Scripts, Scene Sheets & Plot Sheets — What's their relationship?

[CartoonMike]

Total newbie to Storyist. I like it's interface and it looks like it'll work for me.

 

I can't help but to feel like I'm missing something.

 

I'm modifying a document created from the screenplay template into something that I can use to write out comic book scripts. I think I have the hang of creating Character Sheets, Plot Sheets and Scene Sheets.

 

So I created a cast of characters, plotted out the first episode and worked on the scenes for the first few pages of comic scripts (i.e. for the drawn comic, a comic page may be a half-page or two pages of actual script pages). I was hoping to use a scene to be equal to one comic book page. What's throwing me is how do I reference the Scene sheets in the Scripts. It's like the various sheets are islands that can have bridges between them, but the Scripts are alone and every time I try to add a scene sheet to a script, it replaces the existing scene sheet. I had selected a scene and then right clicked on the script and choose the Add to script menu item and an untitled bookmark appeared in the bookmark section; this happens if nothing is selected, btw.

 

It's at this point that the UG has nothing to help me. It's as if information directly relating to the Scripts section just doesn't exist or I'm not seeing it.

 

It seems to me that the script is created independently from all other aspects of the app, that the plot, scene and character sheets are pure reference. I've spent the better part of the morning working on this — reading the UG, searching the forum and viewing the Screenwriting video (which was very good, btw).

 

Is there some form of linkage between the scene or plot sheets to the Script? If so, how is it created/used. If there isn't a linkage, then I can rest easy and just use the plot/scene sheets as pure reference to the script.

 

Thanks for any assistance!

[orrenm]

Hi Mike,

 

Since my métier is prose, I can't specifically speak to the script. I designed a comic scripting template around the novel template. I have also never bothered to connect sheets to my text, as I use character sheets and plot sheets standalone. But I can give you some basics that can work at least for Novel manuscripts.

 

As you've seen, the story sheets mostly reference themselves, which makes sense as characters tend to operate in locations, locations tend to be in certain scenes, etc.

 

However, with novels you can divide the text up not only into chapters, but "sections" (there is an add section command, and I believe you can do it using straight text by placing a number sign alone on a linebut I could be wrong about that). Once you have created a new section, you can name it in the Project View column, and you can link a story sheet to it. There may not already be a field in the middle of the sheet for Section, but if there isn't you can right-click, select "Add Field," and add Section to the middle fields and then link your sheet to your manuscript.

 

As I said, I haven't done this myself yet, so there's a good chance I got some of the mechanics a bit out. But conceptually it should work. I never thought of linking scene sheets to comic pages but I think its a great idea and when I work on another comic strip I will try that! Anyway, if that isn't possible with scripts maybe try with novel template.

 

Hope that helps,

Orren

[CartoonMike]

thanks for the reply!

 

I'll try to use the Novel template in the way you described. Since I've not really put that much time/effort in what I've already done (most of the time was spent getting used to the app), creating a new doc to use as the basis of a comic scripting template will be just fine.

 

You've given me a direction to pursue and the worst that can happen is that I'll learn more about Storyist, which isn't that bad.

 

Just to elaborate, my end-goal for this is to be able to export a very basic script, in plain text, that I can import into comicLife 3. CL3 can import formatted text files and display them in a Script pane (part of a window, like how we can spilt a window in workspaces in Storyist). CL3 uses the convention of a character name/caption/SFX as a trigger to allow text after that to be dragged onto the comic page pane as a word balloon, thought balloon, caption box or sound FX object. Then it's just a matter to point the tail of the balloon to match up with the speaker on the imported graphics, or to place the caption box/lettering SFX where it needs to be. It's really simple and allows a page to be lettered in no time at all. So much easier than using Illustrator/Photoshop/InDesign for comic lettering. I don't consider Manga Studio (where I draw, ink and color my comics in) to be really useful in lettering comics — It doesn't even have word wrap!

 

Anyway, for comics scripts (the way I do 'em with the workflow outlined above), I just need to have a style for character/caption/SFX, Panel and Page. So modifying the Novel template should work. Now to see if it can be IRL.

 

Thanks again!

 

Mike

[marguerite]

Mike,

I'm just guessing, but are you confusing scenes and scene sheets?

 

Scenes are inside the script itself. They hold text. Scene sheets exist outside the script to hold notes about a scene. They are easily linked to plot points, character sheets, and settings sheets. They never hold your actual manuscript but only information about the manuscript.

 

To link a scene sheet to a scene, click on the scene. Choose "as Storyboard" from the View menu. You will see either a corkboard containing a bunch of cards or, more likely, a single card on a gray background (called the collage—you'll see why in a minute). If you see the corkboard, just double-click on the card that contains the title of the scene you want.

 

When you see the collage, scroll down in the Project View (the ountline on your left that says Project at the top) until you see the scene sheet you want to link. Drag its icon onto the gray background. If Storyist asks you whether you'd like to attach the sheet, click "Attach" if you want Storyist to update the title of the sheet when you update the scene title and "Don't Attach" if you want to keep them independent.

 

You can also drag other things into the collage: images of characters who appear in the scene, and so on. And you can keep notes on the cards (scene sheet notes will appear in the summary field of the sheet when you display it as text; notes on scene cards don't appear anywhere except when the scenes are displayed as cards and are intended to be notes about the scene for people who don't like the scene sheets—you might use them to keep a reference of which comic-book image goes with each scene).

 

Hope that helps. There is no real difference between the Script templates and the Novel template except for the formatting and the names (Section vs. Scene).

 

When you are done linking things and taking notes, click on the My Script icon (whatever you called your script), the one that looks like a manuscript, then on the scene you are working on. Click on the big middle window and make sure the top bar is blue. Then choose "as Text" from the View menu to see your script again.

Welcome to Storyist!

Marguerite

[CartoonMike]

Marguerite,

 

Thanks for the clarification. I think that there is something going on with the document I'm working with, as I can't create new scenes within the My Script group/section/category/whateverIt'sCalled — when I go to the cork board for it and hit command-returrn (or right click for the contextual menu and choose New Scene), I get a new scene, but the old one is replaced by the new one. This behavior isn't replicated from a document created from the Stage Play template.

 

I think that there's something up with the document I'm working on (made from the Screenplay template), as it doesn't behave as you described, while the other documents (made from the Novel and Stage Play template) work as you said. Also there's some odd behavior that occurs when I have more than one Storyist file opened and on different monitors.

 

I'm in the "do this, see what happens" stage of learning Storyist and appreciate your reply here and in many other threads. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

 

I am warming up to the concept of the Collage view. BTW, a inexpensive (under $10 us dollars) app called SnapNdrag (http://www.yellowmug.com/snapndrag/ ) is very useful with Storyist. I can capture portions of my drawings (or images/websites/etc ) and organize them within it's interface and drag and drop images from it to Storyist. It saves me the time/hassle of exporting from my drawing app to a folder and then dragging images from that folder into Storyist.

 

While I can see how Storyist is great for Novel Writing and Scripts, I don't think it has enough flexibility for creating comic book scripts the way I've been manually writing them. When I finish my book on Manga Studio (and can say good bye to OpenOffice) I can devote a bit more time to tracking down how Storyist works and if some of what's causing me issues are user error or what.

 

Thanks again,

 

mike