Ask HN Minneapolis: Review My Project

[Brad Marsh]

I've got the base version of LitLift ready for other people to start
testing.

I haven't finished the landing page stuff yet, so it's mainly just the
app, but if you guys could create an account and let me know what you
think that would be great.

You can get it at litlift.heroku.com

Any questions or thoughts, please let me know.

Thanks.

[dsteinweg]

What kind of feedback are you looking for?

I like the feel. It is obviously very minimalistic at this point--not
sure if you'll style if up in the future--and yet it is polished and
zippy.

It took me a bit to realize that, when I'm editing a book I created,
if I click "add character", that character is created but not
automatically added to the book I'm currently editing. I would have
assumed it would add itself automatically. But I do like how
characters and etc. are separate from books, that would be useful if,
say, I were to write a series of books that re-use the same character.

You have some key "categories" of things defined. Namely: books,
characters, settings, and items. Do you think this is limiting at
all? For instance, what if I wanted to keep track of other aspects of
my books, like "key themes" or "genres", or other arbitrary features.
I've never written a book of my own, but it seems that while every
book has similar types of things in it (characters, settings), there
are other aspect specific to my book and brainstorming process that
I'd want to keep track of. Perhaps the ability to define my own types
(can't think of a good word for it)? And don't forget non-fiction
books. If I wrote a book about JavaScript, it probably would have
characters or settings inside it.

As a "project", is that all you want LitLift to be? Will you make it
a "startup" or business, or offer it as a free tool? I realize it is
in its first stages, but it seems to me I could just as easily keep
track of these things in a notebook or in a simple note-taking
application. What other features are you thinking of adding, if any,
that will help an author conceive and create their book? Also, I'm
sure this will be forthcoming, but how am I to know that you won't
steal my genius book ideas?