Multiple storylines

[rayz]

Hi there ... :-)

I've been playing around with something called StoryLines, which is a kind of timeline manager for creative writing. It's pretty good actually.

It allows you to plan a number of different 'threads' (storylines) that run simultaneously through your book (I imagine soap operas use this ALOT).

Anyway, I thought that you might want to think about adding this kind of functionality to Scrivener.

Not really sure how, but here's a vague idea.

Each chapter/storyboard item/document can belong to a named 'thread', and you can reorder elements within this thread.

You could then have a Thread View, which displays each thread on a horizontal line, and on that line, it shows each story board item that belongs to that thread.

Not sure how reordering the thread would change the ordering of chapters in the book though.

So then you have a visual impression of how the threads in your story run together.

Dunno if that makes any sense. Hope so .. :-)

[KB]

Hi, I've played with Storylines myself, and that is a nice feature - but not really something that is going to make it into Scrivener - at least, not quite as you imagine it. One reason is that Scrivener is a more general tool - not just for story writing - and another is that you can already achieve something similar in Scrivener using labels (although the next beta will make this easier). To explain:

For each scene/document, add a label for which thread it relates to. For instance, you might have a thread called "Dave" with a blue label, and a thread called "Terry" with a red label. To see only documents within one thread, in Binder mode you would just select a folder in the outline, ctrl-click and select "Filter Table by Label" and select which thread you want to view. In the table you will then only see documents from that thread. (Note that "Filter Table by Label" is not available in the beta you are using, but will be in the next update.)

This makes much more sense in terms of how Scrivener works. There is no way you could reshuffle one thread separate from the rest of them, because they are all seen as documents in a folder. So say you had a folder full of documents from different threads, but you went into some sort of "threads" and reordered only one thread. How would Scrivener know where to put all of the other documents? (Hope that makes sense.)

Anyway, hopefully the next beta will help you do something like this, like I say...
Thanks,
Keith

[rayz]

For each scene/document, add a label for which thread it relates to. For instance, you might have a thread called "Dave" with a blue label, and a thread called "Terry" with a red label. To see only documents within one thread, in Binder mode you would just select a folder in the outline, ctrl-click and select "Filter Table by Label" and select which thread you want to view. In the table you will then only see documents from that thread. (Note that "Filter Table by Label" is not available in the beta you are using, but will be in the next update.)

Yep, I think that works just as well! .. :-)

I would say though, that if the 'filter by label' could perhaps show more than one thread at a time in the binder view, that would have it nailed down 100%

There is no way you could reshuffle one thread separate from the rest of them, because they are all seen as documents in a folder. So say you had a folder full of documents from different threads, but you went into some sort of "threads" and reordered only one thread. How would Scrivener know where to put all of the other documents? (Hope that makes sense.)

Yes, I came to the same conclusion ....
Sorting within threads would be possible and I was thinking that should be enough from a developer's point of view. But from the point of view of a writer, the whole set of documents would lose its flow if it wasn't taken into account as well.

[Natalia1]

Will you be allowing more than one column of labels? I like to sort by character POV to make sure that it is consistent, but I also like to sort by subplots to make sure that they are consistent as well. Right now you have to decide to do one or the other because there is only one label that can be applied to each chunk of text.

[KB]

The trouble is, how many columns of labels would ever be enough? So for now, it will stay as one. I take your point, though, and will mull it over. Perhaps there needs to be some sort of tagging system... Hmm. Will ponder.
Thanks for your input,
Keith

[Natalia1]

I was thinking of it as an option to add a second column so that those people who aren't using the other columns don't have to look at them (because that would get quite messy visually). Drop down or contextual menu?

Not quite sure how that would work though (easier to make a suggestion than implement, I know )

[KB]

The trouble is that it could still be quite messy. Because labels use colours as a means of quick reference, having two adjacent columns that look the same could be confusing; it wouldn't be as visually distinctive.

Another approach might be having the ability to add certain keywords to a document; kind of metadata. So that the project has a list of keywords that can be assigned to each document, adding them as you need. You could then filter by these words. You would probably have to assign the keywords through the Info panel (which I have just implemented for the next version), or maybe through a special keywords panel. That would give you a lot more freedom. For instance, you could just use the label for whatever you wanted - maybe the POV character. But then in the metadata list you could place anything you liked - all characters who appear in the scene, thematic keywords, whatever you wanted. You could then filter the table by one or more keywords. I am thinking aloud here, but I think this could turn into a good idea...

Thanks,
Keith