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Section & Chapter Inserts


Steve E

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There has got to be an easier way to insert a Section heading into the middle of a Chapter. When I import a document the Chapter headings are well placed but I always need to adjust the Section placements and add more Section headings. This means a whole lot of cut and paste. It would be so much nicer (and methodologically consistent) to be able to just point and click to insert a Section. Pasting at the bottom of a Chapter just confuses things (for long chapters).

 

In the same vein might I suggest a point and click insertion methodology for Chapter headings as well? Chapter headings are rarely a problem except when you need to break up an existing chapter. But there are rare cases when you are importing a document that is in no way "chapterized". You might say, "fix it in the original file by reading through it first and creating some sort of chapter marker in appropriate places before importing the file." To which I say :(

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Yes, absolutely! This is one of the (few) features of Storyist that drives me nuts. I'm sure in a perfect world I'd be totally organized and never decide in the middle of the chapter that I needed another section, or that the chapter was running over long and I had to split it in two, or that I hadn't left some crucial actor out of my character list, or whatever.... Yeah, right. :(

 

If I click on a plot or character point and click +, I want Storyist to put the new entry there (before or after doesn't matter so long as I know which to expect), not at the end.

 

I remember a previous discussion involving changing sections to chapters and vice versa by using styles, but that's really not the same thing.

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1.2 makes this much easier. :(

 

To split a section:

  • Place the cursor at the end of the paragraph you want to split.
  • Press return.
  • Optionally press return again to bring up the style chooser and select the "Section Separator" style or simply press the tab key.
  • Type the section separator ("#").
  • Press Return.

You'll now have two sections where you had one and you can just type the section title in the manuscript (if you have section titles enabled.)

 

To merge a section:

  • Select the section separator that divides the sections you want to merge (and the section title too, if section titles are displayed).
  • Press Delete.

If there are no notes in the section section, Storyist will merge the sections for you. If there are section notes, Storyist will ask you to confirm that you want to delete them as well. Note: I already have the feature request to offer the option of merging of notes in addition to deleting them.

 

To create a new chapter:

  • Place the insertion point at end of the paragraph before which you want to create a new chapter.
  • Press return.
  • Press Return again to bring up the style chooser.
  • Select the "Chapter Title" style.
  • Type your new chapter title.

Deleting the chapter title will, as you would expect, merge the chapters.

 

-Steve

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To split a section:
  • Place the cursor at the end of the paragraph you want to split.
  • Press return.
  • Optionally press return again to bring up the style chooser and select the "Section Separator" style or simply press the tab key.
  • Type the section separator ("#").
  • Press Return.

You'll now have two sections where you had one and you can just type the section title in the manuscript (if you have section titles enabled.)

 

Pressing return twice did not bring up the style chooser for me. But typing return "#" return did create the new section in the Project Pane. What is also interesting, I think, is that by placing the cursor immediately after an existing "#" and hitting return I immediately created a Section with no new "#'.

 

To create a new chapter:
  • Place the insertion point at end of the paragraph before which you want to create a new chapter.
  • Press return.
  • Press Return again to bring up the style chooser.
  • Select the "Chapter Title" style.
  • Type your new chapter title.

Deleting the chapter title will, as you would expect, merge the chapters.

 

Again, the style chooser didn't come up for me.

I was using a fresh file from the Novel template.

What am I missing?

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Pressing return twice did not bring up the style chooser for me. But typing return "#" return did create the new section in the Project Pane. What is also interesting, I think, is that by placing the cursor immediately after an existing "#" and hitting return I immediately created a Section with no new "#'.

Again, the style chooser didn't come up for me.

I was using a fresh file from the Novel template.

What am I missing?

 

Make sure the "Pressing Return in an empty paragraph activates style chooser" check box is checked in the Text Editing > General preference pane. Also, make sure the insertion point is positioned at the start of an empty paragraph--if there is whitespace in the paragraph, the style chooser won't active (enhancement request already filed).

 

Note: you can also simply apply a style using any of the following:

  • Select it from the popup at the bottom of the manuscript view.
  • Select it from the Style > Apply Style context menu.
  • Select it from the Format > Style > Apply Style menu in the main menu (at the top of the screen).

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