HOWTO: Create a template having more than one level

[Steve]

Suppose you want the structure your manuscript to have more than one level. I.e.

 

Monday
Chapter One
	Scene
Tuesday
Chapter Two
	Scene

or

 

Book I
Chapter One
	Section
Chapter Two
	Section
Book II
Chapter One
	Section
Chapter Two
	Section

You can easily create a template to accomplish this. Here is how:

 

1. Create a new project using the Novel template.
   
2. Place the cursor in the section text and from the main menu choose Format > Style > Create New Style From Selection...
   
3. Enter a name for the new style (in this case "Day"), make sure the "Apply this new style on creation" checkbox is checked, and click OK. The section of text containing the insertion point now has the style "Day".
   
4. Choose Format > Style > Edit Current Style...
   
5. The style editor will appear. Change the outline level from "Body Text" to "Heading 1", the next style to "Chapter Title" and click OK.
   
6. Place the insertion point in the chapter title.
   
7. From the main menu, choose Format > Style > Edit Current Style...
   
8. Change the outline level from "Heading 1" to "Heading 2" and click OK.
   

 

Your style sheet is now setup with a style named "Day" having outline level 1, a style named "Chapter Title" having outline level 2, and a style named "Section Text" having an outline level of "body text".

 

To save it as a template, from the main menu choose File > Save As Template... and click OK. The template is saved in "~/Library/Application Support/Storyist/Templates" and is now available from the template chooser when you create a new project.

 

You can find the resulting template here.

 

[EDIT: I've also created a companion screencast, which you can find here. -Steve]

 

-Steve

[astillac]

Oooh... let's try it... Thank you Steve!

[marguerite]

Oooh... let's try it... Thank you Steve!

Thanks. Templates are always welcome.

 

Thanks also for the link to the radio show. I tried to respond directly, but the forums told me I didn't have permission to reply to that topic.

 

So I'm responding here instead. The radio hosts seemed rather eager beaver, ready to rush off in the wrong direction at the drop of a hat, but you herded them very efficiently!

Marguerite

[Steve E]

Oooh... let's try it... Thank you Steve!

Yes. Thanks Steve. This is terrific.

-Thoth

[mercedes von uppity]

HI Steve (or anyone who can answer) -

 

I'm new to Storyist and this thread is exactly what I'm looking for, but can you still edit the outline levels after the manuscript has been started? I need to INSERT a level.

 

I've started by importing a manuscript (far along) in progress. So I have "Manuscript title" followed by Chapters 1-9. But I just now realize I need another level in-between those, as the book will now be divided into III parts.

 

So, I need "Title" > Part 1 > Chapters 1-9 (etc)

 

It took me so long to get the imported text into Storyist properly - divided into the outline, I really can't bear starting all over with the import. Can you offer a shining light?

 

Thanks.

[marguerite]

Hi, Mercedes:

Welcome to the forums. The short answer to your question is yes. Just follow my instructions above. I based them on the Novel template, which arrives with two chapters already in place. Please let us know if it works for you. If not, we'll troubleshoot.

 

Be aware that when you set the new tag (for Part I, say), Storyist may subsume everything that follows under that higher-level tag. Don't panic. Just go to where you want Part II to be, create your new chapter there, call it Part II, and tag it with your new tag. All the chapters after it will then become part of Part II. Go to where Part III should be and repeat, etc.

 

I'm writing this based on memory, without Storyist open, so if there are small glitches, that's why. The instructions above I wrote down while working directly with Storyist, so they should be accurate.

Best,

Marguerite

[mercedes von uppity]

Hi Marguerite -

 

Thanks for getting back to me.

 

I'm not sure what I'm missing, but I see no instructions from you posted here. The only other post from you that I have in this whole thread reads as follows:

 

QUOTE (Callista @ Feb 16 2008, 01:16 PM) *

Oooh... let's try it... Thank you Steve!

 

Thanks. Templates are always welcome.

 

Thanks also for the link to the radio show. I tried to respond directly, but the forums told me I didn't have permission to reply to that topic. sad.gif

 

So I'm responding here instead. The radio hosts seemed rather eager beaver, ready to rush off in the wrong direction at the drop of a hat, but you herded them very efficiently! laugh.gif

Marguerite

 

--------------------

 

As for Steve's instructions, they appear to be for a new project only, and when I try to follow those, the desired options are unhighlighted so that I cannot select them. I'll go back and try again now to see if I can figure what I'm doing wrong, but if you can let me know what post of yours that you're referring to it'd be helpful. Thanks!

[Steve]

Hi Mercedes,

 

It sounds like you're looking to create a book/chapter/section structure from an existing chapter/section manuscript. If so, here is one way to accomplish the task:

 

1) Create a new Book style with heading level 1. You can do this by selecting the Section Text style in the styles inspector and choosing "Create New Style from Selection". Make sure to edit the new style so that the outline level is "Heading 1."

 

2) Type your book titles in the appropriate places in your manuscript and apply the new "Book" style to them.

 

3) Edit the Chapter Title style so that the outline level is Heading 2.

