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FAQ: Using A Spreadsheet for Outlining and Brainstorming

Elorenalory

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KimikoDreams

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hopefully i'm not saying anything that's been said a hundred times before but you can use excel to jot down what you want each chapter to be about and then you end up with a sort of outline that you can write from.
 

Techs Walker

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I am currently using WORD tables for what i think of as 'digital index cards' for outilining, as a crutch to keep scenes straight and to shuffle their sequence.

Column TWO gets a short descriptive label identifying the scene, column three has the POV character, column four for scene location, and other columns for scene details. Column ONE is the important one--it starts out with just a sequence of numbers, from one up to fifty (or however many scenes i end up with in the book).

Now, whenever i want to play with different possible scene sequences, and test POV or location implications, i alter the numbers in column ONE. For example, if i want to see how the 'scene outline' looks with scene 17 moved a couple of scenes earlier, i change the number 17 in column ONE to a number 14.5, say. Then i so a 'SORT' on the table, using the numerical value in column ONE. Now i have my modified scene sequence.

i don't actually care what the numbers in column ONE really are--i just trust that they're in sequence. Of course, when i end up with scene 'numbers' like 12.347, i know that i should repopulate the numbers in column ONE with simple values, and maybe get to writing the book itself.

Note that this approach isn't necessarily confined to WORD. All you need are tables and a SORT function.

Techs
 

Tsu Dho Nimh

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This could be what I need to manage a bio I'm working on.

The subject has bits of info scattered all over the place in her books and articles about her, and it's driving me nuts tracking what she said and when she said it, because much is contradictory.

Just make a spreadsheet with sources across the top and events down the side.
 

indianroads

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I simply use word docs. One being for chapter by chapter plot line as an ordered list. Another for characters, and relationships between them.
 

Keithy

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Never thought of using excel for this. I always used them for accounts and numbers etc
 

AW Admin

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Never thought of using excel for this. I always used them for accounts and numbers etc

Spreadsheets, whether Excel or Google or Numbers or whatever, are really great for sorting data, and for presenting data, of any sort, that you want to be in columns, rows, or columns and rows.

Also keep in mind that spreadsheet understand, kind of, calendar data/time data, and that can be helpful in terms of tracking narrative, or who is where when.
 

SR Wittmann

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For years, I used Excel as my main outline/plotting tool, but have since moved on to Scapple from the makers of Scrivener.

When I used to use Excel, the spreadsheet data cells only contained the scene topic in much the same way as one uses the binder column in Scrivener. However, all my scene text was written in Word documents. I used the insert link tool in Excel to link each data cell to its corresponding Word document. In this way, I could zoom out and see the bigger picture of my manuscript's flow and then zoom back in all the way to an individual scene by clicking the data cell in Excel and having Word open the text.

I spent years using this method until I moved to the Scrivener/Scapple pair.

Scapple is now my preferred outlining/plotting tool.

Scrivener is my go-to composition tool, but it lacks when it comes to formatting for print. For that, I still use InDesign.
 

Tod Moran

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Hey Badducky...
how do you handle time lines. I need to have events that happen to different characters entertwine. I went crazy trying to make time lines for each character then weave them together. I tried 3x5 cards with events, diff color for each character, but I don't have a wall/room big enough to lay it all out.

My way is to start with the earliest event. Put it near the top on the left side of SS. Next moving left on the same line add the character(s) who are involved in this event. I put each character in a separate cell, moving down as many cells as needed. In each character cell add as much info about that character as you know.

Repeat the process for each event you need to track.

You can now search for any event or character. If you add as much detail as possible you avoid logical errors like Tom was 50 and married in one scene and 35 and single the next day.

My novel covers 1,000 years and has many characters but most appear and disappear quickly. The story centers around just 6. I find this system very useful in keeping the time line and events in logical order
 

Tod Moran

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I have tried that software 3 times. I never got passed the 1st few parts of the tutorial. I even downloaded a book by an expert designed for new users. Never understood it. Had much the same reaction to yWriter. The advantage it had was being free.
 

Akudie

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I think Excel is a great tool for organizing ideas (I work in banking so I LIVE with Excel) but... it's really annoying to write longer texts in Excel. It's simply not created for that purpose. I use a mix of Excel and Scrivener for the outline. In excel its just more of scene by scene view - but with very little details. More like a code language with tags such as "conflict", "mystery", "romance". I arrange the scenes in a way to mix things up a bit... Excel is great to give you this big picture.

Call me old fashion, but my favorite tool is a simple small notepad (like flashcards, a bit of a thicker paper). Each page of the notepad is a "Main scene" where I describe what is happening and what is at stakes in a bit more details. I am still working on the first draft so I don't reference all the scenes, I let me characters decide what to do and decide if I should keep it or not ;)

And btw - I am in Love with Scrivener. It is a life changing tool! <3
 

Enlightened

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I use Excel sparingly; only when I need to use equations. I recently built a document with page counts and pages per book. My document includes book lengths from 250-2155 pages. It goes by 5 page increments, and each of these has 250-310 (by 5 word increments) words per page calculations.

