Saturday
Feb202010
Testing out Zengobi's Curio as a brainstorming tool for writers
I've been working on more graphic illustration projects lately, and have been looking for a good brainstorming tool. Scrivener is good for text only but not as easy to use when it comes to combining images and text in different configurations on the fly. Corel Painter is great for pure illustration but not as good for illustration and text brainstorming.
I was prompted to download a 60-day free trial version of Zengobi's Curio when I found out that it was hooked with up Evernote. I love Evernote and love the idea of having everything I send to Evernote immediately available to me within Curio.
During my trial period, I'm going to try using Curio as a place to collect story seeds: clippings, thoughts, scribbles, photos, music -- pretty much anything that could come together to spark a story. When a story idea gels enough, I'll switch to Scrivener to work on the detailed outline and text. Though for picture books and graphic novel projects, who knows? Maybe Curio would be a good fit.
If you're curious to find out more about Curio:
Zengobi's Curio site
Angela Booth's review: "Curio, Writer's Gem"
New York Times review of Curio
TUAW review of Curio
Saturday, February 20, 2010 at 8:50 AM
Reader Comments (5)
Just bought curio a few weeks ago. It is an awesome, awesome, awesome application (Have I said it was awesome, yet). I absolutely love it. It is great for planning just about any project. I highly recommend it.
I've only just started using it and am overwhelmed by the potential. Can't believe I didn't try this earlier! Do you have the standard or pro version?
I got the pro version. At the time, I got a 10% off coupon from Zengobi. I think I got it for filling out the evaluation form you get when you close the demo version. Not sure though. Anyhow, it didn't make sense for me not to get the pro version. With 10% off, it was only about $35 more than standard, and it has enough features to make it worth it.
Also, not sure if you are aware, but you can add different styles to things easily with stuff you find on the community site.
http://zengobi.com/products/curio/community/
This Zengobi program seems completely cool. I will have to try it. Is it only compatible w/ Macs or does it work w/ PCs as well? I have a PC and I'd like to buy it...