 

That's it.

 

Let me know if you have questions.

 

-Steve

[marguerite]

Hi Marguerite -

 

Thanks for getting back to me.

 

I'm not sure what I'm missing, but I see no instructions from you posted here.

 

As for Steve's instructions, they appear to be for a new project only, and when I try to follow those, the desired options are unhighlighted so that I cannot select them. I'll go back and try again now to see if I can figure what I'm doing wrong, but if you can let me know what post of yours that you're referring to it'd be helpful. Thanks!

Sorry for the confusion. Those were Steve's instructions. I have posted the same instructions in a couple of places and was suffering brain freeze due to lack of coffee (well, let's pretend it's lack of coffee and not approaching senility). But I did just check the process again. The crucial step is that you have to click in the text to turn the grayed-out options on. (This is because there is no style in the Project View.)

 

Steve has just posted the instructions again. They should work, even for an imported document.

Best,

Marguerite

[mercedes von uppity]

Hi Steve and Marguerite -

 

Garh! I'm feeling like a total dunce. I just get more confused every time.

 

I went back to Steve's initial instructions and tried again twice - making sure as Marguerite said to have the cursor active in the text view. I thought I had done that yesterday, but perhaps she was right because this time I did get highlighted options. The first time, Storyist simply added another Chapter, using my first sentence a the title. Okay...so I tried all over again, and this time when I got to the last step the whole text section just went blank gray.

 

Then I tried Steve's most recent instructions, as he's exactly right - I am trying to edit from an existing format into a different one. So: I clicked into the text, then selected the inspector. I clicked on the Styles tab, but the window was blank. After clicking around in frustration a bit, some stuff appeared in there. Now it did say "section text" and I was able to get to "create new style from selection". The font of the pragagraph my cursor was in changed, and then...nothing else seemed to happen as stumbled through the last steps ("Type your book titles in the appropriate places in your manuscript and apply the new "Book" style to them...3) Edit the Chapter Title style so that the outline level is Heading 2.") That sounds easy enough but, there were no new "appropriate" places to type titles into and so "applying the book style" from there all seemed a bit vague.) I ended up with nothing happening.

 

Perhaps my issue is that I just don't have the lingo yet (?), or any intuitive sense of how this level of the program is organized. It sounds easy enough, but I don't "understand" the logic underneath how this part of the system works, so the steps are simple enough to repeat (so it would seem) but I feel like it's a foreign language. Is that making any sense?

 

I searched for youtube videos (etc) on this, but couldn't find anything. (For future reference, that'd be a dream.) I'm not sure what else I can do to "get it" at this point (as repeating yourself seems like a waste of your precious time). I'm sure the short fall is mine...if you have any other ideas or notice what I might have misunderstood in my recounting my steps above, let me know. Otherwise, I'm sure I'll figure some work-around. Thanks!

[Steve]

Hi Mercedes,

 

It is probably something simple. I'll put together a quick screen cast for you tomorrow morning.

 

-Steve

[mercedes von uppity]

Hi Steve,

Well if you get the time to do so, that'd be amazingly kind of you. If you don't end up having time at the moment, no worries. I trust that will be done eventually as I've read you say that you have screen casts in the pipeline. I'd love love love it now, but I am not averse to a bit of patience :-).

 

Thanks again!

Mercedes

[Steve]

Hi Mercedes,

 

Well if you get the time to do so, that'd be amazingly kind of you. If you don't end up having time at the moment, no worries. I trust that will be done eventually as I've read you say that you have screen casts in the pipeline. I'd love love love it now, but I am not averse to a bit of patience :-).

 

Thanks again!

Mercedes

 

It is actually a good question (and a nice demonstration of why styles are cool). You can find the screencast here.

 

-Steve

[marguerite]

Nice screencast, Steve—very informative. Thanks!

Marguerite

[mercedes von uppity]

Thanks for that, Steve. It's really really helpful. And I dare say I wouldn't have gotten it right on my own!

You rock!

 

Mercedes

[PaulCompton]

So nice to see that my own questions have been asked - and answered - and screencasted - already!

[Steve E]

So nice to see that my own questions have been asked - and answered - and screencasted - already!

This is an amazing group.

 

-Thoth

[Shandor]

Steve thanks and I really appreciate the screencast.

 

So now I have a document that lets me get the trilogy together in one place and lets me work on ideas that happen throughout the entire set. but....

 

what is the best way to publish just one of those books? should I eventually break this into 3 documents? Or can I spit out a document that is based on certain levels of the outline?

[marguerite]

Shandor,

Do you have each book in its own manuscript under MANUSCRIPTS? That's usually how a trilogy is set up. If so, when you print (either to a printer or to PDF), the command affects only the currently selected manuscript. You can combine PDFs outside Storyist using Preview, if you want.

 

When you export to ePub or MOBI, just click on the manuscript you want and any additional files to include (cover, note containing copyright information, title page, etc.). Then proceed with the export. Don't forget to drag the files into the correct order in step 2.

 

Did that answer your question?

Best,

Marguerite