WriteAway Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 Greetings. I'm new to this community and to Storyist, but I am trying it out at the moment to put the finishing touches on a novel i started a few years ago - created in MS WORD, then imported to Pages, then tried out in varying forms with Final Draft, Scrivener, Jer's Novel Writer, etc (can you say PROCRASTINATION?) ANYWAY... My manuscript is a novel written in short stories. Within each of these stories I play around with form(at). Some scenes end up as CUT TO: screenplay styles, others as Play style (as if the characters are on stage), and others as newspaper clippings or radio dialogue. What I was able to do, obviously, in any of the major word processors was to set up tables or columns. For the specific instance I'm writing about, two characters (chefs) carry on monologues, both at the same time, talking while the other is talking, but to illustrate their personality, they both end their simultaneous monologues with the same utterance. They are meant to be read alongside other because I have the reader in mind, of course, not an audience or director. In Storyist, how might I achieve this format, I.E., set up two parallel columns, running side by side, in one section, and carry over more than one page if need be? When I copied the section from Pages to Storyist the columns were forced out, and in Storyist they become as if two sections, one immediately after the other. Hmmm....It's a simple idea, really, but why do I feel like I just spouted gobbledygook? Any help appreciated (as this is pretty central to my being able to use this app for this book) Jeff PS - I am liking Storyist so far, and it does work well with my other, more quote-unquote 'normal' manuscripts. One simple feature, though, that JNW contains that would be great in S'ist is the margin notes. Write/edit/proof, whatever, and just make notes on word/pp/char/etc right in the margin and come back to it later... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 Greetings. I'm new to this community and to Storyist, but I am trying it out at the moment to put the finishing touches on a novel i started a few years ago - created in MS WORD, then imported to Pages, then tried out in varying forms with Final Draft, Scrivener, Jer's Novel Writer, etc (can you say PROCRASTINATION?) ANYWAY... My manuscript is a novel written in short stories. Within each of these stories I play around with form(at). Some scenes end up as CUT TO: screenplay styles, others as Play style (as if the characters are on stage), and others as newspaper clippings or radio dialogue. What I was able to do, obviously, in any of the major word processors was to set up tables or columns. For the specific instance I'm writing about, two characters (chefs) carry on monologues, both at the same time, talking while the other is talking, but to illustrate their personality, they both end their simultaneous monologues with the same utterance. They are meant to be read alongside other because I have the reader in mind, of course, not an audience or director. In Storyist, how might I achieve this format, I.E., set up two parallel columns, running side by side, in one section, and carry over more than one page if need be? When I copied the section from Pages to Storyist the columns were forced out, and in Storyist they become as if two sections, one immediately after the other. Hmmm....It's a simple idea, really, but why do I feel like I just spouted gobbledygook? Any help appreciated (as this is pretty central to my being able to use this app for this book) Jeff PS - I am liking Storyist so far, and it does work well with my other, more quote-unquote 'normal' manuscripts. One simple feature, though, that JNW contains that would be great in S'ist is the margin notes. Write/edit/proof, whatever, and just make notes on word/pp/char/etc right in the margin and come back to it later... Welcome Jeff! Storyist does not currently support tables/multicolumn text. I encourage you to start a topic in the features request section, though, so we can see what the general interest is and understand how it might be used. The idea of manuscript notes--whether for revisions or footnotes--has come up a couple of times (one of which is here) and is "on the list". That said, please don't base your decision on features that are yet to be implemented. As you can see from the feature requests section, you folks have given me quite a long to-do list. -Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thoyd Loki Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 That said, please don't base your decision on features that are yet to be implemented. As you can see from the feature requests section, you folks have given me quite a long to-do list.-Steve Time for my monthly post... Would it be a helpful idea to maybe have some kind of vote for features or something? Do you have any way to prioritize those? On the one hand some of them seem absolutely trivial to me - like daily word count (just my opinion!). If you start at 3985 words and end the day with 4562 words, I'd say you've done roughly 600 words that day. On the other there seem to be some requests made by some who posted once - 16 months ago, and may not be of any particular interest generally. I can't imagine trying to do all or even most of those requests. But maybe a top 3 (or whatever number) for a version release. I also wouldn't want to see all of those features. That's three pages of requests, what a piece of bloatware that would be! