Characters

[Zulkiers]

So, I noticed that the characters only allow for Short Name, Full Name, AKA, and Description, and Tags. I've yet to figure out how Tags work.

Is there a way to add extra boxes to the list of fillable boxes? Like Race, Gender, Age, Group Affiliation, etc. Speaking of, could Group Affiliation also be capable of sorting the character list so that those of the same group are located together in the list?
And I don't know how to resort the list, I'd like to move my characters around in the list to sort them properly but I can't figure it out.

[Simon Haynes]

Tags are freeform so they're far better than lots of little boxes with information in. E.g. you can use tags called Race: Elf, Race: Dwarf, etc, then later on you can print a list of characters with that tag.  Same with gender, group etc.

I would put other stuff like Age into their bio, which is just a text box where you can enter whatever you like.

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[zulk...@gmail.com]

So, I can't modify mine to allow me to set that up? Awe.

Putting everything in the Bio just feels stiff. I'd like to be able to set it up such that I can see everything in the entire list of characters without having to select each character to see the details.

Like being able to set it up to see:
Short Name | Name | Alternate | Group | Age | Race | etc
Tags... Ok, just tried them, and it's at the back end (right) of the list of characters, and I can't seem to move that section to the left of Scenes and VP Scenes.

It also put my primary character to the Bottom of the list.

Ouch.

Is there not a way for me to customize the layout and list order?

[KM Lafferty]

I haven't used characters for 2 decades but I'm certain you could drag and drop the order of the characters, although I guess you would have tried that? Mine were definitely in the order I required them, so there is some way to do it. You could also designate a character as major or minor so the major ones would automatically feature above the minor.

yWriter may not perfectly match our individual idiosyncratic story needs, and it never will because it's supposed to be quite simple and easy to use; but I posit that the value of features you never realised you did need - such as automatic regular backups, various reports compiled at the touch of a button, an organisational framework that can be easily exported (and imported/reimported) to various formats, as three things off the top of my head I find invaluable - more than outweigh what it may appear to lack.   

I suggest adding some content and exploring the menus to appreciate some of these features. Experiment with the sample project if you want to stay on the safe side.

KM

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[zulk...@gmail.com]

Drag and drop doesn't move the characters. Alt Clicking on the bar above to try to find that auto resize button instead acts as if alt clicking into the characters area with add character and edit character, nothing related to the bar above.

Clicking on the bar above forces it to change the sorting, and now my characters aren't sorted into families as I created them in order, now they aren't and I can't get it to turn back. Undo doesn't undo that. And it's stuck in that out-of-order order now.

I have a ton of characters and the way the system is set up, can't really use more than 15 characters without the list getting all scrambled all the time. Definitely can't sort it properly.

Tags? Doesn't help with sorting.

If I could set them in groups and/or families, that would be good. Then I could have it sorted how I need it.

As is now, I can't figure out how to customize it to that affect. Doesn't look like I can.

Plus I'm not a Modder, so if it is currently possible, that's why I can't find it.

[Simon Haynes]

I would add 'sort by tag' to the list, but then characters can have multiple tags so which would I use?

I can drag/drop characters to move them around in the list on my screen. Not sure why that isn't working there.

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[Peter T.]

On Tuesday, June 17, 2025 at 3:11:38 AM UTC+2 zulk... wrote:

I have a ton of characters and the way the system is set up, can't really use more than 15 characters without the list getting all scrambled all the time. Definitely can't sort it properly.

Once I programmed a utility that can put the characters, locations, and items into spreadsheets for editing. However, I think that yWriter isn't the right tool for extensive world building. Its characters/locations/items feature is great when it comes to linking such elements to your text, e.g. to illustrate their effect on the plot. I see the property fields as useful reminders during the writing process, for example to ensure continuity in terms of a character's appearance or relevant life data.

If you value extensive world building, you may also want the option of relating your characters, locations and items to one another, visualize chronological references (who is where when?), and document research. And above all, you need an export to other document formats. I used Aeon Timeline for chronology and relationships (and programmed another tool for synchronization with yWriter). Also a Zim Desktop Wiki for the “Story Bible”. Since watching Brandon Sanderson's lectures on worldbuilding on YouTube, however, this has become much less important to me. Have a listen to what he says about the “world building disease”. 

By the way, Obsidian is currently very fashionable among other writers, and leaves nothing to be desired when it comes to the organization of world-building, if you get it right. For my needs, however, it is overkill and would be too much of a distraction.

[Simon Haynes]

Yep, yWriter was never designed as a world building tool. It was designed as a word processor which takes frequent backups so you never lose your work. Over time it morphed into a publishing solution (e.g. export to epub/latex/docx) but has never been intended as a do-it-all solution. In my experience those kinds of tools become top-heavy as more and more esoteric features, text boxes, buttons and lists are added.

Even now I feel all the details on the scene editor and character sheets are too much, and I never use anything myself except the character names, scene title and scene content - and I've published 30 novels.

For worldbuilding I myself use Freemind (a sort of mind mapping tool) which is free to use. I haven't used that recently either, as I prefer to keep a 'notes' chapter in each book with a brief summary of how each character ended that particular novel along with any major plot points. If I write another book in that series, I just pick up from there.

Cheers

Simon

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