Migrating to Campfire Pro

For a long time, I have kept my extensive notes on my series on One Note. I needed the notes and I needed a way to sort them, so I came up with a few forms of sorts and put it all on One Note, because I had it and it could deal with what I needed. A long while ago, I bought Campfire Pro, mostly on a whim, and thought I might switch, but I didn’t. I wasn’t doing any timelines or chapter notes at that time and Campfire didn’t have quite as many useful features as it does today. In the middle of April, I checked Campfire again and found it to be pretty much what I needed.

In the meantime, the program has been optimized to be exactly what I need: a place to organize and store my story bibles, my collection of notes about characters, timelines, etc. for the various series I’m writing (this year, two more series will have their first volume out: “Theoretical Necromancy” and “The Eye”). Yet, changing from one system to the other always comes with a lot of work. Migrating a large amount of information is never fun.

Migrating is necessary, though. I have a lot of notes, especially on the Knight Agency, because it was my first series and seven books are out already. That’s a lot of information to keep ahead of when I write more. A lot of things to keep in mind. A lot of references I need to check on when I write certain topics. Then there’s all those characters who only turn up in one story - they’re not getting their own character pages, but I have to put them down somewhere, should I need them again later for something. I need to jot down the key parts of stories, things which carry over like two people meeting, two people having a falling-out, someone learning a secret, etc. Everything that can become important again at some point.

Then there’s the extended features with the Worldbuilding Pack DLC I bought. Admittedly, I’ve so far only needed the magic module for “Theoretical Necromancy” and something which might or might not become a one-shot. The systems module, on the other hand, has come in handy more than once, since it allows for me to put down everything about an organisation (such as the Knight Agency or the Black Knight Agency or the Bureau) and have it easy to look up details. The magic module isn’t bad, either - I did enjoy setting up my necromancy stuff there already.

In the regular set, what I mostly need are the characters, timeline, world, and encyclopaedia modules.

The characters module is a gem, really. Not only was I able to make templates for my different series, so I can quickly set up all panels according to what I need, I can also put down links which are two-sided - if I change relationships status for one person, the status for the other person changes as well. I can do that with everything, not only characters - items, encyclopaedia entries, timeline events, the whole module stack. I have everything at one glance and can easily make changes, nevertheless.

The timeline module was of little interest to me as long as I didn’t plan ahead, but I do that now and it’s proven very useful. I can break down my chapters into scenes I want to have in there, make every scene an event and put them up as I need them. I can simply change the rim colour of the event panel once it’s written, too. If I were working with more complicated notes, I could put down events according to plot threads and use more different connectors to make things easier to see through. I can attach characters, locations, and other things to an event and character-attachment to events can be used through a module I’m not using much right now: character arcs. With this one, I can track traits and other things throughout the whole story, in every event a character is in.

The world module allows for the creation of maps and locations on those maps which can then be filled out in detail. Even child maps within other maps are possible. I’ve never done much of it, but especially stories like John Stanton, where I need some ‘old’ maps to work with are ideal for use of that module.

Finally, there’s the encyclopaedia module. In it, I can put down entries as I need them - I’ve mostly been using it for stories already written, putting in the summary, important events, and the non-recurring characters. Like this, I have a quick reference when I need it. I can also use it for other things, of course - the entries are very versatile.

The whole system is versatile, as it were. Several of the modules, all where it makes sense, have templates you can create by setting up the panels as you need them. You can put them up as you see fit, label them all, perhaps put down a few basic entries on the panels, and then save them as a template to use whenever necessary. A grid can be set and other settings can also be changed and optimized for the work-flow.

There’s also a tool to make themes. Themes in this case are made up of up to two images, different colour setting for the rim of panels and the text, settings for the text size and the font used. I managed to make my own ‘pulp’ theme within fifteen minutes - including checking out what which option did and finding graphics for the panel background (old, pulpy-looking paper) and the window background (part of an art book cover with sci-fi pulp art).

Yes, I know themes are something less necessary than templates, but it’s motivating to have a window design you find pleasant while you’re transferring large amounts of data. Besides - I also use parts of the background graphics to make sure my timeline is regularly spaced.

Migrating to Campfire Pro was no fun, but it was necessary. I see myself using this program for years to come, perhaps even refine my planning more with it, too. If you are looking for a place to store your story bibles, you may want to give the program a look - there’s a demo version on the developer’s website.