Wish List

[jeremy]

Firstly, the majority of my work is script writing for film and tv. So this is where my knowledge centre lies. I sometimes write for Stage and like most writers I have that novel stuffed under my mattress somewhere.

 

For me, Storyist is about work-flow, and the work-flow of ideas, unlike, say, Final Draft, which has been specifically created for formatting scripts. Storyist more closely mimics my work-flow which is why i think i am finding it useful !

 

FYI, When using Storyist I always start (anything) by making notes in the NOTEBOOK section first and then progress/transfer it to the SCRIPT section. The notes are a mishmash of chaos that slowly get structured into order.

 

Here is my wish list

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1. Images to be placed on notebooks in the storyboard (ala Characters and Settings)

At first I thought this to be a gimmick but it has actually been a very useful tool, especially since I normally work with a lot of notes first - having a visual reference (ala Characters) is a good way to stimulate thought and sort through the notes quickly. So I would like to change the picture of the notebook to an imagine of my choice. It has also been useful for when I have shown work-in-progress to other people.

 

2. TWO pages VIEW : side-by-side. (For me the single most important/useful feature)

I would like a view where I can see TWO pages side by side. However the two pages are from different (or the same) section. So for example two different notes side-by-side. For example, the ability to have the Script and a Character side-by-side. This is so that I can refer back to the story or notes I have made, remember stuff, and adjust other notes accordingly. Obviously each page would need to be independent from each other as I would need to make revisions to either of them at any time.

 

This is also useful for when I wish to create a note on, say, lighting cues, for a stage play, or for when I wish to make Directors notes, etc. So for example, I would have the SCRIPT on the LEFT hand side and my DIRECTORS NOTES on the RIGHT hand side. As I scroll down through the script I would be making notes on the right hand side. This could also be done (and might be more useful) if there was a column view for the SCRIPT. A single page split with the actual script in the left hand side and notes in the right hand column. I could then print this out and give it to the appropriate people (e.g. lighting tech).

 

hmm, so this is actually two new features.

 

3. SCENE SHEETS

Freely move scene sheets anywhere in the storyboard. Think of the finder in Mac OS, scene sheets could be allowed to overlap etc. Or, it would be great if it actually behaved like a real corkboard ! You could 'pin' the notes anywhere.

 

4. Ability to change the background of the Storyboard :-)

 

5. Someone mentioned dragging and dropping notes into the Script. This sounded pretty useful, as I often start writing parts of the script in the notes and then move it into the script or character or setting sections

 

6. Page # of # at the bottom for every note in every section.

 

7. Export ePub, er, ok, yeah I'm a bit of a geek too. I currently print to pdf and use MobileFiles to download it to the iPhone/iPod so that I can read it on the go. I make notes in my [paper]notebook and then transfer later using Storyist. I find the iPhone/iPod surprisingly OK to read from. It is too slow to type from.

 

jeremy.

[Steve E]

Hi Jeremy. Welcome to the forum.

 

I think one or two of your suggestions were mentioned by Steakpirate (and others) but that's good. The more people to suggest the same things the more weight Steve gives them. I think.

 

It's also nice to meet another soul who sees that "Storyist is about work-flow, and the work-flow of ideas, unlike, say, Final Draft, which has been specifically created for formatting scripts." You wouldn't believe the FTF arguments I've had with people on this topic.

 

So, good luck and have a happy....

-Thoth.

[Steakpirate]

Welcome, bienvenido and 欢迎。

 

I think one or two of your suggestions were mentioned by Steakpirate (and others) but that's good. The more people to suggest the same things the more weight Steve gives them. I think.

 

The multi-page view is sort of an elaboration of what I was originally thinking of (mainly just comparing the current draft to an older version). It's a good idea, and I think that it should have multiple implementations:

 

• The ability to view the current draft up against a previous or backups (Do I smell a system for highlighting the differences?)

• The ability to view a notes/character/etc. card beside the text

• The ability to compare and edit two different non-sequential pages in your manuscript (For not repeating yourself, or what have you.)

And of course in the case of the multi-draft comparison, it wouldn't really make sense to be able to edit the old version, but in the other cases being able to enter text on both pages is good.

 

Also: Perhaps it's just because I'm right handed, but I would expect the additional page to go off to the right side, or perhaps be re-adjustable (as the additional screen setup is in Sysprefs), somewhere where it's not intrusive or distracting from the main page. For multi-page manuscript editing it would probably be best to be able to readjust the pages yourself.

 

I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't really gotten around to working with scenes/the storyboard, so I don't have much to say on that, but visual aids always sound good.

I can see how there might be problems with making the storyboard rearrangeable, as far as keeping the associated text files in order go.

[Steve E]

Nice write up, Steakpirate.

Any thoughts or comments, Jeremy?

