Here are the new features:
http://www.novelist.ch/joomla/index.php/en/release-notes

Full price is $34.90, upgrade $23.38.

Hi, I think Martin has added a lot of good features here. Just to point out, two of them were suggested by yours truly (although possibly others), those being "Informative scenes" and "Dates not required for scenes".

So development is absolutely driven by user input! I will test this out, but is seems like a great tool got even better.

Best,
/Pavi

Dr Andus wrote:

Here are the new
features:
http://www.novelist.ch/joomla/index.php/en/release-notes

Full
price is $34.90, upgrade $23.38.

Has anyone here been using Storybook Pro 4 on a consistent basis for a prolonged time? I'm just wondering how stable it is with a large amount of text and variables. Has anyone lost work with it? Would you use it for mission critical parts of your writing project?

Dr Andus wrote:

Has anyone here been using Storybook Pro 4 on a consistent basis for a prolonged time?
I'm just wondering how stable it is with a large amount of text and variables. Has
anyone lost work with it? Would you use it for mission critical parts of your writing
project?

I've been looking for a solution for plotting multiple story lines in a top-down manner, possibly with a single-screen overview (yes, still for my dissertation...). I had high hopes for Storybook Pro v.4, as I was particularly impressed with v. 3. However, after having spent some time with v. 4, I'm disappointed.

It still has some interesting features, and the chronological view with the multiple strands is really what I'm looking for (except I don't need it to be chronological), as well as the ability to shuffle scenes and chapters around, like index cards. So it's some kind of an intelligent corkboard I'm looking for.

I'm disappointed with Storybook 4 because it turned out to be rather unwieldy (I agree with Wendy Christopher's comment below this post: http://mythicscribes.com/writing-tech/novel-writing-software/ E.g. you have to keep refreshing the views manually for individual panes when you change content, which really feels like returning to the early 90s.

I also don't get why the developers don't make all the parameters editable, such as "locations," "items," etc. I can't see why you shouldn't be able to customise these for your categories of choice for plotting non-fiction writing. I realise that "dates" and "gender" have been made editable in v.4 , but there are still far too many unnecessary rigidities (as this review points out about the previous version: https://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/507820-nonlinear-writing-on-linux-with-storybook

I haven't had a chance to try all the novel plotting software out there yet, but many of them don't seem to be able to offer you a complete overview of all your "index cards" of scenes and chapters in one total view. This is the bit I don't like about even Scrivener or SuperNoteCard. They won't let you see all the cards laid out, only the ones at a particular level of the hierarchy.

In the end I've decided to reconstruct Storybook's "chronological view with multiple strands (plot lines)" in TreeSheets and I'm very pleased with the result. The speed at which you can work in TreeSheets is quite amazing. I also tried OneNote for this but TreeSheets is faster and the end result looks more organised. You can cram a lot of information into a 22inch screen monitor, and the full-screen mode is just wonderful.

Dr Andus wrote:

I’ve been looking for a solution for plotting multiple story lines in a top-down manner, possibly with a single-screen overview
(yes, still for my dissertation…).

For the record (since you solved all this with TreeSheets my advice would be that you ignore all CRIMP siren calls) one might want to try StoryView / Outline 4D which I mentioned in the Celtx thread. Take a look at the screenshots in http://www.screenplay.com/p-77-outline-4d.aspx under "Print an impressive map of your project"

Of course, you can probably do something similar with TreeSheets with the help of a suitable printer utility to break a single huge page into many regular-sized ones.

I also don’t get why the developers don’t make all the parameters editable, such as “locations,” “items,” etc.
I can’t see why you shouldn’t be able to customise these for your categories of choice for plotting non-fiction writing.

I agree and it's the main reason I have not upgraded to Storybook 4.0. At the same time I understand their point of view. At the end of the day they are aiming for the fiction writing market. Providing a service to a specific target group is not just about the features one puts in, but also about those that one leaves out.

So my verdict has been that I've been trying to twist a tool into being useful for something it was not meant to be. And I have no right to complain if it's not working well in this respect.

I haven’t had a chance to try all the novel plotting software out there yet, but many of them don’t seem to be able
to offer you a complete overview of all your “index cards” of scenes and chapters in one total view.

Again, check out StoryView / Outline 4D.

In the end I’ve decided to reconstruct Storybook’s “chronological view with multiple strands (plot lines)” in TreeSheets and I’m very pleased with the result.

I believe you did the right thing. A specialised piece of software is worth its price (financially, but also in the time required to learn it) if it can offer a significant competitive advantage. If it can't, then it's much more efficient to master a flexible generic tool like Excel, TreeSheets, Bonsai or Brainstorm, where your investment in time and money will be paid back manyfold.

The speed at which you can work in TreeSheets is quite amazing. I also tried OneNote for this
but TreeSheets is faster and the end result looks more organised. You can cram a lot of information
into a 22inch screen monitor, and the full-screen mode is just wonderful

I can only agree. TreeSheets is simply remarkable.

Dr Andus wrote:

I’ve been looking for a solution for plotting multiple story lines in a top-down manner, possibly with a single-screen overview (yes, still for my dissertation…). I had high hopes for Storybook Pro v.4, as I was particularly impressed with v. 3. However, after having spent some time with v. 4, I’m disappointed.

