I’ve used Excel for a very long time, but I literally just discovered this neat trick so I’m going to share. π
Ok, to start at the beginning, I started an Excel spreadsheet to create a super accurate timeline of the Vokhtah story. To track the number of days of the timeline, I created a column and ‘filled’ it with a sequence of numbers. Most people know how to do this but I’ll cover it nonetheless:
Step 1 Type in two consecutive numbers and then select both together:
Selecting these two consecutive numbers tells Excel the step order – i.e. 1 + 1 = 2, 2 + 1 = 3, 3 + 1 = 4 etc. If you typed in 10 followed by 20, Excel would know the step order was 10 + 10 = 20, 20 + 10 = 30, etc.
Once Excel knows the step order, clicking and holding the small square [as shown below] allows you to drag that step order to as many cells as you wish:
In the screenshot above, I dragged the handle down to the 7th cell, filling all the cells with the correct sequence of numbers.
So far so good? Stay with me. This is where it gets exciting. Being able to fill a series of cells with consecutive numbers was perfect for tracking how many days there were in the timeline, but that didn’t help me work out on which calendar day the journey/story began.
To put this as simply as possible, imagine a task takes you 10 days to complete, and you finish it on the last day of March [which has 31 days]. Now imagine if someone asked you which day of the month you started the task. If it’s only a few days you can easily count backwards, but if it’s more than a few days, you might have to drag out a calendar to work it out.
On Vokhtah, there are no months per se. Instead, there are 4 seasons which have an irregular number of days. Book 1 of Vokhtah takes place during the season of Tohoh, which has 100 days. To find out which calendar day the story began, I needed to do a backwards fill. This is how I did it.
- Click in a vacant cell.
- Look at the top right corner of the Excel toolbar and click the small arrow next to the ‘Fill’ icon:
This will display a small, drop down menu.
- Select the ‘UP’ option from the drop down menu.
- Now type the last number of your desired fill sequence in the cell.
- Next, type the second last number of your desired fill sequence in the next cell up.
- Select both cells.
- Click-hold-drag the small square box UP to fill the cells from last to first [or any point in between]:
In the example shown above, I only dragged the small square as far as the number 4. In my real spreadsheet I dragged it from 100:

to Tohoh 42 – i.e. the day of the season on which the journey/story began:

I know a lot of writers out there will be shaking their heads right about now. “Use a spreadsheet? No way!”
To be honest, as a pantster, I would never have thought of using a spreadsheet to work out how the story should progress. But once I started writing books in a series, I had to make sure that info. in the first book married up to info in the second and third books. And that’s where Excel comes in because it allows me to outline in reverse.
So there you have it. Outlining in reverse aided by a backwards fill from Excel. It’s been a good day. π
cheers,
Meeks
April 20th, 2022 at 12:14 am
Me, too–like so many commenters–I use Excel for outlining my entire story (I’ve written about that on my blog), but I couldn’t follow. Any chance you could put this into a video? If not, don’t worry!
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 19th, 2022 at 9:15 pm
I am always amazed with the versatility of Excel. I know a lot of writers who use it in a wide variety of ways. I donβt use it for writing (I use Trello) but I use it to prepare the Thursday Doors Recap. Without Excel, there simply would be no recap.
LikeLiked by 2 people
April 20th, 2022 at 12:12 am
That is clever, Dan. I’m not sure how that would work…
LikeLiked by 2 people
April 20th, 2022 at 3:54 am
I’ve thought about explaining it in a blogpost but I’m not sure how many people would be interested.
I gather the links with a JavaScript scrip and then paste them into a spreadsheet that forms the table you see on Sunday.
LikeLiked by 2 people
April 20th, 2022 at 8:07 am
JavaScript is beyond my skill set, Dan, but I’d still be interested in seeing how you do it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
April 20th, 2022 at 10:12 am
Yep, me too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 20th, 2022 at 6:36 pm
High Five, Jacqui. π
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 20th, 2022 at 8:03 am
There’s another post, Dan!
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 20th, 2022 at 12:13 am
And–how do you use Trello for that? I used it with a writer’s group I’m in but don’t see how it works for mapping a story.
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 20th, 2022 at 3:59 am
I have a list for each major character, a list for all the minor characters, a list for places and a timeline list. Since I can move the cards up and down, I can change the order. I also have lists for research and technical details. There will eventually be five books in the series, so I have a timeline list for each and a review list. I use a checklist, with an item for each chapter, for review. The cool thing about that is if I copy a card for a different pass in the review process, it copies the checklist but clears all the items.
LikeLiked by 2 people
April 20th, 2022 at 5:00 am
That is clever, Dan. I wouldn’t have thought of that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 20th, 2022 at 7:56 am
I think if comes down to what you’re comfortable with. I used Trello a lot at work, so it was natural for me.
LikeLiked by 2 people
April 20th, 2022 at 8:18 am
That makes sense.
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 20th, 2022 at 8:09 am
Wow…is this in Trello or Excel?
