Exploring Storyist 2 The Dull Thud

EXPLORING STORYIST 2: THE DULL THUD A few weeks ago I posted about how I purchased and put in Storyist and that I was starting to explore it to see if it would be a great replacement for Word, and assist me get writing extra. It was also meant to help me work with a consumer on a very big, complicated project that required us to be able to share paperwork and simply and effectively track adjustments and variations. I’m sorry to say I hit Storyist’s fail point quickly and completely. That shopper and I even have gone back to Word and for me, Storyist might be helpful if I get again into writing screenplays, however for the rest of my work, it’s going to be a cross. Here are a number of big issues . . . First, what Storyist touts as its principal energy is the power to prepare story parts to maintain track of characters, plot points, etc. in some kind of dynamic fashion that may allow you to strip down your writing to its fundamental elements and transfer it around. I’ll admit I will not be using it proper, howev er it doesn’t do this. At least, not in any means that’s considerably lacking in Word. Storyist saves every little thing under a project heading, which was counterintuitive to me at first but once I realized that the “project” was the identical as a “folder”, with separate paperwork inside it, that began making extra sense, but then only a little extra sense. Again, if the project is the same as a folder, why not simply use a folder, which is able to allow me to see the contents of the project from Finder, with out opening Storyist? I actually have no rationalization for that. The numerous components that make up a project seem to have been solely vaguely thought out. You can add a personality, for instance, which opens up a document with textual content laid in: New Character 1 Summary Summarize the character right here. What role does the character play within the story? How does this character drive the story? How is that this character essential to the telling of the story? Physical Description Age: Gender: Eye Color: Hair Color: Build: Character Development Points There are not any character development factors associated with this character. To create one, click on on the icon on the left, and select “Add Character Point” from the pop-up menu. Notes There are no notes for this character. And that’s it. What does that get me, exactly, that I couldn’t have arrange in a minute or so and saved as a Word file? And is that basically all of the creators of Storyist think about important for an writer when creating a personality? A fast listing of physical attributes and “notes”? And while these are valid questions: What role does the character play in the story? How does this character drive the story? How is that this character essential to the telling of the story? Again, is that it? Oh, and you may drag a picture off your laptop or the internet into a picture field. Which you may also do in a Word file. The Plot Point “function” i s equally useless. I’ve performed with this factor for some time now and nonetheless can’t see how these parts interrelate at all besides that you can break up your screen so you'll be able to see a character sheet and your text at the same time. I can do that with Word, too, except I don’t have to view them all in ever-smaller home windows however can move them around between two monitors however I select, and no less than just as simply if no more easily copy and paste between the 2, which so far as I can inform is the one means these sheets work together. And then there’s the massive, massive problem by way of collaborationâ€"more a collection of issues. Storyist allows you to save your project right into a Dropbox folder. So does Word. Is that it, by way of collaboration tools? It seems so. Storyist has no capacity to trace changes the way in which Word does, so the one way to see what’s changed between one version and one other appears to be studying through each reco rdsdata word for word with the textual content break up between two home windows. That’s awful. I would possibly as nicely be working with hardcopies. And you'll be able to’t activate the invisibles so have no sense of the actual formatting. Those two things (no capability to track adjustments, no capability to see invisibles) makes it of no use to me as an editor. And then in fact if you wish to get your ultimate textual content file to anybody who doesn’t have Storyist, you have to export the file to another format. And regardless of guarantees to the contrary, Storyist not solely doesn’t preserve its own formatting when it exports to .doc format, it introduces some very, very weird stuff. In one caseâ€"and I suppose that is true of all instancesâ€"Storyist’s paragraph marks seem as paragraph marks on display screen in Word, however after I tried to search for them they didn’t present up. Word didn’t acknowledge them as paragraph marks. This led me to need to go thro ugh every paragraph and manually kind over each single paragraph break by hand. I’m going to try this for a 90,000 word novel? No thank you. I actually do hate to give up on this so quickly, however this little program is basically simply Word Lite. But in contrast to Word, which wants to make choices for you however could be told to not, Storyist tends to insist you solely do things one way, and their way is nearly what anybody else would think about a normal manuscript format. Almost, however not fairly. Sorry, Storyist, back to the drawing board for you. â€"Philip Athans About Philip Athans I’m at present utilizing Scrivener, and it works really nice for me. Sounds prefer it has extra features than Storyist. And you can use templates, or you can do your own thing. That’s been recommended to me, too, but now I’m feeling burned… And I don’t wish to have to use program for writing and another for editing, so if Scrivener gained;t observe adjustments, and so forth. … You gained’t like Scrivener except you alter how you write. 