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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25082
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

[I don't know of any software that can do this.](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/11142/outliner-software-with-annotations-for-os-x-or-browser-based-but-offline)

What I have done in the past, and what I'm doing again after trying to work with Excel, is write my outline in a text document. Each chapter is a numbered section in that text document. I leave a very broad margin (half the page or more) for handwritten notes, after I print the document out. For character development, relationships, and other throughlines, I take a sheet of paper each and [draw an annotated graph](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/24628/to-visually-and-logically-plan-out-stories/24631#24631), with chapter numbers on the x-axis to relate the points in the graph to the chapters in the text document. Usually I don't have more than three developments going on in a novel, so when I sit down to write I have three A4 or A3 sized sheets of paper on my desk with development graphs and a bundle of A4 papers stapled together with the outline. If things got more complicated, I would create a table – on paper – where each row was a throughline and each column a chapter.

Original score: 1