuses on exactly one role, and then excels at just that.

The layout is easy to understand and it brings the feel of working with post-it notes or a whiteboard but on your desktop. Exporting to other applications is really easy when you are ready to dive into the detail.

There are some bugs - for example, in the new structure layout, making changes to some parameters makes the rendering break. But this is a small thing. It's difficult to pick out any cons beyond this because the feature set is actually quite light and, for once, it feels like a good thing.

I am am a visually oriented person, which makes Plottr the perfect writing tool. Despite my love for writing, my schedule is not conducive to daily writing sessions. The timeline feature provides easy access to the information that I need to assess my progress and game plan my next writing session. In the timeline, I can simultaneously view the scene cards and structural beats, identify gaps in my outline and begin each new writing session knowing exacting where I left off in the previous session.

Plottr also frees me to dream during my writing sessions. As I outline my scenes, I write little notes on the scene cards containing “what ifs” or ask myself questions about character motivation or conflict. I mentally visualize different iterations of the same scene and with a quick glance of my outline, assess the impact of those potential changes on later scenes, without ever losing my train of thought for the scene that I’m writing. Plottr helps me stay on course as I navigate from scene to chapter, chapter to act and act to final resolution.

Whether you are writing for fun or for profit, Plottr is the complete writing app and should be a part of every writer’s toolbox.

Plottr is feature packed, easy to use and has good support. It is the linchpin that keeps me organized.

I have nothing negative to say about Plottr. I’m not sure whether or not this is true, but Plottr strikes me as an app that was written and designed by people who actually use it.

A very well crafted tool and a must have for Plotters and Plansters. Very easy to use and can run in the background when you're writing so you can glance at where you are in the story. Can easily be edited at any time.

* Easy to use
* A lot of different templates are available
* Ability to create your own template
* Different options to view your plot outline
* Easy to read and lay out
* Tabs with templates available for character and location planning
* Can be exported to Scriviner
* Can break the plot down into Acts, Chapters, Scenes/Beats, or custom.
* Very easy to add new points/scenes/chapters, even halfway through the story

* Sometimes it errors when saving
*Character and Location guides didn't export to Scrivener properly

Overall, I'm happy. I purchased Plottr knowing that it wasn't quite at the level I wanted it yet, but that it would get there. So far, I am happy with that decision.

Plottr is actively in development - releases are periodic, and there is a publicly viewable roadmap to see what's being worked on, what's in the wings, and what's still up for voting/input. There are truly a lot of ways to present your plotting, and Plottr successfully captures most of them in a way that is visual, and let's you flip between them. The support team for Plottr is fantastic, responsive, and great at filtering out actual bugs and reporting them to the dev team.

The Scrivener support (a key feature in my opinion) is still nasceant. The Scrivener projects that are produced are barebones and require your version of Scrivener to "upgrade" them to the current format. This may just be an attempt to be compatible with the most versions. More to the point, importing Scrivener projects is limited to flat projects - no multi-tiered/part projects can be imported. The new function to look at a Series in Plottr is great, but not ready for use. You can't import into it, either from an external outline or within Plottr itself, which effectively walls off the work.

I have written another book that was focused on more of an educational product. Recently I have stepped into the world of fiction and writing my first techno-spy-fiction novel. I came across Plottr from a recommendation of another author. I think they way Plottr works so it was a perfect fit from the beginning. I love how I can lay it out and see the beginning from the end and all the parts in between. As I create and develop my story line, being able to visually see the big rocks is a huge blessing!

I love how I have the flexibility to visually create as I develop my book. I had been doing some of these steps manually then I found Plottr and it's great! They also have informative videos and documentation to help in using it to the fullest. BTW it's very easy to use. The added niceties are the webinars and interviews with established successful authors. I really appreciate how open they are and freely share how they use Plottr in their creative process.

The support team is very timely if you need any questions answered or help with a feature. They are friendly and knowledgable which is rare with some companies now a days.

I highly recommend Plottr!

Nothing - I used to be a software engineer and I appreciate the thought that has gone into creating a solid product.

It's easy to use, organizes characters and helps keep the pace moving ahead appropriately. easy to customize to the writer's style needs.

Plotter gives the writer the options of writing templates to keep the pace and story line on track. Also keeps an easily accessible record of characters when writing a series. Is easy to use for those of us who are a bit techno challenged. It's clear and the color options for the screen items makes it easy to find what you're looking for. I'm impressed.
Plotter let me make my own writing template.

I like to use Romancing the Beat and Save the Cat writing templates and the version I have does not have Save the Cat so I had to make my own template.

I love it and it comes in handy during Nanowrimo. It’s also great to use for series and writing novels with multiple point of views. I also love that it has templates for character development

This software is great for plotting your novels and is even helpful if you’re venturing into another genre or don’t know where to start because it has multiple templates for different genres. It’s very organized and customizable. I also love how you can export your outlines to Word and Scrivener if need be. It’s definitely worth the money!

One might be overwhelmed at first by all the ways they can organize their time line.

The more I use Plottr, the better I like it. I still have much to learn, but with just a bit of education from the videos, I could begin using it effectively. I am a much more organized and effective writer now. It's great to be able to go back through my story and see where to plug in additional information that strengthens the plot and moves the characters' individual stories forward.

I really like that I can create a plot line for each of my characters. Knife Edge, my first mystery novel, is being published by a small press in August 2023. I didn't have Plottr for it, but I'm using Plottr to work through the second story in the series, and I feel much more organized this time. Plottr helps me keep track of characters and clues by giving me a visual representation. I even created a plot line for the location, so I can quickly find references and keep them consistent.

Plottr wasn't as intuitive as I would have liked, but that's my fault. I just wanted to dive in and use it. I discovered that it's a good idea to watch a few of the videos first!

I love using this software to outline my stories. It has been a great help as I tend to get overwhelmed when starting to write something new. Would recommend :)

Very easy to use and allows the user to outline their ideas clearly for their stories.
The templates are particularly interesting to look at if you have a difficult time organizing your ideas.

I would love for some sort of floating Notes section where I can throw some scenes that I think about while outlining without really knowing where they are supposed to be at the moment.