Section Names and Plot Points

[dpasquantonio]

After completely over-analyzing Mac and iPad writing software, I finally settled on Storyist. I mostly like what I've seen so far.

 

I dumped some existing text into a chapter, created a few sections, and it's worked fine. The section names seem to be the default ones used when I pasted my text into the existing sample text, things like "Start Writing!", etc. So in the left pane, I clicked on those sections and gave them new names. Perfect.

 

However, when I play around with the character sheets and try to add a plot point, and tie it to a section, the section names I'm given are all the old default ones, with none of the new names. Perhaps there's a less-obvious way to rename sections (when I right-click on a section in the left pane, the names are correct). I'm not sure where Storyist pulls its list of section names - it seems to keep the original name no matter the change.

 

Dave P.

[Steve]

Hi Dave,

 

Thanks for choosing Storyist!

 

Your old sheets are probably in the project trash. You can use the Project > Empty Project Trash command to delete them. You can see the files in the trash by clicking the Reveal button in the bottom of the project view (it's the one next to the + button.

 

-Steve

[dpasquantonio]

Thanks -- that cleared out the old names (and now I know about the trash). Now when I try the same action (add character development point, try to assign to a section), I'm not seeing the old section names anymore, but I'm getting just three options -- Unassigned, Untitled Scene, and Untitled Section -- so perhaps I have put the sections in the wrong place (they're under the correct chapters, which are under the name of the overall project). I'll continue to poke. I'm not sure it's the most useful feature, but if I write anything lengthy, it might be nice to tie a character to a specific point in the work.

[marguerite]

Hi, D, and welcome to the forums!

I think you are confusing sections and section sheets. Sections hold your actual text and are stored under MANUSCRIPTS > .

 

Section Sheets hold notes about your sections. These are what the character development points and plot points link to. They are stored under SECTION SHEETS. The defaults say Chapter 1 Notes, Chapter 2 Notes, and by default each sheet has the same name as its section.

 

You can set Storyist to create section sheets automatically when you add a section. To do that, right-click or Control-click on My Manuscript (or whatever you call your work) and choose "Edit 'My Manuscript' Preferences." Where it says "Sheet handling," make sure the box next to Create sheets automatically has a check mark in it. Then the name of your new section sheet should show up in the list.

 

If you trashed the original section sheets, which it sounds as if you did, you can add new ones, name them, then drag them into the collage (View > Storyboard, click on an individual item to see it displayed against a gray background), and click Attach when Storyist asks you if you want to attach. Then if you change the name of the section, the name of the sheet will change too.

 

N.B. Experience has shown me that you are better off creating a plot point, then linking that to the section sheet. If you do the reverse, you end up with an untitled plot point that you have to rename manually. Character development points are more civilized and let you link to a specific section sheet by clicking on the word Unassigned.

Hope that's clear.

Best,

Marguerite