bfitts Posted December 20, 2013 Report Share Posted December 20, 2013 I'm about to start on the fifth novel in my series and want to move the characters, settings, and notebook entries to a blank file. I've tried saving the fouth novel as a template but that brings all the manuscript and section sheets with it too. What am I missing? I only do this every six months or so and can't remember what worked or didn't work the last time. This is such a wonderful piece of software I'm sure I'm just overlooking the obvious. TIA Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marguerite Posted December 21, 2013 Report Share Posted December 21, 2013 I would save the fourth novel under a new name (or duplicate it in the Finder), just to be on the safe side. Then open the copy, delete the manuscript and the section sheets and anything else you don't want (I keep a folder under Settings and under Characters called "Not Used in This Book" as a place to stash elements I may want to reference but not to have on screen all day, every day). Empty the trash. Once you have the file stripped down to its essentials, save that as a template. You'll still have to tweak the template for future books, no doubt (unless you are an extraordinarily organized novelist), but you will be much farther along than if you start with a filled-out book 4. Best, Marguerite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orrenm Posted December 21, 2013 Report Share Posted December 21, 2013 I think M really nailed how to do the template thing. I'm in the process of writing my first series myself, and I've tried a different tack (I use each novel as a way to experiment with organization, etc). It's an urban fantasy, that involved the creation a mythology and lots of world building, along with the usual characters, settings, etc. So by the time I'd finished the first novel, I had the mythology/world-building I needed for that book. But here's the thing—the second book expanded the entire mythology/world-building overall, not simply for the second book. So what I wanted to create was an overall "Bible" for the entire series that I could access from whichever novel I was writing in the series. This lead me to think of two possible ideas of what might be the best way to go: 1) To create a "wiki"using some either Mac/iOS wiki software or web software that I could access from any device. The advantages of this are that I would be able to switch to any software on any platform (I am seriously considering a travel Chromebook or Android phone). A big disadvantage is everything is no longer in one place. 2) To use one single Storyist file for everything, and effectively use the "Project View" and style sheets as my Bible/wiki. I'd put all the documents for the various elements of the world/mythology in sheets/Notebook entries, and then also all the separate novels, so everything is "under one roof" so to speak. This has the advantage of everything in one place, easily accessed—especially important on tablets, where app switching is awkward at best, you can't have multiple windows/apps up at once like a desktop machine. But it does mean I'm locked into the Apple ecosystem if I like it or not (and sometimes, I want out...) I've opted for #2. So right now, I have my entire world, along with all the characters, settings, plot and manuscripts for novels #1 and #2 of my series in the same project. I use top-level folders to keep the plots and manuscripts for each novel separate, and all the shared information is also top level stuff. As I write new books in the series, I just add new manuscripts to the document. It's not perfect—for example, I've not figured out how to use the Project Goals for other documents, so I could set daily writing goals for the first novel but I can't for the others. (This may be pilot error). And of course it means if you lose one document, you're screwed. (I'm absolutely paranoid with backups—I have local and online backups). If you've got separate files already for the first three books, this isn't to say that you want to start a "one project file to rule them all" organization. But if you start a new series, or what to try something new, it might be worth considering. Or you might want to start an external wiki for everything, which is another option which I may do one day! Orren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfitts Posted December 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2013 Thanks Marguerite. I thought that's what I was going to have to do and tried selecting the manuscript and delete was grayed out on the taskbar at the top. Maybe I can use the delete function at the bottom? Hadn't thought to check it. Owen--how long does it take to safe your files? I save as I go and by the time I'm getting close to 80,000 words it take a while (I have to pause) to save the file. I've learned not to try and do anything else in Storyist while saving the file. Thanks for your help! Write on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marguerite Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Hi, bfitts, It's usually ridiculously easy to delete an entire manuscript (that's why I suggest working with a copy). Click on My Manuscript (insert the actual name of your fourth book here) under MANUSCRIPTS in the Project View. Hit the Backspace key. Poof. No more manuscript. If you ever do this by accident, do not panic. An entire manuscript (but not individual sections or chapters) is stored in the Trash until you empty it. To restore it, just drag it out of the Trash and drop it on MANUSCRIPTS. If you recognize the mistake right away, Command-Z or Edit > Undo will get it back. Best, M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orrenm Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Orren--how long does it take to safe your files? I save as I go and by the time I'm getting close to 80,000 words it take a while (I have to pause) to save the file. I've learned not to try and do anything else in Storyist while saving the file. Thanks for your help! Write on. Interesting it takes you so long. I'm using an iMac 27" 3.4GHz i7 with a 256GB SSD drive, and saving is instantaneous—seriously, I just tried it, and it happened about when a single second ticked off. And this is a project that has, all told, probably 250,000 or more words in it. I think it's safe to say that your saving issue is not a Storyist issue per se, but a system issue. Orren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfitts Posted December 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Marguerite I did as you suggested and that was frighteningly fast and effective--and I never would have thought to do it that way. Wow. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfitts Posted December 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Orren (Sorry about the Owen.) My 27" iMac is older. 3.2 GHz Intel Core i3 and I've got a 1TB SATA disk, four gigs of memory. The file I was talking about was 382KB. How big is your file? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orrenm Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Orren (Sorry about the Owen.) My 27" iMac is older. 3.2 GHz Intel Core i3 and I've got a 1TB SATA disk, four gigs of memory. The file I was talking about was 382KB. How big is your file? My song file is 1.6GB. It's a big file. Orren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marguerite Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Bfitts, you're welcome. Glad it worked for you. I agree with Orren that something else must be slowing down your saves. I have a 2010 iMac and files that all top 1MB in size, and they save lickety-split—and to Dropbox, no less. Happy holidays, everyone! M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfitts Posted December 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 M - do you use session goals? I use them daily and noticed that there was a problem with deleting goals that was supposed to be fixed. Could that be causing the slow file save? It's only in Storyist that I notice any delay in saving files. I've created templates from the prior novel for three or four times now. Thanks again! Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orrenm Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 M - do you use session goals? I use them daily and noticed that there was a problem with deleting goals that was supposed to be fixed. Could that be causing the slow file save? It's only in Storyist that I notice any delay in saving files. I've created templates from the prior novel for three or four times now. Thanks again! Bill I use session goals—in fact, they're turned on in that 1.6GB series project file I talk about in this thread. Session goals don't slow things down at all, at least here. Orren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marguerite Posted December 29, 2013 Report Share Posted December 29, 2013 I don't use session goals, so I can't help there. Best, M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfitts Posted February 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2014 Steve, Can I send you a current copy of my file? It's still taking a long time to save and today I was trying to edit a Notebook entry and couldn't. I could save the file but Storyist wouldn't let me close it. Or is there a unix way to clean up the file? I made a back up and restored it into a new project, but it's still not letting me edit an entry in notebooks. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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