Something I have used in the past to help with plotting and research for a novel is mind-mapping.

This enables you to easily pull data and ideas together with notes, references and even URLs to further research areas.

Plot outlines, characters, locations can all be held together in one place - even scene synopsis.

I use Mindjet at work but there is a free version I am currently playing with (Freemind)

Here is a link:

http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Hope it is of some use and may help with plotting!

The next meeting is Thurs 1st April and the theme for the short story is 'April Fool' in any genre.

Our next meeting will be Thursday 25th March at 7 p.m. in the Black Lion. Please bring along something to read and, if you're stuck for inspiration, the short story theme is 'a daily routine' to be written in 2nd person! Around 800 words.

Welcome to the brand new Watling Street Writers web site! Questions about the site should be addressed to Kat via kat(at)ilovebacteria.com. Queries about the writing group to Gemma: watlingstreetwriters(at)gmail.com

Kat is an occassional visitor/ex-member and generally writes steampunk short stories and novels, often involving talking birds. By day, she's a research scientist who'd love to model herself on Dr Frankenstein if that sort of thing wasn't frowned upon.