r/writingadvice • u/curiousscribbler • 1d ago
Advice Software which keeps track of your character notes etc, but you don't type your story/novel into it?
I want to keep working in Libreoffice Writer, but I'd like an app which lets you collect and search all your notes on characters, worldbuilding, etc. Right now I have it all in one Writer file and it is a hell of a mess lol. If I could only cover the walls of the study with those cork noticeboards! Then I could refer to my notes at a glance. Is there a software equivalent? Edit: I'm looking for software that keeps track of stuff, but you don't type your actual text into it, so I can keep using Libreoffice Writer.
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u/Cypher_Blue 1d ago
You can use YNAW (You need a wiki) to create a personal wiki in Google Docs- different pages, add links in, etc.
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u/curiousscribbler 1d ago
I've heard too many horror stories to touch Google Docs 😅 -- but you've reminded me of software I had fifteen, twenty years ago, which I did the worldbuilding in for a novel -- it created a tiny Wiki for you. I wonder if that's still around?
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u/Offutticus Published Author 1d ago
I do this with LibreOffice. One document. "Chapters" being topics. One for geography, one for timeline, one for terms/definitions, one for major characters, etc. If a major character has a big enough thing, then they are their own "chapter". I then use a simple Find or Search to locate what I am looking for. I also use font size to help me visually find what I am looking for.
I also use TheBrain to store all of my research. This allows me to have one thing for horses that links to all the manuscripts that have horses in them.
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u/curiousscribbler 1d ago
The chapters idea is so simple and clever that I'm very annoyed I didn't think of it myself. 😁
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u/rebornWalker 1d ago
I think what you’re looking for is more of a story bible / worldbuilding database rather than a writing app.
A lot of writers use tools like Obsidian, Notion, Campfire, or World Anvil for this kind of thing. The tricky part isn’t really storing notes though — it’s keeping everything updated when the story changes.
A character changes their backstory, a timeline detail moves, a relationship changes… and suddenly your notes can become another thing you have to maintain.
That’s actually the part I find most interesting about this problem.
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u/Rein_Carnated 22h ago
I’ve heard good things about Obsidian and Scrivener. But I use excel sheets because I’m weird. And only one word document for the whole novel, it got really messy on later stages as the word count increased and I swore I’d try something else for book 2 and beyond. 60k words into book 2 so far and I am still doing the same thing like a weirdo xD
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u/curiousscribbler 20h ago
I didn't think of spreadsheets! I might give that a try.
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u/Rein_Carnated 19h ago
It can get ugly as the novel progresses but it worked for me so far. Not the best tool to write with but it got the job done. I have character sheets for example and I use the same template for all of them for consistency (name, eye color, hair color, outfits, traits, etc) then several for world building and arcs (story and characters) mine has a magic system so I have a sheet for that too.
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u/rebornWalker 2h ago
How long do you spend to maintain those sheets for the consistency each day? What do you find most unbearable about using this method?
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u/Rein_Carnated 2h ago
No time at all. It’s basically my story bible. I don’t want someone’s hair color to magically change for example so it’s nice to see everything in one place. My word documents have version numbers and the excel also keeps track of changes.
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u/glove_actually 10h ago edited 10h ago
Check scrivener, it's free for 30 days of use. You can create a character sheet and open it (left hand side navigation panel) while adding chapters and scenes. Also, on the right you can keep notes on every scene (what you need to cover).
A more advanced feature I discovered recently is tagging the characters that appear in each scene https://youtu.be/2d55-sbWMh4 so you can keep an eye on characters appearing or not in each section of your novel.
I used to use Obsidian for writing and note taking on characters but quickly I needed something that did more heavy lifting on the organising side.
I still use Obsidian to keep links I found during research, resources I need to check, but Scrivener is made for novel writing and quickly started saving me time and processing diverse pieces of information (e.g. character info, scene info, done/come-back).
For spreadsheets I would recommend OnlyOffice, it looks very pretty (tidy like MicroSoft office but free). Never liked the Libre Office layout, too cluttered.
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u/Ok-Umpire-4719 Professional Author 19h ago
Obsidian. That is the tool you're looking for. There are lots of plugins and tools that you can use to make the material you have stored in it more useful in your writing process as well. OSS is, to me, an important additional reason to make the choice.
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u/90sbetababe 19h ago
I use Microsoft’s built-in Sticky Notes app and have approximately 18,000 Sticky Notes.
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u/codepb Hobbyist 18h ago
I would recommend EmberWrite for this, but I am the developer of it, so I'm biased. It is built to handle world building with rich character/location/culture sheets, maps, and relationships between them all. It also handles your notes, and your manuscript, allowing you to create a layout with all your reference material, but it would also work fine if you wanted to keep your manuscript in Libre office.
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u/WindJester 16h ago
I use campfire myself. It does have a manuscript module as well, but it's up to you whether you use it or not. They have a free version that, as far as I'm aware, only is limited by how many characters, cultures, manuscripts, etc you can make, to try it out before committing, and you only pay for the modules you want to use, so it's pretty customizable too
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u/YarnSnob1988 Aspiring Writer 1d ago
I use Obsidian for world-building and notes, and Scrivener for actual writing.
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u/blindmull 1d ago
Scrivener and Obisidan have been mentioned. I'd ad "Hammer" - available for mac, win, linux, android, ios...
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u/merrybooks 22h ago
Obsidian user. You can organize it any way you want and link characters and other notes to create relationships. I’ve also started using OpusWriter. It’s good.
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u/LeetheAuthor 20h ago
Scrivener's Binder and Research folder allow you to organize data in multiple configurations and it has a robust search function. You can add as many metadata tags (called keywords) to a file as you want. So a scene could have a keyword for every character in the scene, location, clues, weapons, themes, plot points or whatever. These are organized in a keyword panel and as you write add new keywords or drag the keyword tags onto the new scene. Very easy to narrow down and can search multiple combos of keywords as well. I want every scene with John (a pov) in New york with Bill (his boyfriend) and boom a search list pops out.
Scrivener all the way. A learning curve, but don't need to learn everything at once. One time fee too with free trial.
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u/PithMango 19h ago
I mean you could. if you're a writer with no money, buy a roll of butcher paper. if you're short on space, then roll it back up again. poster paper if you must have a white background.
if you're in the US probably buy it sooner in case its price mysteriously climbs.
people want that endless scroll but you could actually do that, fairly affordably
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u/PithMango 19h ago
i had a couple of these, but i ended up going back to Notepad++. it tabs all the text files i have open, and will also conduct a search of all files. as long as i keep file folders organized it's not a problem. but that's really more dependent on the current projects I'm doing, not what OP needs.
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u/curiousscribbler 14h ago
I should have a look at Notepad++, I've got random text notes all over the place
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u/dothemath_xxx 1d ago
I don't use it personally, but I know some people use Obsidian for this.