Beat sheets, outlines, storyboard, and other tools help me organize my thoughts when writing. Too many writers stick with word processors as their sole "digital tools" when many other great applications exist — and "applications" for various applications, too.
How can you use a spreadsheet to write? And why might you try this?
A spreadsheet's columns and rows, a reflection of the ledger books they replaced, make an ideal way to track your pages, words, minutes, or other metrics. My writing spreadsheets range from simple checklists to complex sheets with calculations reflecting how much I need to cut or add to parts of story. (Scrivener's outline view is similar to this, so allow me to plug Scrivener yet again.)
My basic story sheet resembles the chart on our website page "Plot and Story" [http://www.tameri.com/write/plotnstory.html].
Some plot points should be reached at specific pages, especially early in a story, while others should be reached within ranges of pages, as a percentage of the overall work. Using a spreadsheet helps me track these personal ideas.
For example: I like to have the "perceived problem / challenge" and the "real problem" within the first ten pages of a 90 minute screenplay or stage script. In a book, I might want those within the first "ten percent" of the work. Express each plot point in 25 words or less.
Major Beat 3 -> Perceived / Immediate Challenge -> Bomb ticking in a subway tunnel
Minor…
Major Beat 4 -> Real Challenge -> Corrupt leaders creating the chaos to gain powers
Minor…
Using Excel or another spreadsheet, I include columns reflecting page counts, minutes, real time, literary time, and more. These metrics help me pace my stories.
Do you have a checklist? If not, create one. Every creative writer using narratives should have a beat sheet, because it forces you to recognize when things are missing from a story.
How can you use a spreadsheet to write? And why might you try this?
A spreadsheet's columns and rows, a reflection of the ledger books they replaced, make an ideal way to track your pages, words, minutes, or other metrics. My writing spreadsheets range from simple checklists to complex sheets with calculations reflecting how much I need to cut or add to parts of story. (Scrivener's outline view is similar to this, so allow me to plug Scrivener yet again.)
My basic story sheet resembles the chart on our website page "Plot and Story" [http://www.tameri.com/write/plotnstory.html].
Some plot points should be reached at specific pages, especially early in a story, while others should be reached within ranges of pages, as a percentage of the overall work. Using a spreadsheet helps me track these personal ideas.
For example: I like to have the "perceived problem / challenge" and the "real problem" within the first ten pages of a 90 minute screenplay or stage script. In a book, I might want those within the first "ten percent" of the work. Express each plot point in 25 words or less.
Major Beat 3 -> Perceived / Immediate Challenge -> Bomb ticking in a subway tunnel
Minor…
Major Beat 4 -> Real Challenge -> Corrupt leaders creating the chaos to gain powers
Minor…
Using Excel or another spreadsheet, I include columns reflecting page counts, minutes, real time, literary time, and more. These metrics help me pace my stories.
Do you have a checklist? If not, create one. Every creative writer using narratives should have a beat sheet, because it forces you to recognize when things are missing from a story.
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