How To Outline a Book with Trello

Trello is an online tool that helps you organize a project and collaborate with other users–useful for everything from remodeling your kitchen to work projects to plotting your novel.

Follow this link to explore the app. One Trello user won the company’s “Most Creative Use of Trello” award for plotting a new book using the app. Check it out:

Trello is often used for managing processes and pipelines; the left-to-right Lists framework seems to suit this kind of use quite naturally. But Douglas has dreamt up a whole new way of using this tool: he harnesses cards and lists to plan out the parts of a novel. Douglas says: “I am using this board to collect and collate my notes and process for a book I am planning. I am able to keep everything in one place, and structure/re-plan in an ad-hoc fashion by moving cards around between lists.” The lists he’s using are Concept, Characters, Plot, Themes, Motifs, Recurring Motifs, Endings, Beginnings, and Research.