What I use to compare species in my stories.

Hi there folks,

I decided to share the spreadsheet I use when writing my story. It's a neat tool I think, just a table with relatives values and simple explanations to compare species in terms of mass, size, strength, what they can do... That kind of things.

I just keep adding stuff to that thing from time to time when I find interesting species which I think could add something to my story's universe and all. That being said, I really just stick to things found in the MLP universe, including the movies and comics. Doesn't mean there's no variety to it, quite the contrary.

Here, have a spreadsheet.

Need I say I have an addiction to Microsoft Excel? Well, cat's out of the bag now.

UPDATE: Version 1.6 (Mar 19)

Comments

[Starscribe]

That's some great work, pretty much what I imagined though I never formalized anything for PaP quite so down and dirty. That does have me curious about what sort of story would require stats to be broken down so thoroughly like that. I've never made anything like that, but I don't know that I would've missed having one either.

[Merchant Mariner]

4987802
In my defense, my use of Excel in writing is intended to compensate for my own erratic memory. In the context of Along New Tides, the story could be considered already completed if spreadsheets counted as a narrative tool. I really use them to keep track of all the smaller details in my story in order to avoid creating accidental plot holes. It also allows me to keep the story consistent without having to backtrack and search multiple word documents for that one little detail I can't recall. When I pair them up with my nautical charts and the satellite pictures I use to 'set the scene', I can quickly collect data on what went on at any point in the story.

For the species themselves, it helps because my story features several of the lesser known species in MLP canon. With the list, I can keep them consistent and avoid accidentally botching their capabilities or having them pull impossible tricks.

TL;DR It's a writing tool to avoid inconsistencies because I have a bad memory and no patience.