(Steve always gets around to reading the forum so the sooner, and clearer, you make your request the better its chance of winding up in the next Beta Test version. Of course, I've been requesting bookmarks in Storyist since Apple was pushing the Apple I personal computer kit back in 1976. It involved time travel and...don't ask. The Temporal Police still have a warrant out for my arrest.)

 

In disguise and in hiding.

-Thoth.

[Steakpirate]

Nice write up, Steakpirate.

Any thoughts or comments, Jeremy?

(Steve always gets around to reading the forum so the sooner, and clearer, you make your request the better its chance of winding up in the next Beta Test version. Of course, I've been requesting bookmarks in Storyist since Apple was pushing the Apple I personal computer kit back in 1976. It involved time travel and...don't ask. The Temporal Police still have a warrant out for my arrest.)

 

In disguise and in hiding.

-Thoth.

 

Did you bring your own weapons? The general rule of time travel is "Safety not guaranteed." (YTMND reference)

 

[Steve E]

Did you bring your own weapons? The general rule of time travel is "Safety not guaranteed." (YTMND reference)

Only my Scrooch gun. (R&B reference.)

Nice image find, by the way. (Click here.)

"You're The Man Now, Dog"

-Thoth.

(Shouldn't that be "Dawg"? And maybe we should move this part of the thread out of Jeremy's wish list and over to the Writers Lounge.)

[jeremy]

Hey Steakpirate,

 

Like your ideas. For me, there are simply things that would make my life infinitely easier to be creative in. I am not so interested in comparing old revisions with new revisions (although I can see the reasons why that would be useful) but when I am working on a script/story I am often jumping in and out at different points, or I am developing a particular character and go back to the story later. This generates a lot of 'notes' and it is useful to examine these notes against the script when developing the actual scene of the script. So for me I want to reference [view] different notes while making changes to another note - and inevitably - make changes to both sets of notes - without switching between the two which disrupts workflow.

 

Currently, I have textedit (or Word) and Storyist open at the same time so I can review two notes at the same time cutting and pasting into and out of Storyist. Crazy I know.

 

This is separate to having columns in a 'script' because then I want to making shooting or staging notes against the script which I can discuss with the crew. This would be a very cool feature for me.

 

oh, and I remember a time when we were all coding in 6502.

 

cool beans dude

jeremy.

[Steve E]

Hi jeremy.

oh, and I remember a time when we were all coding in 6502.

 

cool beans dude

jeremy.

 

Ah, the 6502 by MOS Technology. One of the backbones of the 1980s home computer revolution. But I cut my teeth on the Z80 instead. Good choice? Bad choice? Who knows? Those chips were crackers compared to what's out today. Mark my words, fully fiber optic chips are on the way.

 

Cheech: Hey man, look at this car made out of weed!

Chong: Oh cool beans, man!

I haven't heard the phrase "cool beans" since the 80s TV show, Full House (may god forgive us). For those of you not as esoterically literate as jeremy, according to J.E. Lightner's Historical dictionary of American Slang, the phrase originated in the San Francisco drug scene in the late-1960s and enjoyed (suffered?) a rebirth in the 80s.

 

-Thoth.

[Swingsprout]

I'd like to add the oh so simple feature: inserting an IMAGE in the CHARACTER section! For heaven's sake, you can insert images in good old File Maker, why not in Storyist?

 

It's ideal to have an image of your character in place, whether it's something you've drawn yourself or downloaded from the net somewhere.

 

Come on, Steve, this is such an obvious feature I'm surprised it's not here already.

[marguerite]

I'd like to add the oh so simple feature: inserting an IMAGE in the CHARACTER section! For heaven's sake, you can insert images in good old File Maker, why not in Storyist?

 

It's ideal to have an image of your character in place, whether it's something you've drawn yourself or downloaded from the net somewhere.

 

Come on, Steve, this is such an obvious feature I'm surprised it's not here already.

Swingsprout,

You can drag an image (small JPEG or PNG, unless you want to see your file balloon to monstrous proportions) into the image well of your character (setting/section, etc.) sheet. The image well is where the blue drama character is stored. Once it's there, set the Storyboard to Grid View (the small squares at top left) and you will see your character images displayed like Polaroids on a corkboard. Click on Characters (or on a Character Group, if you use groups) in the Project Pane, then go back to your manuscript, and you will see all the characters (or the characters in the selected group) displayed alongside your text.

 

For an example, see the screen shot below.

Best,

Marguerite

[Swingsprout]

Swingsprout,

You can drag an image (small JPEG or PNG, unless you want to see your file balloon to monstrous proportions) into the image well of your character (setting/section, etc.) sheet.

 

Ah, thanks, Marugerite. Thet trick was good ol' drag'n'drop! I copied and tried to paste the image. Sometimes the simplest solution is the best.