As I’ve said before, writing  “The End” on the first draft is only the beginning of your work on the road to publication. One of the things I discovered, immediately after completing a 77,000 + word draft, is keeping up with the details, even with Scrivener, seems like a monumental task.

When did that character show up? Are the descriptions consistent? Does the timeline make sense? Do I need to name that character? Is the character necessary? And, so on. There are more details to keep track of than one imagine when you begin writing your story. 

So here are a few spreadsheets I’ve come up with to help me. Feel free to copy the format, should you find these helpful.

• Character Appearance Spreadsheet –  Scene by scene. At a glance I can see where every character, including minor ones, appear in the novel. An * designates an active…