Storybook Pro 4.0 is out

Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Oct 13, 2012 at 07:58 AM

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.