A thread 🧵 on an idea💡 I got this morning when I was wondering how to get started on a fiction-writing project - Using the snowflake method of novel writing in #Zettelkasten.

The traditional note-taking system can get complex or your worse nightmare "Chaos". 

If you are a writer and aware of the "snowflake" framework of novel writing, then you can use the same framework to churn out content faster and make use of your knowledge to create products and income streams.

This means inverting the tradinational zetelkasten pipeline. Which is taking fleeting notes, and literature notes and then converting them into permanent notes which are a set of atomic notes.

Zettelkasten's method says you keep on taking notes and then you serendipitously discover connections. But this method is rather chaotic. 

You could be collecting notes for 10 years and (like most of us have been doing for now and have no ideas if we ever get any tangible results (ebooks, books, white paper) out of the same.

Note-Taking is a complex system that can turn chaotic soon and you totally give up in frustration. Instead, use the snowflake method.

You first write the big idea down and then you expand that one sentence big idea into a paragraph. Break down the paragraph and expand the say 5 line paragraph into several paragraphs. Those several paragraphs then become a chapter. 

A chapter then becomes an e-book, guide, course, short story, novella or novel.

Read more about the snowflake method here - https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/

Also if you are a noob to #zettelkasten go to my bio link and get the free course!

Using the snowflake method of novel writing in Zettelkasten

A thread 🧵 on @amplenote - I revisited this app after a year. The reason being, they have introduced a forever free plan. If your note-taking system is chaotic then you should read this thread. Ample note I would say is an extremely ordered note-taking app. 

The entire feel of the app is to bring order to your note-taking. Below I discuss some of its USPs. 

So What are the features in @amplenote which make it unique? 

Besides features that other note-taking apps have like bi-direction links, block links, tasks etc. Be;ow is a breakdown on how @amplenote is different from other note-taking apps. 

Tasks with prioritisation and scheduling 

In @amplenote all this is achieved within the app. The app used something like an Eisenhower Matrix to rate and schedule your task. The Algorithm gives you a score for each task depending on its importance and urgency.

The core philosophy is to get things done without leaving the app.

Normally a person uses four or five apps for their workflow. Which accomplish the following - a) Note-taking, b) Tasks c) Prioritisation and planning. d) Scheduling.

But in @amplenote - All this is accomplished seamlessly in a funnel-like experience. 

I highly recommend you watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wspUsA32Z_8&list=WL&index=2 by @shuomi3 to get a complete overview of the app. But here is the breakdown. 

It has an inbuilt calendar -

You can make as many calendars as the projects you are working on. All your tasks will sync with your calendar. 

What's the catch in the free plan? 

A periodic reminder to upgrade (could get irritating). You can check more about the free plan here - https://www.amplenote.com/subscriptions/new 

I highly recommend @amplenote.


Bring Order to your note-taking with Ample Note

There is a lot of confusion about what is the #Zettelkasten Note-taking system. This could be due to the best selling book by Sönke Ahrens on "How to take smart notes'. 

The book which is a great read goes meandering on the virtues of the note-taking system used by Niklas Luhmann and though I finished the 50% mark in the book, it still doesn't give you clarity on the exact process of note-taking the Zettelkasten way.

Off this frustration, David Kadavy wrote a book called Zettelkasten. then there are numerous youtube videos that have their own take on the Zettelkasten note-taking system. 

That's precisely the objective of the book "How to take smart notes" It made everyone think about what would be their ideal workflow, using the Zettelkasten framework.

I thought it was time to give people who cannot afford the high energy costs of thinking about the #Zettelkasten system and have distilled what I have learnt from all the books, articles and videos. 

Here is a quick course that you can complete in under 20 mins and get a working knowledge of the #Zettelkasten system and boost your writing output.

Signup for the free course - https://www.pkm.one/signup

A quick course on the Zettelkasten Note-taking system.

A thread 🧵 on how @evielync Zettelkasten system from her article here on " Stop Overthinking your #Zettelkasten System". 
Her writing is extremely helpful and clear. 

As per @evielync there are three types of notes 

1. Literature notes 
2. Permanent notes 
3. Sequence notes or Atomic Notes

Literature notes are rough outlines one writes when you suddenly get an insight or thought which you write down along with meta information so you can go back and refer to the main source when you are writing PN. 

Permanent notes (contrary to the title) are a collection of atomic notes or sequence of notes related to a particular idea (not a topic or a category, mind you!) 

They are a further expansion of Literature notes into a more polished note. 

PN could be an essay title or a blog post or a small project and the atomic notes arranged sequentially will make sense of the topic.

