


which characters are involved in specific events.the chronological sequence of events (including backstory events).What am I trying to track that has defied all of these strategies? Basic story elements: This screenshot shows a mindmap for one of my stories that tracks POV characters (box colors), events (shaded boxes), relationships between events (lines between boxes), and narrative sequence (outline boxes), but chronology is inexact, and character locations had to be tracked off screen. Similarly, mindmap apps provided a good way to map scenes and relationships between them, but keeping the events in correct temporal sequence proved onerous. When I decided to tell a story in non-chronological sequence, I was back to post-it notes in addition to the timeline app. For example, a timeline app provided a clear temporal sequence, but tracking characters through the various events was difficult. Most of these tools tracked one or two narrative elements effectively, but then I had to track other elements using secondary organizational strategies. A home grown Microsoft Access relational database.
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A number of published guides and workbooks on how to organize a novel.Multiple ‘mindmap’ software programs (including Mindnode and Scapple).Scrivener’s corkboard and outline features.Post-it notes attached to large boards.Excel spreadsheets – with separate worksheets for characters, scenes, timelines, and locations.I have tried many tools and strategies, including: Then I give up and just start getting the scenes down before they leave me. In essence, I start writing by the seat of my pants when all my half-blown attempts at organizing the story fall short. I am a pantser in part because I have never found a tool that lets me effectively organize all the story elements-characters, locations, events, story arcs, and narrative scene sequence. To say that I am a pantser is not to say that I dislike organization, or that I don’t have an idea of where my story is going.
