Software Review: Storybase V 2.0

By Steven Cross

Publisher: Ashleywilde 2002
Requirements: PC with Pentium 166 MHZ
Windows 95, 98, ME, NT. 4.0, 2000, XP
64 MB RAM
128 MB Free Hard Drive Space
800 X 600 Video Resolution

It doesn’t matter if you write short fiction, novels, or scripts; if you say hello to Ashleywilde’s new Storybase software, you can say goodbye to writer’s block. It also doesn’t matter whether you are a computer genius or not; if you take a few minutes to experiment with the software and follow the tutorial, you’ll be an expert in no time.

Even if you have no idea of even where to begin your work, you can use Storybase successfully. Plug in some names, make a few choices, and before you know it, you’ll have a whole string of conflicts and consequences that will loosen the sludge in your mind and get your creative juices flowing.

You can’t ask for a lot more than this. Storybase won’t write your project for you, but it sure makes everything else easier. Developed by Tom Sawyer, an Emmy and Edgar-nominated Head Writer/Producer of Murder She Wrote and author of Sixteenth Man, and his son Wylie, Storybase succeeds and expands upon Plots Unlimited, another Ashleywilde software product. It uses 2,363 narrative situations to suggest multiple story possibilities.

As a user, you enter your characters’ names or use the default names provided, then select a Mindset (Protagonist mental state) from a list, and choose the Thrust or direction of the story. A list of conflicts appears which most closely matches your choices for Characters, Mindset, and Thrust. Select a conflict and click a button. You’ll see Lead-ins and Lead-outs that will give you suggestions on how your story might move. You can save or print your story strings. It’s all very simple.

Though Storybase is currently available for Windows only, Sawyer expects to have a MAC version later in 2003. For more information, visit http://www.storybase.net, http://www.ThomasBSawyer.com, or http://www.ashleywilde.com. Suggested retail for Storybase is $149 – well worth it, considering how it can richly reward you in your writing.

Steven is an English/Speech teacher with 19 years experience in Missouri public schools. When he's not teaching, he does freelance writing. Steven has had three plays published by Brooklyn Publishers and one had made it past round one in the Screen Arts Foundation Screenplay Contest.