“Scapple is sort of … a big, virtual piece of paper.” Its brilliant developer, Keith Blount, says as much in a 2016 interview with the “Medium”: You can do the same thing the software does (faster) with a wide sheet of paper and your three favorite pens. The question drew some fire and defense, but it left the business of Scapple’s value in the de gustibus non est disputandum state.įive years after beta, Scapple remains pretty much idling in its latest release of version 1.3.1 out in November 2017. The explanation for the slow development of Scapple should be plain. The Literature and Latte forum got prickly over the software two years after its introduction in 2015: “Any hope of some kind of update? New features? Anything?” one user asked. For the sake of disclosure, when I first opened Scapple in 2014, I found it cute and annoying, like kitty memes.Īpparently, I was not alone.

Scapple is mind mapping software from the beloved creators of Scrivener, Literature and Latte, released April 23, 2013. It would be Scapple, right? What’s a Scapple? And if you’ve been paying attention to the technical side of the word processing process, that software rake would be obvious to you. It’s the writerly heap of ideas I haul around that require a rake-like tool for story work. When I try envisioning them, I see a collection of gray laundry, or a wild lawn in need of a mower and rake. I’m asking the broader figurative question of what your thoughts look like.Īnswering for myself, I have no idea what my thoughts look like. What do your thoughts look like? No, no, no, not those big little lies trapped between your ears. US novelist and ALLi author member Jeff Shear shares his lightbulb moment of using a third way – mindmapping, using another Literature and Latte product, Scapple. There are many ways for indie authors to plan self-published books, both fiction and non-fiction – from the time-honored index cards spread out on the kitchen table to the high-tech equivalent using Literature and Latte's Scrivener digital corkboard. Jeff Shear shares his enthusiasm for mindmapping tool Scapple

Mind mapping software scapple