Papel In Use
Many writers have sent me screen shots of their work in progress, and some web sites have taken screen shots to illustrate how Papel looks. Something which stands out is that almost every one has the papels lined up in rows. To enhance your creativity it's far more useful to have 'organised disorder'. Doing things in a loosely ordered way and ignoring what your rational mind says is good practice for freeing up your creative side.
If your rational mind is concerned with lining up icons neatly, you'll probably find that it constantly annoys you, and that impairs creativity. If you fuss with formatting, or think that changing the layout will help you to be more creative, the result is the same. While the rational mind remains concerned about things which are far less important than actually writing, you're unlikely to create anything much.
So what makes Papel different? It's unique because it allows you to do anything you want with just a mouse click or key press, in a visual and completely free-form way, and with very few rational and logical hindrances. So take advantage of that and be a little messy - your creative side will love you for it!
Some Tips
Firstly, use the workspace. Rather than grouping your papels up in the top left of the window, go to Options and set a large workspace size. Then, spread your main Chapter papels out around the workspace - and don't worry about lining them up. Next, move any relevant supporting papels around the chapter they're related to, ie., plot outlines, chapter notes, dialog, etc. Leave items like character descriptions in a group along the top or side, as they're for reference whilst writing. Use the available space by Shift-dragging the workspace around. If you want a clearer visual representation, link your chapters or other papels by Ctrl-clicking, then save your project.
To further help your creative mind, name the papels descriptively, eg., don't use Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc. With descriptive names and loose grouping you're building something not so logically minded, which gives your creative and intuitive side more chance to open up. Given the opportunity to do so, it will.
If the thought of this doesn't grab you, or your rational mind says it just won't work for you, give it a try anyway. Create a project in the way suggested, or rearrange an existing one, and work with it for a few days. What you'll find is that the clamour in your mind for order and 'safety' slowly goes away.
You can only work on one thing at a time. You'll find that spreading your work out in Papel and dragging the workspace around to access various parts actually becomes a pleasure. Nothing gets lost, and as the rational demands fade away you'll find the inner peace and quiet you need to be more creative.
Papel works in a way that no other writing tool does, so use it imaginatively and give your creative side more and more opportunities to open up.
Copyright ©2006 Michael. All rights reserved.