If you want to read more, go read the entire article here https://medium.com/friction-to-flow/stop-overthinking-your-zettelkasten-system-how-to-get-started-writing-your-first-notes-eeb2b0f060cc 

Ev Chapman's Zettelkasten Note taking System

A thread on the some of the best resources to understand the #Zettelkasten note taking system. 
1. Best books 
2. Best articles
3. Courses 
 

The best 5 books for #zettelkasten, the fabulous @elizabutlermd  had got this covered https://elizabethbutlermd.com/best-books-personal-knowledge-management-system/ 

Best articles to learn more about #zettelkasten 

@evielync writes with so much clarity and her writings have given me hope that I can not only write and create value but most importantly deliver on time. Highly recommend you read this one by her https://medium.com/friction-to-flow/stop-overthinking-your-zettelkasten-system-how-to-get-started-writing-your-first-notes-eeb2b0f060cc 

I also recommend you read this article by @kadavy If you are an aspirational author, you can buy David's book after reading the article to sink you teeth into #zettelkasten even further. Check out https://kadavy.net/blog/posts/zettelkasten-method-slip-box-digital-example/ 

I haven't come across many courses on #Zettelkasten but @curtismchale writes an one of the best round up newsletter on PKM every week and I would love to recommend his course here https://curtismchale.ca/education/ which will cost you $99 with a 30 day money back guarantee. 

But if you are looking for a light weight course on #Zettelkasten you can finish in 20 mins, I have a course for you here https://www.pkm.one/11coaching , it will cost you $3 :) 

Besides these courses there are plenty of youtube video's on #Zettelkasten , but the one that most inspired me was @beeamp_vicky clear and concise video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpV47rUYk8I 

Hope you improve your note taking game. :) 

Best Articles, Books, and Courses on Zettelkasten Note taking.

🧵 Summarising long Reads using AI featuring @scholarcy and @getsummari 

One of the challenges with the amount of content being generated is that we have an almost never exhausting amount of articles and papers saved in our read later apps.

But this month I discovered two apps that have solved this user problem.
1. @scholarcy - The AI-powered article summarizer.

Scholarcy is meant for research papers primarily but it works with any content on the web. 

Since it is meant for serious researchers, it has a subscription model (7.99 USD). I love how it neatly breaks up the paper into sections. Check the screenshot below.  {{ img:96a3da }}

2. @getsummari - Free Text Summary Tool
Summarise as the tagline says is a free tool. The advantage of summari is it works on mobile. With the app extension, you can save or summarise any article in an instant.

If I feel there is content that is related to my work. I first use summari to summarize the article. If the summary seems useful then I will go ahead and read the long-form. 

Most of the articles we read for work can get tedious and summari app can help reduce the noise. I highly recommend it.For more updates pls sign up for the newsletter at http://pkm.one :) #pkm #tft 

Summarizing Long Reads with AI assisted apps

Thread on @snipd_app -  Taking Notes from Podcats with AI assistance 
One of the problems with podcasts so far was the problem of recollection. We generally listen to Podcasts while our limbs are occupied for eg. driving, walking, doing dishes etc.

This frustrating problem meant that we need to re-listen to good episodes if we want to make a note.
This problem has been handled in the past by paid services like Podcast notes, which have a freemium model and you paid for transcription.

Expensive subscription and not all your episodes are in their transcription list of episodes.

MEET @snipd_app 

AI is making rapid progress and @snipd_app uses AI to transcribe all your episodes within almost 20 mins if it is not already transcribed.

Just hit the "Snip It' button and it captures 1.5 mins of the current position and those highlights are available in your snips.

Snipd also integrates with @readwiseio so you also can now auto-capture the text of these podcasts into your readwise. Isn't that awesome?

For more updates pls sign up for the newsletter at http://pkm.one :) #pkm #tft

Take Notes from Podcast with Snipd - AI assisted real time transcription

A thread 🧵 on New discovery in the Note-taking apps space for fleeting notes only.
HINTS - @hintsflow 

Hints is my current hot favourite app for fleeting notes. I have completely stopped taking literature notes and permanent notes except whatever I read goes into Readwise.

I feel permanent notes and literature notes are for specialists. People who dig down deep into a subject. I am a generalist and I wear too many hats. But I use Hints mostly for personal solo projects.

2. MEM @memdotai 
For work-related stuff, I love using mem. It is according to me one of the blazingly fast tools for capturing information.
It has a global shortcut to capture stuff from anywhere on your mac.

It also integrates with SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram and email. So all you need to do is forward stuff to mem bot and then connect the notes which are in the inbox.
They have recently launched an iOS beta app which is super nice,

and I think they are now taking surveys on Twitter to see what pricing to adopt.
We are all undergoing subscription fatigue, So if the pricing is out of my comfort zone, I might ditch it and work with hints, as hints does all the thing mem does except wiki links.