Novel Plotting Spreadsheet | Chapter Outline, Plot Tracker & Revision Planner | Google Sheets Template

A Visual Novel Plotting & Revision Tool
Your entire novel. One clear picture.

Ever feel like you're carrying an entire fictional world in your head? Characters, relationships, plot twists, secrets, and seemingly endless details—all waiting to fall into place?

Meet The Story Thread Matrix, an editable Google Sheets plotting template designed to help writers visualize their stories, organize overlapping plotlines, and bring the bigger picture into focus.

Made by a writer, for writers.

Inspired by the visual plotting techniques used by successful novelists and developed through my own experience writing multiple novels, this tool transforms complicated storylines into one clear, customizable grid.

HOW IT WORKS

Chapters down. Storylines across.

Each row represents a chapter, while each column follows a particular storyline, relationship, mystery, character arc, or theme.

Read across to see how your plotlines intersect within a chapter.

Read down to follow the development of an individual story thread.

Zoom out to identify possible plot holes, forgotten subplots, pacing issues, and opportunities for revision.

Whether you're outlining a new manuscript or untangling an existing draft, the matrix grows with your story—not the other way around.

WHAT'S INCLUDED

Your template includes four organized worksheets:

01 | START HERE
A built-in guide to setting up and customizing your matrix.

02 | DEMO MATRIX
A completed 12-chapter mystery-fantasy example, The Vanishing Crown, demonstrating how multiple storylines develop across a novel.

03 | YOUR MATRIX
Your own customizable plotting space, featuring:

24 customizable story-thread columns

200 preformatted chapter rows

Story stage, tension, and revision-status dropdowns

Space to track characters, relationships, revelations, themes, and plot points

A flexible structure for plotting and revising

04 | DROPDOWN GUIDE
A reference explaining the tracking options.

PERFECT FOR

Novelists • Fiction Writers • Fantasy Authors • Romance Writers • Mystery Writers • Creative Writing Students • Plotters & Pantsers

License: Personal use only. Redistribution, resale, or sharing of the template is not permitted.

PLEASE NOTE

This is a digital product. No physical item will be shipped.

After purchase, download the provided file and follow the link to create your own editable copy of Google Sheets.

This product does not automatically generate stories or write chapters for you.

A NOTE FROM THE CREATOR

Every story is made of countless threads, woven together in the writer's imagination. The Story Thread Matrix was created to help untangle the details, connect the pieces, and bring the bigger picture into focus.

Questions? Feel free to message NovelLoom Co. through Etsy. I'd love to help!

Stories are made of threads.

NovelLoom Co.