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 20th, 2022 at 11:30 am
Mine is in Trello
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 20th, 2022 at 6:36 pm
I really have to check this program out. π
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 20th, 2022 at 8:03 am
This is the first I’ve heard of Trello so I’m interested too.
LikeLike
April 20th, 2022 at 7:46 am
Hey! Another one. π I use StoryBox for the actual writing [fiction], but Word for image based non-fiction that includes a lot of screenshots. I’ll look Trello up. π
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 19th, 2022 at 7:50 pm
I’m with Audrey -smile-
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 20th, 2022 at 7:45 am
-giggles- ok π
LikeLike
April 19th, 2022 at 5:27 pm
It sounds like a wonderful idea, but not something I could manage. Like Audrey, I have enough trouble with the stuff I have to use every day!
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 19th, 2022 at 7:13 pm
Actually I’m a firm believer in need-to-know and task based learning. Trying to learn something just ‘because’ is so hard. In fact, I think it become self-defeating in the long term. No one wants to use something they hate.
-blush- I just…-cough-…kind of enjoy Excel. Don’t hate me!
LikeLiked by 2 people
April 20th, 2022 at 4:30 am
No, I admire your prowessβ¦ I am trying to learn PowerPoint myself, and thatβs hard enoughβ¦ π
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 20th, 2022 at 8:12 am
I like PowerPoint as well, and the best thing about it is that you can make it as simple or as complex as you wish. I know Diana uses it a lot so keep at it! π
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 20th, 2022 at 5:26 pm
Diana is the one who convinced me to try it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 20th, 2022 at 6:29 pm
Ah hah! I’m not surprised. Diana has created some fantastic powerpoint trailers. She really is good. You’ve got an excellent mentor. π
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 21st, 2022 at 5:21 am
Diana is so helpful too, when I get stuckβ¦
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 21st, 2022 at 11:48 am
Diana is a good friend and a brilliant writer, an amazing combination in these strange times. -hugs-
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 22nd, 2022 at 4:03 am
She sure isβ¦
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 19th, 2022 at 4:59 pm
I use something similar – but counting the number of days between ‘today’ and a future or past date. Future date to countdown to anything exciting, and the past date (which is the April 6th, the first day of the UK tax year) to calculate my daily sales rate and project profit / sales / loss if I were to continue at the same rate. I bloody love spreadsheets.
=TODAY()
formula for today’s date
=(J2-K2)
where J2 contains the date calculated by the the first formula and K2 the 6th April
reverse the two for a countdown to excitement.
LikeLiked by 2 people
April 19th, 2022 at 7:10 pm
lmao – from here on in, you are my official Excel buddy!
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 19th, 2022 at 3:33 pm
My use of Excel was pretty basic and years ago. I realize it’s a useful tool for all kinds of things, but I’d have to have a specific and pressing need to go through the learning process. I’ve found I learn stuff like that best if I need to do something specific. “Just in case” doesn’t work so well.
Plus which, right now, wrestling with Word is enough for me.
LikeLiked by 2 people
April 19th, 2022 at 7:07 pm
I first learned to use spreadsheet back in the early 80’s for my job, and I’ve been lucky to keep using it ever since. Not as a power user though. Like you, I learn/retain knowledge on a need-to-know basis.
Just as a matter of curiosity, how did you keep track of the 4 Herbert West books????
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 20th, 2022 at 2:41 pm
I certainly didn’t have any sort of organized tool to keep track of details (names, dates, etc.) while writing the four books. To be honest, I think I was so obsessed with the characters and their story that everything was live in my memory. Or maybe I just checked stuff in my manuscripts when I needed to. I do remember making up a chronology of the key events over the whole series for my critique group, because there is some temporal bouncing around.
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 20th, 2022 at 6:33 pm
-nods- when you’re in the thick of it, the details feel easy to remember. One or two years down the track though…memory is such a fickle thing. I published Vokhtah in 2013, and while I remember the /story/, the details keep surprising me. Hence the reverse outlining. I’m determined not to mention encroaching old age…;)
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 21st, 2022 at 4:14 am
Right–I was younger when I wrote the HW books. I should read all of them again and see if anything surprises me!
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 21st, 2022 at 11:51 am
You will be surprised. You’ll read the story and get a weird sense of disorientation. “This is me? I wrote /this/?’ It’s a wonderful feeling to realise that you’re not just fooling yourself into thinking you’re ‘a writer’. Ahem, or maybe that’s just me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 21st, 2022 at 12:35 pm
I hope that’s how it will be, rather than, “Aargh, I need to rewrite this.” But yes, I have had moments like that! One of the rewards.
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 21st, 2022 at 12:47 pm
lol – you’ll get the reward, I’m sure of it. π
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 19th, 2022 at 3:28 pm
HI Meeks, thanks for sharing this tip. I also use excel to keep my characters and certain information straight. My excel spreadsheets are very important to my stories.
LikeLiked by 2 people
April 19th, 2022 at 7:04 pm
High Five, Robbie! Great minds. π π
LikeLiked by 1 person