I'm doing the groundwork for a seven-novel series, so this was quite interesting and helpful -- thank you. I'm new to Plottr, so take this with a grain of salt: I wish Plottr would have the ability to roll up the individual novel timelines into one series timeline rather than (only) present me with a blank series timeline. Not having this feature makes me wonder if I should plot all seven novels only in the series timeline. Thoughts?
I have to agree with some of the other comments in this thread. I deliberately downloaded the trial because I thought Plottr would provide the solution for managing books within a series. I followed your video but was sorely disappointed when I realised that the rollup to the series timeline was created entirely manually. I think your methodology is excellent. re creating the series arc first and then adapting your book arcs to fit within the greater series arc. However, as there is no direct linkage between the two views, the idea of having to duplicate data between the two views with no linkages is making me reconsider further evaluation of plottr. Particularly disappointing is the fact that comments pointing out this shortcoming in plottr are now over 2 years old. I would have thought it would have been an obvious feature to implement . The fact that it hasn't been indicates to me that management and development of a series of books functionality is not really high on on your developers priorities. Best solution I've found so far .. but as a result of a 15 minute play, falls well short of what i'm willing to pay for.
Thank you for your honest feedback. This is an older video, there are several features introduced since that will help you migrate data between books in series view. Plottr into Plottr import lets you save a Plottr project and import it into another Plottr file, choosing what to import. That way, you could (for example) create plotlines for a single entry in your series, save the project, and import that into a broader series project file. You can also save your own custom templates, so you could save the scene cards of one book as a custom template from the timeline, then use that template when creating another book in the series, importing that data quickly. Character data is shared across the whole series n Plottr, and you can tag characters with which title they appear in as well. If you have any more specific feature requests and suggestions, please share them with our support team on plottr.com/support. Thank you!
@@Plottr Thank you for taking the time to reply. I didn't know about the import a plottr file into a plottr file. I've been opening two instances and manually dragging content across from one file to the other (which also worked well, though it physically does MOVE rather than COPY the content across. 😊
Thanks. This looks very useful. If I understand correctly, there's also a lot of manual duplication of work because there is no automation (copying or linking) between the series timeline and that of each individual book. (I hope I'm wrong and it already does something to reduce the work like the below.) I'd LOVE it if Plottr offered at least initial copying (offered either direction, e.g. from the series to one of the books in the series). It'd also be good if applicable cards could be linked so an update in one would be reflected in the other (e.g. edit the series timeline card and it also is changed in the related book's timeline card). This may reduce the workload of inevitable changes as the books progress (and the author needs to update each timeline). Thanks for this video!
Thank you Troy, that was really helpful. I had trouble keeping up, because I don't know all the ins and outs of navigating the space yet. But I made copious notes and recreated your series and book timelines as you displayed them here, and learned a lot about how to set up my own series. Which I've been writing notes on in Scrivener for years and is hopelessly convoluted and random. Kind of a 100,000 word note pile with 14 or so scenes written but definitely needing an overview (can you tell I'm a pantser by nature?) Which is of course why I bought Plottr. it's never too late to change.
This was awesome, Troy, thank you! Though I'm sorely tempted to write your Serial Killer series--that's a phenomenal idea! I'm new to Plottr, and am still in my trial phase, but I am SUPER impressed. When series get unwieldy, a visual like the series timeline would be invaluable.
Actually, this suggests a new template for Plottr - the world bible or series guide. I would love to access to something like that
This definitely requires some rethinking as my first novel is growing with more ideas and character development. Thanks!
This is fantastic ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Thanks for your kind feedback, Warmflash!
I'm doing the groundwork for a seven-novel series, so this was quite interesting and helpful -- thank you.
I'm new to Plottr, so take this with a grain of salt: I wish Plottr would have the ability to roll up the individual novel timelines into one series timeline rather than (only) present me with a blank series timeline. Not having this feature makes me wonder if I should plot all seven novels only in the series timeline. Thoughts?
I have to agree with some of the other comments in this thread. I deliberately downloaded the trial because I thought Plottr would provide the solution for managing books within a series. I followed your video but was sorely disappointed when I realised that the rollup to the series timeline was created entirely manually.
I think your methodology is excellent. re creating the series arc first and then adapting your book arcs to fit within the greater series arc. However, as there is no direct linkage between the two views, the idea of having to duplicate data between the two views with no linkages is making me reconsider further evaluation of plottr. Particularly disappointing is the fact that comments pointing out this shortcoming in plottr are now over 2 years old. I would have thought it would have been an obvious feature to implement . The fact that it hasn't been indicates to me that management and development of a series of books functionality is not really high on on your developers priorities.
Best solution I've found so far .. but as a result of a 15 minute play, falls well short of what i'm willing to pay for.
Thank you for your honest feedback. This is an older video, there are several features introduced since that will help you migrate data between books in series view. Plottr into Plottr import lets you save a Plottr project and import it into another Plottr file, choosing what to import. That way, you could (for example) create plotlines for a single entry in your series, save the project, and import that into a broader series project file.
You can also save your own custom templates, so you could save the scene cards of one book as a custom template from the timeline, then use that template when creating another book in the series, importing that data quickly.
Character data is shared across the whole series n Plottr, and you can tag characters with which title they appear in as well.
If you have any more specific feature requests and suggestions, please share them with our support team on plottr.com/support. Thank you!
@@Plottr Thank you for taking the time to reply. I didn't know about the import a plottr file into a plottr file. I've been opening two instances and manually dragging content across from one file to the other (which also worked well, though it physically does MOVE rather than COPY the content across. 😊
Thanks. This looks very useful.
If I understand correctly, there's also a lot of manual duplication of work because there is no automation (copying or linking) between the series timeline and that of each individual book. (I hope I'm wrong and it already does something to reduce the work like the below.)
I'd LOVE it if Plottr offered at least initial copying (offered either direction, e.g. from the series to one of the books in the series). It'd also be good if applicable cards could be linked so an update in one would be reflected in the other (e.g. edit the series timeline card and it also is changed in the related book's timeline card). This may reduce the workload of inevitable changes as the books progress (and the author needs to update each timeline).
Thanks for this video!
Thanks for the feedback! Copying / duplication is coming very soon :)
@@Plottr Thanks so much for the reply... and I love using Plottr.
Thank you Troy, that was really helpful. I had trouble keeping up, because I don't know all the ins and outs of navigating the space yet. But I made copious notes and recreated your series and book timelines as you displayed them here, and learned a lot about how to set up my own series. Which I've been writing notes on in Scrivener for years and is hopelessly convoluted and random. Kind of a 100,000 word note pile with 14 or so scenes written but definitely needing an overview (can you tell I'm a pantser by nature?)
Which is of course why I bought Plottr. it's never too late to change.
This was awesome, Troy, thank you! Though I'm sorely tempted to write your Serial Killer series--that's a phenomenal idea! I'm new to Plottr, and am still in my trial phase, but I am SUPER impressed. When series get unwieldy, a visual like the series timeline would be invaluable.
This was SO helpful! Thank you so much for posting! :)
Oh! That is exactly what I need! Thank you so much! What would you suggest for an epic saga that spans multiple series please?