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted June 3, 2008 Report Share Posted June 3, 2008 ...I also wouldn't want to see all of those features. That's three pages of requests, what a piece of bloatware that would be! One man's meat is another man's poison. I generally leave software prioritization and design aesthetics to Steve because ...well, I don't really have any say in the matter. Mostly we just throw whatever mud catches our fancy against the forum wall and see what sticks. But Steve's main concern has been (and should be) keeping the software running well. Bells and whistles take a back seat. We trust his navigational skills for plotting the course of this product. Have I mixed enough metaphors? Bookmarks, bookmarks, bookmarks. -Thoth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WriteAway Posted June 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2008 Welcome Jeff! Storyist does not currently support tables/multicolumn text. I encourage you to start a topic in the features request section, though, so we can see what the general interest is and understand how it might be used. The idea of manuscript notes--whether for revisions or footnotes--has come up a couple of times (one of which is here) and is "on the list". That said, please don't base your decision on features that are yet to be implemented. As you can see from the feature requests section, you folks have given me quite a long to-do list. -Steve Thanks for the reply, Steve. Well this is a bit unfortunate (for me). I play around with my text quite a lot (visually speaking--is that an oxymoron?) and bounce between genre formats. Think Douglas Coupland with multiple personalities. A table/column feature is an absolute necessity for me in composing my manuscript - especially this project which I am trying to revise and send off ASAP. I like most everything about Storyist at the moment, and I am certainly not advocating or trying to contribute to (shudder!) feature creep, but this would certainly be a beneficial addition to the app for me. In fact, for this manuscript it is a deal breaker. I will continue to try Storyist with my other projects, though, and see where that leads. All the best (and thanks for all your work!), Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted June 3, 2008 Report Share Posted June 3, 2008 Would it be a helpful idea to maybe have some kind of vote for features or something? Do you have any way to prioritize those? On the one hand some of them seem absolutely trivial to me - like daily word count (just my opinion!). If you start at 3985 words and end the day with 4562 words, I'd say you've done roughly 600 words that day. On the other there seem to be some requests made by some who posted once - 16 months ago, and may not be of any particular interest generally. Currently, I've got most of these feature requests in my issue tracking system and I revisit them with each release. Generally, the requests that keep bubbling to the top at the forums get the most attention (as well as ones that are necessary to support other features). I've been toying with the idea of putting up a survey at SurveyMonkey.com for voting (the polling system of this board is a little lacking for that) to better track the requests. I also wouldn't want to see all of those features. That's three pages of requests, what a piece of bloatware that would be! Storyist gets high marks for elegance and ease of use and bloat is something that I'm trying to keep a lid on. -Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thoyd Loki Posted June 3, 2008 Report Share Posted June 3, 2008 One man's meat is another man's poison. I generally leave software prioritization and design aesthetics to Steve because ...well, I don't really have any say in the matter. Mostly we just throw whatever mud catches our fancy against the forum wall and see what sticks. But Steve's main concern has been (and should be) keeping the software running well. Bells and whistles take a back seat. We trust his navigational skills for plotting the course of this product. Have I mixed enough metaphors? Bookmarks, bookmarks, bookmarks. -Thoth. Oh, it was all IMO in my post. As goes software prioritization, of course, it's his product. It just sounded like he meant to implement every (or most) suggestion. I was mainly curious as to how he decides that, or if he could in that mass of requests. BTW, I too like Bookmarks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted June 3, 2008 Report Share Posted June 3, 2008 Thanks for the reply, Steve. Well this is a bit unfortunate (for me). I play around with my text quite a lot (visually speaking--is that an oxymoron?) and bounce between genre formats. Think Douglas Coupland with multiple personalities. A table/column feature is an absolute necessity for me in composing my manuscript - especially this project which I am trying to revise and send off ASAP. I like most everything about Storyist at the moment, and I am certainly not advocating or trying to contribute to (shudder!) feature creep, but this would certainly be a beneficial addition to the app for me. In fact, for this manuscript it is a deal breaker. I will continue to try Storyist with my other projects, though, and see where that leads. All the best (and thanks for all your work!), Jeff Thanks Jeff. Sounds like an interesting project! What ever tool you end up with, keep us posted. -Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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