Questions for newbie...

[jshankin]

I'm not understanding Storyist's views. In the source list I click on title page under the "notes" section and it's in manuscript view. I can see the text of the title page in the main view. But then I click on that little box in the top right corner to switch to index cards view and the text for the title page isn't there, but the words "title page" are. So I'm wondering how this works or what I'm not understanding. Why did the text of my title page info disappear?

 

If I can get this answered it should help me understand a bit more about these views.

Thanks. (more questions to follow...)

Jerry

[marguerite]

Hi, Jerry:

In most cases, the index cards hold the summary information from the sheets. So if you create a Plot Point, type some text in it, then the only text that's displayed in index card mode is the part you wrote under Summary. The same holds true of Character and Settings sheets. Section sheets have a Synopsis field that acts the same way as the Summary field.

 

Notes don't have a summary field, and they can hold a ton of text. So the only thing that is displayed on the index card is the title of the note. You can type on the index card to remind yourself what's in that note (not too useful in the Title Page note, because the title tells you all you need, but much more useful if you're using the notebook to stash, say, that great map you found). One reason you might do that is because you can display a bunch of notes side-by-side on the corkboard and zero in on the one you need.

 

Hope that helps. I've attached a screen shot that shows the same note displayed as an index card and as text, so you can see the difference.

Best, and welcome to the forums,

Marguerite

 

 

 

[jshankin]

Thank you, Marguerite!

That make sense to me. You said the notes sheets don't hold a lot of information. I was going to journal in notes, but maybe now I won't. Do you journal about your stories/current writing projects in Storyist? If so, where?

Jerry

[marguerite]

You're welcome.

 

You misread what I said: the notes DO hold a lot of information. They are basically text files with a different icon, so they can run to many pages. Much more than can fit on an index card....

 

I keep all my research, writing exercises, synopses, maps, etc., in notes. That's what they're for. I also have notes on specific characters, plot points, settings, and sections in the individual sheets, but those notes are very specific to the sheet.

 

I even have a note folder called Addenda, which holds the title page, e-book title page, copyright info, author bio, acknowledgments, and any other page that I may want to tack on when I export. It's a way to get around the restriction that pagination starts with 1.

 

So the notebook is the perfect place for journaling.

Best,

M