I have created an MS excel file to store all my databases (since I'm doing the bonus too). They are easy to edit, easy to comprehend and look through, and you can use all the different functions to get raw information and statistics. You can also add filters, scroll-down menus and sorting to the columns and rows, allowing you to maneuver through a dense amount of information.

To overdo today's assignment I've even made a distinct area within the table for the families inside my fictional world, their heritage, titles and wealth/lands.

An example for the functions:

'=COUNTIF(area:area,"word")' lets you see how much do you have of the certain 'word' in your table. For example, you can count the males and the females, thus checking your character gender distribution.

There are many more, and I'll definitely use excel for each and every database during OctoPrep. The only bad thing is that you can't actually post it to WDC, you can however create diagrams and statistics you can share as pictures, along with report sheets.

Of course, for a novel with only a few characters this is quite the overkill, you could simply jot them down to a paper. But if you are going War and Peace style, excel is the path to choose.