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Storybook 3.0 review
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Posted by Pavi
Sep 29, 2011 at 12:47 PM
I realize that story plotting software technically isn’t Outliner or PIM related; however, I found reviews for earlier versions of Storybook on the site, and I know several people do a lot of creative writing here. So here is a review of the latest release…
I went novelist.ch to purchase a license for the older, 2.x version, of Storybook when I found that 3.0 had just been released. Storybook is a program designed to assist with creating a story, that is plotting, character development, story threads, etc. It comes in both a free version that features 3 views, and a paid version ($26) that adds several different chart and graph tools. The essence of it is that non-linear scenes can be created, and then dragged to different story chapters which appear as notecard. The scenes include characters and locations, as well as the main text. As the story is created through these scenes, a lot of cross-referenced information is automatically generated and viewable. A tree panel on the right hand side gives quick access to different views (character, location, tags, items, chapters, strands, parts), and icons for each of these allows for quick navigation. The final product can be exported in a variety of formats, which then ideally would be written more completely (if not done already). If there are many chapters, it is recommended to break them up into parts, which I usually do as 3 acts (for novels or film ideas).
The three main views are:
1) Chronological view: See how scenes occur over time for each strand (that is, plotline)
2) Manage chapters and scenes: create scenes, drag them to chapters, reorder
3) Book view: See how the final product flows in real time
Let’s get quickly to the point: this program if fantastic! I think very non-linearly in my own writing, and this provides a perfect platform for creative content. The interface is very intuitive, and allows you to enter important details without bogging you down in minutia of requiring too much input. The advanced tools (I will get to these shortly) are wonderful at getting an overview of your story and where any imbalances exist. There are also “Ideas” and “Flash of inspiration” to jot down a quick idea, and “Task list” to keep track of what chapters to work on. I think of my stories in a large arc over time with frequent flashbacks, similar to the TV show “Lost”, and this program is ideally suited for this.
The advanced tools are:
Memoria - a mind map of items by date, character or location
Who is where, when? - graphical overview of characters appearances over time
Appearance of characters by scene (and date) - charts of this information
Usage of strand by date - histogram
Gantt chart of characters - each character’s (that you include) lifetime, overlapped
Occurance of chacters (and locations) - histograms
Several of these are very useful, such as Who is where, when? to ensure that characters are revisited with the intended regularity. The other tools also allow for “load balancing” and make the licensed version worthwhile. When you skip around a lot in time, you inevitably get big chronological gaps where you neglected certain characters. Furthermore, characters ages are tracked throughout and can be seen when hovering over their aliases.
What are the drawbacks? Well, to be quite frank, there are not that many. First, the Chronological view is vertical only, and I would prefer it to be horizontal. I mailed support about this, and the next day a poll was on the site asking if horizontal orientation would be preferred! The developer then mailed me stating that they will investigate the possibility to add this option. Also, exporting doesn’t really give a whole book, but gives the complete framework to expand on. This is a limitation of the program as a tool primarily for plotting and story creation as opposed to a full blown word processor.
My plan is to use this in combination with a writing program (ie. Liquid Story Binder), or just as text or MS Word files for each chapter inside Ultra Recall, using the tree structure of UR and exporting later.
I find Storybook 3.0 to be a terrific value, and an invaluable tool. With great development and support, I highly recommend at least downloading the free version to test it. Speaking of “Lost”, that show started with promise and continually degraded with nonsensical writing until the last season, which was patently absurd and revealed that the writers had no planned idea whatsoever about the story resolution. The character development was engaging, but the plotlines seem to have been taken out of a hat. I can only imagine how well crafted the story could have been if they had used a tool like Storybook before writing a single episode.
Best, /Pavi
Posted by Hugh
Sep 29, 2011 at 01:46 PM
Interesting. Thanks for this, Pavi.
Posted by Frederick Wahl
Sep 29, 2011 at 10:57 PM
I decided to check this out, but after purchasing/installing, I kept getting the “Java Virtual Machine Launcher - Could Not Find The Main Class - The Program Will Stop” error. After trying a several solutions I found online and reinstalling the latest Java package - I still got the error.
In the folder where the program is installed, there is a .bat file (good ol’ DOS batch file) that opens a DOS window and then starts the program without any error. Whether or not this is the proper way to run the program, I don’t know, but it appears to work fine now.
I miss DOS…
FWIW
Posted by Pavi
Sep 30, 2011 at 09:19 AM
Hi Frederick,
I had no problems installing on my Windows 7 machine. The installer exited normally and put a shortcut on my desktop and in the Start menu. The shortcut is also in the main folder, called “Storybook” as well and launches storybook.jar. If you copy/paste that to your desktop, it is the same as the installed shortcut.
Does that work?
Best, /Pavi
Frederick Wahl wrote:
>I decided to check this out, but after purchasing/installing, I kept getting the
>“Java Virtual Machine Launcher - Could Not Find The Main Class - The Program Will Stop”
>error. After trying a several solutions I found online and reinstalling the latest
>Java package - I still got the error.
>
Posted by Frederick Wahl
Oct 1, 2011 at 02:51 AM
Pavi wrote:
>
>Hi Frederick,
>
>I had no problems installing on my Windows 7 machine. The installer
>exited normally and put a shortcut on my desktop and in the Start menu. The shortcut is
>also in the main folder, called “Storybook” as well and launches storybook.jar. If
>you copy/paste that to your desktop, it is the same as the installed shortcut.
>
>Does
>that work?
>
>Best, /Pavi
>
I’m running Windows 7 64-bit. When I installed Storybook, it put the sorybook.jar shortcut on my desktop. The problem was trying to run that. I searched for the error on google and tried some of the solutions, but nothing worked - including reinstalling the latest version of Java (64 bit).
Using the .bat file has worked for me though - I don’t think I’m missing anything running it that way. Just wanted to post my solution in case someone else ran into the same trouble.
Best Regards,
Frederick