How do I reproduce my spread-sheets numerically (with the specific feature described below)?

I have a story which resembles the Scatter type, according to insertnamehere's thread on different patterns CHYOA efforts follow: https://forum.chyoa.com/threads/types-of-chyoa-stories.2345/.

The CHYOA story map isn't doing it for me. Instead I have a huge sheet of paper with my own preferred layout. And now, my map is too big for my desk, so I can no longer type away with it in plain sight like I used to.

Ideally, I'd like to be able to reproduce what's on paper, but, when I click on a chapter title, it opens a small box in which I would have written, for instance :

- what happens in that chapter
- who is in that chapter
- the general theme of the parent branch

just stuff to help me be clear on what mood I need to summon to write whatever comes next, so that I don't have to re-read an entire thread just to get an idea. That's my main frustration. I'd like an easy way to access the synthesis of whatever I might be trying to do.

Is this doable on one of the Microsoft Office programs? If not, is there a free or at least cheap alternative?

 

Soundslike you are looking for mind map software. I don't know enough to recommend a particular program but here's a list to get you started https://zapier.com/blog/best-mind-mapping-software/#drawio

 

Any Floor Chart software. (Though I guess you would have to write the whole information in one box without opening it by clicking.)

Maybe Twine would fit your needs as well. (You would see the title and some of your notes in the box.)

draw.io, as suggested above, might work as well. With the objects in Entity Relation, you might be able to reproduce what you described above.