#obsidian vs google docs

[streetsweepershenanigans]

Hear ye, hear ye!

In a valiant attempt to keep the AI away from my completed fics and WIPs I have henceforth moved from Google docs to Obsidian. Here are a few of the benefits I have found that I like far better than using Google docs:

1. The black page color is very zen.

2. The filing system is great!

3. Very user friendly

4. Note taking function -perfect for studying

Things I'd be interested in learning more about Obsidian:

Is there a bild/italics feature?

Is there some sort of cloud where I can access my WIPs across my devices?

[myogon]

i'm torn again about digital tracking vs. just keep a ~record of everything in a journal or something. someone on substack posted this sweeeeeet notion template to keep track of books + quotes + thoughts + new words and it all links back to one spot. it really looks SO nice. last year i mostly just used storygraph which i still kind of hate but it works for the bare minimum + my own spreadsheet. and i still log things on goodreads mostly for netgalley purposes. i didn't even read that much (comparatively) because of school. and i like the idea of a commonplace book but writing by hand takes me so long and also my wrists are so fucked up and i'm writing so much for school i just...want reading to be an easier activity? so maybe i should just..try the notion template. i tried using obsidian/google docs and just typed/copied quotes into it under a heading for each title but it's not interconnected. and i don't really want to do the whole obsidian linking thing because it is NOT intuitive to me at all and every time i've tried playing around with it i'm just annoyed. and the readwise thing didn't really work the way i wanted it to. it was a lot easier to just copy and paste things into a doc. idk...it's not like i post monthly media roundups or anything anymore even tho i loooove reading them. i guess my goal is just keeping track of what i've read and when and my general ~thoughts on them. but i'm definitely not going to be doing any close reading this year. i think i'm def going to keep a list of books that i've read in a journal anyway but i like having something digital too. and i always say i will track movies/shows but i watch so little of them that i forget.

[squaduck]

I wrote a Tumblr ReVanced guide, but I didn't realize how poorly Tumblr handles nested lists, especially with varying markers (Numbers, Letters, Roman Numerals, Dots, etc) so there's no good way to make it into a well-formatted Tumblr post.

I originally wrote it in Markdown with Obsidian because I knew that Tumblr lets you format posts in md, but it made spaghetti. I tried converting it to HTML and ended up adding even nicer formatting with the tools available.

In converting it between formats to try copying from, it ended up in a LibreOffice doc. (odt, not necessarily LibreOffice, but that's my editor of choice.) So now I have this 1,700-word doc and no good way to share it.

I could put it in a google drive? Some other file sharing service?

I could export it as weird markdown and put it on github?

I really don't have any good ideas for how to share it. Advice would be appreciated.

To be fair, it formats mostly correctly on Tumblr, but I'm a perfectionist and want my lists to look nice. I used numbers vs dots to differentiate between steps and details and I want that to be visible.

[starsoforionwrites]

+2,500.

I absolutely need a better writing setup. I've been using Obsidian with the Longform plugin synced with Dropbox for ages now, and it's recently started to absolutely shit the bed constantly.

I keep ending up with scenes getting lost and then re-discovering themselves, only to be all out of order. And now my entire set of scenes has duplicated itself, and I don't know if there are any differences between the two sets!

I tried Scrivener but I just didn't gel with it for some reason I can't properly figure out. I don't really want to use Word or Google Docs because I really prefer writing scene-by-scene and then moving them around a lot, and trying to keep an index of scenes in Word etc. seems like a massive hassle.

Also I really prefer to write in plain text using as simple an interface as possible because otherwise I distract myself by pressing buttons and fucking around with fonts like a cat with a ball of tinfoil.

I was toying with the idea of using something like VS Code or iA Writer, just as a pure text editor, and then syncing changes with Git, but it doesn't help with the Fic -> Chapter -> Scene way I write, especially as file lists don't usually support custom ordering, and I don't want to prefix all my scenes with a number for ordering purposes.

Bleuergh idk maybe I'll just port everything into a Word doc and keep a separate outline in Excel or something for scene / chapter ordering.

[dungeons-and-dictions]

So far so good? I’m liking that it’s similar to OneNote but modern and uses tags!

Using plugins really helps! I have:

Long Form (for prose; I’m not sold on leaving Google Docs for it though)

Kanban

Outliner (ex. Workflowy)

Tag Wrangler (controls tags on a fine level)

Typewriter Scroll (centering in editor while typing)

I haven’t hyperlinked anything yet, but it will more useful than 50 Google docs and their separate notes.

And here’s a screenshot to compare against my original post’s contents vs my main Obsidian vault:

Here’s how I keep my stories and their notes organized. Since I’m a hot mess, I figured out a low-maintenance “system”.

Each story has its own folder, by the story’s title. Because I can’t be bothered to type out the title again, I break it down into initials for files. In this case, my title is a single C-word:

C is where I write the story itself

C o3s is C’s out-of-order scenes

C Outline is the plot outline, and other important notes a la Brandon Sanderson.