It still has some interesting features, and the chronological view with the multiple strands is really what I’m looking for (except I don’t need it to be chronological), as well as the ability to shuffle scenes and chapters around, like index cards. So it’s some kind of an intelligent corkboard I’m looking for.

As I found my "intelligent cork board for index cards" in Outline 4D/StoryView 2.0, I'm no longer looking, but just for the record, here is another (new) offering in this area:

Story Lite and Story Turbo

http://www.storylite.com/

Dr Andus wrote:

Story Lite and Story Turbo

http://www.storylite.com/

Thanks for this great find. Leaving out the 'Story' component, this software is much closer to the huge virtual corkboards we talked about here http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/3934/

Story Turbo costs 0,99 USD (yes, 99 cents) for 1 PC and, for what it does, it is for me more useful than OneNote. Its concept is something long available in desktop publishing programs: there is the page where you lay out what is going to be published, but around it is a much greater area where you can place all the collected material that you may possibly use, including drafts, images, notes, placeholders etc.

Story Turbo advances this concept quite a bit, and I am impressed. There are still rough edges and unfinished features but the developer is clearly on to something.

Equally impressive is the library of examples and guides to use Story Turbo for specific applications. I wish all developers would provide this kind of kick-starting material for their products.

Thanks for this suggestion. I downloaded Story Lite and played around with it a little. I'm still not clear whether the individual notes can be imported from external rtf and text files, or whether perhaps the notes can only be created within the program.

I'd love to be able to save my notes in individual rtf/text files, bring them into something like RightNote for basic organization, and then manipulate them further at the writing stage with something like Story.

Bill

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

this software is
much closer to the huge virtual corkboards we talked about here
http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/3934/
for what it does, it is for me more useful than OneNote.

Yes, good to see such a thing actually exists for the PC (I've never warmed to OneNote as a corkboard). I'm particularly impressed by Story Turbo's export features (HTML, RTF, PNG, blog etc.).

For now TreeSheets will remain my 'corkboard' of choice for planning plotlines and brainstorming, as I just find it a lot faster to use. But I could see Story Turbo emerging as a strong alternative for certain jobs that would benefit from those export options.

As for Outline 4D, I'm loving it as an outliner for transitioning from bare-bones Bonsai topic outline to final outline with inline notes and initial draft. I've got almost 7000 words in it and it's still easy to work with. However, its 'corkboard' is a different animal altogether from the above.

Thanks for the tip about Story Turbo. I'm a regular TreeSheets user, but the sheer flexibility of Story Turbo is exhilarating! And the output options are, quite simply, amazing! I've bought two licences at the equally amazing sale price of $0.99. Ah, I've just noticed... rats, CRIMPed again!

WSP wrote:

Thanks for this suggestion. I downloaded Story Lite and played around with it a
little. I'm still not clear whether the individual notes can be imported from
external rtf and text files, or whether perhaps the notes can only be created within
the program.

My impression is that, as yet, notes can only be 'imported' via copy/paste (in StoryTurbo too). I understand that ST is considered the 'starting point' of one's textual work.

I'd love to be able to save my notes in individual rtf/text files, bring
them into something like RightNote for basic organization, and then manipulate them
further at the writing stage with something like Story.

I believe that other tools, possibly like WhizFolders or Scrivener, might be more suitable for this kind of work at both of the stages you describe.

Dr Andus wrote:

As I found my "intelligent cork board for index
cards" in Outline 4D/StoryView 2.0, I'm no longer looking, but just for the record,
here is another (new) offering in this area:
Story Lite and Story Turbo
http://www.storylite.com/
http://www.storyturbo.com/

I did find a use for Story Turbo in the end. Here is a mini case study on how I used it to organise my physical book library:
http://drandus.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/organising-your-library-with-story-turbo/

Dr Andus wrote:

Story Lite and Story Turbo
http://www.storylite.com/
http://www.storyturbo.com/

I see that Story Lite is no longer free. It's described as "price dropped to 95c!" and "buy intro offer 50% discount." Hm... Though it's still very cheap. Story Turbo is unchanged at 99 cents. I guess the main difference is that the latter has image support. I suppose that's worth extra 4 cents...

While looking for index card type applications I also came across an app called Throughline 1.0. Now, this could be a false positive, but Malwarebytes Anti-Malware just flagged it up as Trojan.backdoor, so I thought I'd warn people about it.

The file is called throughline-demo.exe

(I can't remember where I downloaded it from exactly.)

Story Turbo is far better anyway.

Speaking of infinite virtual corkboards, VUE can be used that way as well.

Pros: Free. Very fast to use (good for brainstorming). Can be easily converted into a concept map, by connecting the "index cards" with arrows.

Cons: poor exporting options (only PDF), so better to use it as a visualisation tool only, rather than as part of text development (for that Story Turbo would be a better option).

Thanks Dr Andus - I had a go at them all [except Notemap, I could not even find how to download it on their website - very unwelcoming place]. I succumbed to O4D - I found the process of getting my thoughts down really smooth - it all just clicked and I turned a pile of shapeless notes into a lecture in an hour. Phew, that saved my bacon!
Many thanks for the lead
Jeff