How to use Auto Text Complete in Liquid Story Binder

 

Denahih Jhiah. Ishidah Tahnih. Azhela Qhashiil. Epheni Qhaarqhiin Tiqhomh.

As you can imagine, writing out such strange names can be a chore, even if you don’t suffer from Frequent Typo Syndrome. Stopping to check how a city name is spelled or if it’s “i before e” can really slow your writing — or kill your muse dead right where you sit.

Getting it right doesn’t matter for the first draft. But there’s a neater way. A better way. A brilliant way: Liquid Story Binder’s built-in Auto Text Complete tool.

Why you should use placeholders

Here are some quotes from the first draft of the second book in my Guardians trilogy:

How to create a gallery in Liquid Story Binder

In previous tutorials, I’ve shown you how to create both a standard dossier and a custom template. I’ve also explained how to import images to attach to the dossiers you’ve made.

This week, I’m going to show you how to create and attach an entire gallery of them!

How to add an image to a dossier in Liquid Story Binder

If you’re like me and need images to inspire you and help you describe your characters, then it’s really handy to have those images attached to your character profiles so you don’t have to keep flipping between apps to look something up.

Liquid Story Binder XE lets you do this within the dossier — and, even better, you can have entire galleries of images attached, too!

Please be aware of plagiarism and copyright laws. It’s one thing to use art as inspiration (e.g. “I like how that creature moves”), but it’s entirely another to copy an artist or writer’s work verbatim.

How to create dossier templates in Liquid Story Binder

I once talked about how you could easily create a character sheet — or location, creature, or species profiles — using Liquid Story Binder XE’s (LSB) dossier tool.

LSB has several templates already built-in, but they might not suit you if you prefer longer profiles or like to save vertical space (like me), so now I’m going to teach you how to create your own.

You’ll first need to read LSB: Character Dossiers to learn how to create basic dossiers. From there, things get a tiny bit more complicated.

How to create dossiers in Liquid Story Binder

One of the things I love about Liquid Story Binder XE (LSB) is how easy it is to create profile sheets for characters using dossiers.

Dossiers aren’t only useful for character profiles. They’re handy for locations, species, bestiary entries — anything that requires information in non-narrative form, really.

How to structure your files in Liquid Story Binder

When I first started using Liquid Story Binder XE, I used a very simple file structure: I saved dossiers by character name and builders by draft number.

The larger my Guardians binder grew, though, the more difficult it got to wade through all the files in search of the one I needed. I could never remember if I’d saved “Itor Verka” by her full name or just by “Verka” — or even by her old name, Burga — and how could I tell a species apart from a location just at a glance?

5 ways to avoid distractions

A friend asked me if I had any tips on staying focused, because she’s really easily distracted. I understand that feeling very well, so I know that sometimes there’s not a lot you can do about it — but I also know there are several ways you can help yourself.

How to create a workspace in Liquid Story Binder

If you have a bunch of files in Liquid Story Binder, opening and closing them as you need them can be a daunting task that involves scrolling through an immense list to find what you want.