C Header Excerpts is my compilation of epigraphs for chapters, like in Diana Wynne Jones’ The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, but focused on world and lore.

I’m in the process of transferring notes to the Obsidian app rn too! 🤞

[mengyao]

25 28

25. What other websites or resources do you use most often when you write?

wordhippo! i find its interface much more intuitive than most other online thesauruses...

straight quotes to smart quotes converter -- i write in a chaotic way that often includes messing around and editing within the ao3 draft file (this is cursed don't do this) so i usually have an inconsistent mess of smart quotes vs. dumb quotes. no longer!

markdown to html converter -- i mostly write using markdown language (in obsidian) these days, so i plunk my stuff in here before putting it on ao3. much more straightforward (and faster) than having to use the stupid google docs converter script

mywriteclub -- best online word sprint platform that i know of, i LOVE getting to race against people in real time and watch the progress bar go up... i recommend making your own sprint room and inviting people you know to sprint with you!

mdbg chinese dictionary -- for when i'm double-checking characters for whatever reason (coming up with OC names, etc...)

28. Does anyone read your fics before you post them? If so, who?

it depends on the story, but for anything longer than 5k, it's rare that no one will read it over for me before i publish, though i don't have a single consistent beta and often it's more of a cheerleading-and-giving-me-reassurance-type read. (i'm sometimes envious of people who have that relationship with a certain person who reads everything they write and gets to know their style and tendencies inside out and will really go in and rip their drafts apart, but i would have to really be on the same wavelength as someone else to make that a regular thing, and rn i'm sitting in that zone where i'm competent enough that if i go without a "hard beta" it won't be a catastrophe, so i don't have a lot of motivation to get out there and find someone...)

that being said, i have a handful of friends whom i'll ask to read drafts for me because i know them well enough to not be worried they'll think i'm a bad writer over clunky unpolished material, and i find it enormously helpful... you all know who you are :) <3

[dmsden]

Worldbuilding 23 – Tracking the Campaign

Hullo, Gentle Readers. As 2019 draws towards a close, we’re also coming to the conclusion of our 2 year journey of working on our Beyond the Borderlands campaign. Honestly, at this point, I would feel comfortable jumping in and running a Session Zero for this campaign. But I thought we could look at some techniques I’ve used over the years to make successful campaigns. And this month, I wanted to talk about good old-fashioned campaign tracking.

You might have a million great ideas every day for your game, but, if you don’t record them in some fashion, they’ll disappear over time, and those wonderful ideas might be lost forever. I’ve mentioned before that pretty much every campaign setting I’ve ever created starts with a notebook and the notes I start jotting in it. As time goes on, it’s fun to look back at these early notes and see if there’s anything I haven’t already used in the campaign, and, if not, see if I want to include it now, or save it for some later game.

Your own individual style will inform your record keeping. Some people prefer analog formats, and some may prefer electronic. If the format you prefer works for you, then it’s the right answer for your campaign.

If you prefer paper, then you might want to use a simple notebook for the sheer back-to-basics nature of it. You may prefer a three-ring binder of different folders to contain your ideas, which you might stuff with pictures, maps, notes, and other materials that you intend to use to inspire your games. There are even products that have been made specifically for tracking campaigns, and you’re likely to be able to find these in your local game store.

If you like electronic formats, you might use One Note, Google Docs, a Wiki, or a simple folder of different text documents. Once again, there are plenty of companies out there specifically developing tools and websites designed to help keep you organized.

I personally use a combination of different formats. My original campaign designs were on paper, but I eventually developed a Wiki for the campaign on the Obsidian Portal website, because I liked the ideas of hyperlinks and letting my players make notes of their own. I also use an app called Notebook to put together my notes for each individual game and the new Encounter Builder tool on D&D Beyond to develop and save combat encounters. I even use paper on a regular basis – I have paper calendar pages I use to keep track of the passing of time in the campaign, in order to see when the players are taking action vs when various events and NPC actions are likely to take place.

So what am I tracking in all this? Well, I use my Wiki as a living encyclopedia of people, places, things, events, battles, and the like. I write descriptive text, including a reminder of how the players have been involved with the entry. Obsidian Portal allows for notes that’re only visible to certain players or only to the DM, so I jot a few things in there as a reminder of plots and secrets I might want to expand on later.

You’re going to want to keep track of NPCs, rumors of adventure that you’ve let the players hear, plots that you’ve had ideas for, secrets of your campaign world, and so on. During the game, I jot notes on the calendar so that I know I’m keeping track of things. I also take notes of any NPCs or place names I make up over the course of the session (which happens more often than people think). After every game, I sit for a bit and take notes from the session I just ran. If necessary, I add new entries to my wiki over the course of the week, or I update existing entries.

At some point in the week, I sit down and take notes for the next game session, and I have all of my various resources to look over. Quite often, I can come up with an adventure just by looking through entries for the various characters, places, and adventure rumors that the PCs know about.

Next month, we’ll be wrapping up this series of articles and soon we’ll be looking at 2020!