1. it forces you to write down in RTF. I write in Plain Text (more than likely not an enormous deal for you) 2. you possibly can only highlight modifications between snapshots (NOT like in Word, where the modifications are in line) Since I use model management (and critic markup), I don’t care about Word type change highlighting. three. Projects are primarily DMG information. I don’t get this, why not just use a folder, are your contents that valuable? come on! (I can work around this, since I perceive the Mac system internals, shouldn’t have to) four. HTML files are saved, once more inside the “project,” as an internet archive. Formatting goes to crap, as it appears that evidently the CSS, and external js information by no means make it in. (yes they are run by way of Safari, another wtf) 5. And this is the largest problem with Scrivener: MAJOR perspective issues at the “firm.” Difficult to take care of, and don’t fairly “get it” in terms of solving issues. Take issues VERY personally, and get offended easily. Having stated that, I still use it. Why? I don’t need to use Word, DevonThink is almost as painful, and every thing else sucks. 1. I can compile research in a single space, then write about it with out having to switch programs to learn my research. 2. Each project can include every thing for an article, e-book, pamphlet, industrial, and so forth… (this can cause duplicates in materials, if like me you tend to write down similar material (e.g. promoting, manuals, books for inside pub). I get round this by having a storage space for my research (frequently up to date), and importing it when I start a brand new project. It’s not good, however it’s workable. 3. helps 2 column format, it’s what I used after I programmed, and I prefer it that way. Few others support this. four. Also has “documentary” type layout, which I use so much. I used to make use of Final Draft A/V however it's useless. (If Fountain ever comes out with a method to emulate the commercial script structure, Scrivener may be gone) Other programs: Ulysses â€" I actually have V2 and V3. I’m VERY slowly coming around to V3. Ulysses is plain text solely, which I prefer. It’s for writing, NOT proofing, NOT comparing, NOT researching. It’s about writing, PERIOD. StoryMill â€" I even have it, however I don’t use it. It’s much like Storyist, just not as engaging. Similar characteristic set, so far as I can inform. Mellel â€" after I MUST use a word processor for some fundamental format. Persona â€" has issues, but is good for constructing characters. ARCHETYPAL focused. Currently Using: I even have moved to Markdown (I used to have my very own mark up codes, and used scripts to export them to other formats; it’s not likely necessary anymore) as it will deal with most of my n eeds for formatting, and doesn't get in my means. I use Critc MarkUp to make modifications, add notes, etc… Marked will present me the ultimate, adjustments, and uncooked. I use TextExpander to set time stamps after I make modifications, and at all times put the latest change beneath the current text. On event I sue Fountain markup for screenplays (usually for writing dialogue that I don’t want to neglect). Working in plain text, I am not restricted to anybody program, and I can at all times work on my stuff irrespective of the place I am. Granted it’s much easier within the arrange I have on my Mac than at an Internet Cafe, or on on iPad/iPhone; however can’t all the time be at home when lightning strikes. Hope that helps you a bit. These totally different software program packages for writers have all the time struck me as gimmicky, and trying to fill a necessity that’s not likely there. The standards for me when taking a look at some of these that get recommended has at all times been: Does this program do something basically completely different than what I may achieve with my binder of notes and Microsoft Word? The answer has always been no. The good ol’ binder of notes is incredibly versatile! I can take my notes out, spread them across my desk and flooring, stick them on the wall, and crumple up and hurl them in anger. I agree. I all the time have lots of handwritten notes. I use an enormous sketchbook, take a pen and simply go crazy on every web page brainstorming till it comes down right into a construction. Word is completely fine. Although I’ve written 4 novels on Google Docsâ€"simply because I really benefit from the auto-save feature. Why repair what isn’t broke? I’ve tried to use varied writing packages and for novel writing it has been a waste of time. I actually tried Scrivener and had a lot put into one project after which it decided, ‘Ya know what? NO!’ and deleted all of my stored information. I tried to undo it however it wouldn’t work. I’d say, though it in all probability doens’t happen for everyone, it’s not definitely worth the risk. As far as Storyist… it sounds such as you’ve had a nasty time, so I applaud you in sticking to word. For screenplays I truly enjoyed Adobe Story… untilt the trial ran out. I’m additionally a notebook + hardcopy define + Word, writing over outline guy myself and it's working. Storyist or Scrivener ultimately can’t get me to take a seat down and write any greater than Word canâ€"that part’s as much as me!