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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/34621
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

When I plot my own novels or analyze other works to understand their structure, I like to visualize the dynamic of the storyline(s) in a diagram.

Usually I draw this by hand. A first version of such a narrative chart might look like this one (which shows part of the plot for Mary E. Pearson's _Remnant Chronicles_, that I have been reading during my research on YA romantic fantasy):

[![handdrawn plot structure](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4ThhE.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4ThhE.jpg)

The problem with drawing the plot structure by hand is that I'll have to redraw the whole chart whenever I make more than a minor change. That's not much of a problem if I only do it for my own plot (because then I only do about one chart every few months, and taking an afternoon to come up with the right plot structure is fun), but when I draw them in the course of analyzing books that I read, redrawing the whole diagram for each change becomes somewhat cumbersome.

I'm therefore looking for a software that allows me to **easily** (!!!) draw and change storyline diagrams like this one (which was created using the screenwriting software [DramaQueen](https://dramaqueen.info/) and shows the plot of the fairy tale "[Hansel and Gretel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansel_and_Gretel)"):

[![storyline graph created in DramaQueen](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JWMKL.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JWMKL.png)

I don't want to use DramaQueen to draw these kinds of charts, though, because DramaQueen costs 297 Euros and I don't need its other features, and because I cannot label (and drag?) the points in the chart.

I know I can draw any kind of diagram I want in software like Adobe Illustrator, but creating (and changing) a storyline chart in a graphic software like that is even more complicated than redrawing the chart by hand.

What I am looking for is software that allows me to:

- set points with a mouse click (or by entering coordinates)
- connect points with a line automatically (like the pen tool in Photoshop) or with a few mouse clicks (like the connecting arrows in diagrams in PowerPoint or Word)
- add a text box or label (with descriptive text) to a plot point
- change the storyline by dragging plot points
- text labels and connecting lines move with the plot point when it is dragged
- (chose line width, color, point size, ...; not a must)
- export as graphic (JPEG, PNG) or markup (HTML, SVG)

The software doesn't have to be specialized for writing or plotting, and may have more features (that I don't need), but it must not be expensive and must be easier to use than drawing by hand. I'm on a Mac, but for your answer, platform does not matter.

Original score: 16