A sort-of Family Tree software...or is it?

[Phyrebrat]

Hi,

I'm starting on SG in earnest now and am in an action planning stage. As there are four concurrent timelines which link characters in the present time, I'm trying to get my head around their co-dependencies, and references.

Do you know of any software or Word/Scrivener templates that are like a sort of family tree? Obviously a family tree isn't suitable as it's limited to one root and what I need is something to show the interrelation between my characters at a glance. This is just for my addled brain, not the manuscript, so it can be basic boxes and lines.

I'd make my own in Word but I'm a Mac user and Word for Mac crashes whenever I try to embed pictures or draw.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

pH

 

[tinkerdan]

Seems like any flow chart software should do exactly that.

I remember at one job they had all the engineers keep their projects on flowcharts and the meeting with lead scientist would involve a cursory check on those flow charts and progress. That was in the early 80's so there should be lots of great stuff out there now.

http://listoffreeware.com/list-of-best-free-flowchart-software-for-windows/

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Inkscape (free)
or
Libre Office Calc (or Excel)

Proir to 1992 I did stuff like that purely in text.

Later I used Visio, then MS bought. Visio is OK, but MS has added little and it's not worth the money now.

Impress in Libre Office might do too
Libre Office is now very good.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Thanks. I can't use the flowchart stuff in Word as it crashes as soon as I try to open that menu. Anyway, I did it longhand on paper so....

pH

 

[HareBrain]

Anyway, I did it longhand on paper

That was going to be my suggestion, but you seemed set on technology.