Much as I love Scrivener and cannot imagine how I lived without it, I keep banging my head on a brick wall trying to figure out a way to be able to put together some kind of calendar/timeline so I can keep track of who and what.
I know I could do something with a spreadsheet, but that’s a bit clunky and surely there has to be a better solution.
Basically, does anyone know of a program, running on Windows, not an online subscription but an acutal program I’d own, that can help me with timelining a novel. Open source is fine, and Scrivener integration isn’t a prerequisite as I can tab between programs easily enough.
I’ve so far tried Aeon Timeline and it’s okay but a bit feature-sparse for my liking.
Anyone know others?
Cheers!
Since that’s the most extensive Timeline software I’ve ever tried, what exactly are your requirements?
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Okay, so I need to be able to add entries down to the hour level, or as long lasting as 3 months.
East to repeat entries (monthly meetings at same time but every calendar month, fortnightly, that kind of thing).
Colourable.
Able to tuck notes inside (headlines on the timeline are fine as long as I can drill down for details).
Easy to move things about (drop and drag, ideally).
One problem I have with Aeon Timeline is that you can’t change verticality manually, so if, e.g., you want to drag all the entries relating to Character One to the top, you can’t.
Hope that makes a bit more sense.
If Aeon Timeline is inadequate, probably you’re looking at commercial project planning software. Which is expensive, has a learning curve, and probably doesn’t handle non-standard calendars well.
A bigger Aeon Timeline update is coming. Have you tested the beta version to see if it meets your needs more?
Sadly not. I only just discovered Aeon Timeline and burned my 14 days. Since the beta is only available to those who have a licence, I’m waiting for the update to (hopefully) trial again.
For my novel, I wanted a timeline that contained:
- Significant story events - these might be backstory or scenes
- Who (which characters) were involved in each event
- When, where, and what happened for each event
- Ability to filter by any of the above
- Ability to sort by scene sequence
- Ability to sort by chronological sequence
I own and considered MS Project, but in the end found that MS Excel was more flexible and usable for my needs. Yes, slightly clunky and non-graphical–but I’m happy with it. You might want to revisit a spreadsheet-based approach.
A quick google listed lots of MS Project alternatives, including at least one open source. As @kewms suggests, you should probably explore those.
Best,
Jim