This document will help me, more efficiently, write my books. I know how many words per page, and how long I want my total word count, I can know how many pages to shoot for (and thus, how many chapters I approximately need).

With Windows Vista and later, Start, type in sticky. Sticky notes will load. These can be resized, and they come in 6 different colors. You can turn your desktop into a storyboard for outlining. These can easily be moved all over the desktop. I usually, because I have admin privileges on my computer, create a new user account (with a clean desktop). I have at it there. Once it is completed, hit PrtScn key. Open MS Paint.... Start, mspaint. Control + V will paste it, or use the paste button. Save your brainstorm to image file. Default is PNG; I prefer JPG. You cannot edit this later, but if your ideation is final, these are great.

Another alternative for outlining is mindmapping Websites. http://bubbl.us/ <-- Great site. Once finished, you can export to picture file. You cannot come back and re-edit.
 

David R

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I agree about mind mapping. There are a lot of excellent mind mapping programs. I like xmind.
 

RebelKimberly

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I am using Trello. I like the Boards, and the ability to add visuals, links, from my research. Really helpful to map things out. But am definitely new at this so am keen on learning what everyone else is doing.
 

CAQuinn

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Not a problem, Medievalist.

I use Excel spreadsheets for outlining and for brainstorming.

i come from a screenplay writing background and when i brainstorm i just write it all down... and when i have enough of it i put the huge piece of cardboard on the wall, like 3 feet by 5 feet. and i start to tear up loose leaf pages into 3 inch long pieces , as wide as the paper, and ill write one or two line to describe a little scene and then ill pin them all up in the order i think i want them to be in. this way i can very easily look at it all and very easily. move stuff around. or even before that ill lay it all my little papers out on my bed, fan off, cat otherwise occupied. and figure out how i want to post it all on the cardboard. i hope it helps some one
 

TheFabulist

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I have a spread sheet which is a list of events with dates down the side and characters along the top. I use it to keep track of how old people are at any given time. As the sheet grows though it is hard to keep track visually.

When I was a wage slave way back I used a package called InfoSelect a great deal - there is a freeware near equivalent called AllMyNotes. These are free form databases and allow all sorts of connections to be built up. I'm thinking of giving one or the other a try. There are also several free or cheap genealogy programs around which might be adaptable and which generate family trees and diagrams. If my database skills were still up to it the database part of LibreOffice might also be worth a try. I tried to build a genealogy app that way, around the idea of 'events' - birth, death, moving house etc., which might also translate into plotting. Event X follows from Events S & T and gives rise to Events Y & Z for example. This would also work with mind mapping. For that though I would use large sheets of paper in what is called a layout pad. The paper is semi-translucent and iff you use marker pens they show through to the sheet above so you can adjust things. They are also fairly cheap, but large copier sheets would also work (17" x 11" in the US or A3 everywhere else).

For most plotting/outlining activity to be honest I prefer pen and paper. To do it digitally I would want to have a Terry Pratchett style set up with half a dozen screens at once. I've been tempted...
 

Anne_B

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Bumping, because using spreadsheets for plotting is being discussed elsewhere today.
 

StoryForest

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I also like to use Excel for my ideas. I find them particularly useful when working on stories with multiple timelines to keep everything on track.
 

aprildavila

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A simpler way

Hmm. I'm thinking maybe using a calendar program? For example, there is a calendar in outlook, or a google calendar... any number of online sites have free calendars that you can use and you enter information and date ranges in it. However, if you are doing this over the course of years, decades, eras... then these calendars are much too focused on weekly events to make that feasible.

I would think creating your own calendar in an excel spreadsheet might work just as easy... Dates in columns/headers at the top of the spreadsheet, and then making each row a different character so that you can visually see where things overlap?

I'm curious if anyone has tried the Scrivener Timeline function for this kind of calendar work? I love it. It has totally replaced all the spreadsheets, and note cards, and all that extra, time consuming BS. In fact, having good writing software has made such a difference in my writing. Can't imagine going back to how I used to work. Just me?
 

PraiseRao

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I use Scrivener, but only for surface things like character names. Otherwise I just use a regular binder for organizing the series bible. I am thinking of also starting digitally with a wiki, or Obsidian.

As far as pre-writing goes I use either notebooks or a white board. I simply love my white board, but could spend way too much time plotting on it. If I am trying to organize the book itself I would use index cards or digital index cards on Scrivener.

I back up PDF files of my notebooks and white board plotting/thinking with an app called Genius Scan + that backs up to various cloud destinations or your internal storage. The digital copies are stored redundantly, once weekly along with a copy of the Scrivener save file. With one stored in a fire-safe box.
 

Festerin Fandango

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I am getting close to a final MS on a historical novel. I've been using a chronologically-ordered spreadsheet to keep track of when characters were born/when died and when major events happen, both real/historical and fictional.

I like the idea of a list of characters to keep the names straight and avoid repetitive names. I wish I'd thought of that.

I used Excel for years but now prefer google sheets. It's free, does everything I need it to, and is easily accessed from my desktop, chromebook and smartphone. Like google docs (I use it to write the book) it's easily shared with others electroncally.