Chapter's disappearing

[mercedes von uppity]

Hi - Another little niggle here.

 

I have about 20 chapters. And I've decided I need to to back and add things to the body of the story. So I'll be typing away on - let's say Chapter 7 - and somewhere along the way Chapter 8 will de-format, so that it's no longer a separate chapter. It's like suddenly, the Chapter 8 title and following text is just the next page in Chapter 7. Chapter 8 also disappears from the chapter divisions in the left pane.

 

 

I'm sure this has something to do with typing, then deleting and retyping in the chapter above the de-formatting chapters. But, hey, that's what happens when you edit/re-write, right? I've been cutting and repasting the affected chapters as I go along but it keeps happening and it's rather annoying to have to keep stopping and doing that, especially if it's perhaps going to happen again as I continue to work.

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

Thanks, Steve! (Or whomever else knows...)

[marguerite]

Hi - Another little niggle here.

 

I have about 20 chapters. And I've decided I need to to back and add things to the body of the story. So I'll be typing away on - let's say Chapter 7 - and somewhere along the way Chapter 8 will de-format, so that it's no longer a separate chapter. It's like suddenly, the Chapter 8 title and following text is just the next page in Chapter 7. Chapter 8 also disappears from the chapter divisions in the left pane.

 

 

I'm sure this has something to do with typing, then deleting and retyping in the chapter above the de-formatting chapters. But, hey, that's what happens when you edit/re-write, right? I've been cutting and repasting the affected chapters as I go along but it keeps happening and it's rather annoying to have to keep stopping and doing that, especially if it's perhaps going to happen again as I continue to work.

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

Thanks, Steve! (Or whomever else knows...)

If you accidentally delete a section separator (the #), Storyist will append the text that follows to the current section rather than get rid of it. The affected section disappears from the Project View, because it no longer exists. (Annoying as this behavior can be when you didn't intend it, it's actually an asset. Otherwise you would have no way to combine sections.)

 

If you include the # in your selection so that it is reformatted as section text, Storyist will keep the sections separate but the second one loses its title and is listed as "Untitled Section."

 

I'm guessing you're doing the first. Do the words "Chapter X" appear in the text but there is no section separator above them? If so, the solution is to be a little more careful with your mouse.

 

If that's not the case, someone else will have to weigh in.

Best,

Marguerite

[mercedes von uppity]

Hmmm. Well, I don't actually have a # sign between chapters. (I only put that when I'm separating 2 sections of text within the same chapter.)

 

So - if I'm supposed to be doing that, that might be my problem.

 

You are correct that the words "Chapter X" will still appear in the text, but suddenly formatted as text, not a title (with an empty line between it and the actual text).

 

Do you/should I put the # sign even between chapters yourself?

[marguerite]

Hmmm. Well, I don't actually have a # sign between chapters. (I only put that when I'm separating 2 sections of text within the same chapter.)

 

So - if I'm supposed to be doing that, that might be my problem.

 

You are correct that the words "Chapter X" will still appear in the text, but suddenly formatted as text, not a title (with an empty line between it and the actual text).

 

Do you/should I put the # sign even between chapters yourself?

In Storyist, yes. When you add a section, Storyist places the # automatically at the end to mark where the section breaks. I don't take it out (except occasionally by accident) so long as the file remains in Storyist. If I export it to RTF to create a Word document to share with someone else, then I do run a search for "Chapter" and remove the preceding #.

 

If you take out the # routinely but the chapter title loses its formatting only sometimes, then the solution is to click in the manuscript, select the chapter title that thinks it's text, and reapply the Chapter Title style. But I would still suggest that you leave the preceding section break while you have the file in Storyist, as it makes it less likely that the reformatting will occur.

best,

M

[Steve]

Thanks M,

 

You might also see this if you paste a block of section text that doesn't end in a return at the start of the chapter title. Like Pages and Text Edit, Storyist adjusts the paragraph style to cover the entire paragraph if it encounters a style that covers only part of the paragraph.

 

In this case, after the paste, the first part of the paragraph would have the "Section Text" style and the second part would have the "Chapter Title" style, so Storyist would apply the "Section Text" style to the entire paragraph.

 

-Steve

[mercedes von uppity]

OK but I'm confused. Should I be seeing an actual # sign in between chapters then?

Or do you mean there's one inserted by Storyist that the program "sees"?

 

Because the only ones I see in my mss are those I personally put there.

[Steve]

OK but I'm confused. Should I be seeing an actual # sign in between chapters then?

Or do you mean there's one inserted by Storyist that the program "sees"?

 

Because the only ones I see in my mss are those I personally put there.

 

The section separators (#) just tell Storyist where your body text sections end. The only ones Storyist sees are the ones you put there.

 

The reason you want to include them at the end of a chapter is that if you ever drag that last section to a location other than the end of a chapter, you probably want to maintain it as a section.

 

-Steve

[mercedes von uppity]

OK.

 

So the # insertion is not only for dividing sections. I iwll start putting that at the end of my chapters, too, and see what happens.

 

Thanks for the help, as always!