Paid $45 for a plotting workbook that just told me to make lists

I saw a writing workbook advertised as the cure for messy drafts, so I bought it on a whim last month. It had 200 pages, but most of it was just blank spaces telling me to brainstorm character traits or list scene ideas. I spent an evening filling it out and realized I already do that with a notebook and a pen. Has anyone else shelled out for a writing tool that turned out to be mostly fluff? What actually helped you organize a tangled plot?

1 comments

1 Comment

miles_perez11d agoMost Upvoted

Ugh, I feel this in my bones. I dropped $30 on a "plot twist generator" once and it basically just asked me "what if your character lied?" like that was some big brain secret. The only thing that ever actually helped me was making a giant timeline on my wall with sticky notes and color coding every subplot, then knocking a few off the table and just winging it. Guess I paid for the sticky notes in the end, ha.