- Platform: Mac OS X
- Media: CD-ROM
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Product Description
Storyist is a powerful story development tool for novelists and screenwriters. Unlike generic word processors, Storyist helps you track your plot, characters, and settings, and keeps all of your writing organized and accessible so you can focus on telling your story.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
So why buy Storyist? You can write fiction with a word processor, right? Ah, but does your word processor automatically format your novel or screenplay for submission?
And writing and formatting are only the beginning of what Storyist can do for writers. Its big strength is organization. Here's an example: Orson Scott Card once wrote about a lovely scene he constructed in which one of his characters called his mother on the phone; then, during revisions, he remembered he'd made the character an orphan. He began keeping a "bible" listing all the decisions he made in the course of a story. With Storyist, he would have that "bible" at his fingertips, right next to the manuscript and fully searchable, so he could find out in a flash whether his character had parents or siblings. And if he discovered that it got in the way of his writing, Storyist 2 has a full screen mode that would allow him to banish it from view (but it would still be lurking in the background in case of need).
I have been using Storyist since version 1.1. It was a great product then, and with version 2, it's even better--more flexible and powerful. In brief, it allows writers to organize not only their characters, plot, and settings but all the miscellaneous ideas, notes to self, reference sources, web links, and more that come up in the course of writing a novel, screenplay, stage play, or short story. It offers multiple windows where you can display alternate views of the manuscript. You can import pictures of your characters and settings (or just generally into the notebook) and, once there, drag them into as many locations as you like. You can also link sections to characters, notes, plot points; import and export files to standard formats; link notes to one another; set up your own categories for outlines and timelines (although a visual timeline is still in the works). The program comes with ample help files and a printed manual, and if you get stuck or just don't like reading manuals, you can find instant support on the Storyist forums--often from the developer himself. The program is intuitive enough to start using right away, although it takes a while to master all the options it offers. Do yourself a favor and take the time to learn it: you'll never want to write using only a word processor again.
Storyist is not limited to fiction writing, but it is best suited to fiction because it comes with preset, customizable forms for managing characters, settings, and plot. It includes standard industry formatting for scripts and novels and customizable templates. Screenplay writers can step through the various layers of formatting (character, action, parenthetical, etc.) with just a few key combinations. You can use it to develop your story on a series of virtual index cards and then transfer the results to the manuscript; you can also just sit down and write, knowing that the outline, index cards, and plot points are there waiting for that moment when you write yourself into a corner and need to plan your escape route without the distractions of dialogue.
If you have a Mac running OS 10.4-10.6 and a Great American Novel in the works, Storyist will help you keep everything organized and in one place. Download the demo and see for yourself!
And writing and formatting are only the beginning of what Storyist can do for writers. Its big strength is organization. Here's an example: Orson Scott Card once wrote about a lovely scene he constructed in which one of his characters called his mother on the phone; then, during revisions, he remembered he'd made the character an orphan. He began keeping a "bible" listing all the decisions he made in the course of a story. With Storyist, he would have that "bible" at his fingertips, right next to the manuscript and fully searchable, so he could find out in a flash whether his character had parents or siblings. And if he discovered that it got in the way of his writing, Storyist 2 has a full screen mode that would allow him to banish it from view (but it would still be lurking in the background in case of need).
I have been using Storyist since version 1.1. It was a great product then, and with version 2, it's even better--more flexible and powerful. In brief, it allows writers to organize not only their characters, plot, and settings but all the miscellaneous ideas, notes to self, reference sources, web links, and more that come up in the course of writing a novel, screenplay, stage play, or short story. It offers multiple windows where you can display alternate views of the manuscript. You can import pictures of your characters and settings (or just generally into the notebook) and, once there, drag them into as many locations as you like. You can also link sections to characters, notes, plot points; import and export files to standard formats; link notes to one another; set up your own categories for outlines and timelines (although a visual timeline is still in the works). The program comes with ample help files and a printed manual, and if you get stuck or just don't like reading manuals, you can find instant support on the Storyist forums--often from the developer himself. The program is intuitive enough to start using right away, although it takes a while to master all the options it offers. Do yourself a favor and take the time to learn it: you'll never want to write using only a word processor again.
Storyist is not limited to fiction writing, but it is best suited to fiction because it comes with preset, customizable forms for managing characters, settings, and plot. It includes standard industry formatting for scripts and novels and customizable templates. Screenplay writers can step through the various layers of formatting (character, action, parenthetical, etc.) with just a few key combinations. You can use it to develop your story on a series of virtual index cards and then transfer the results to the manuscript; you can also just sit down and write, knowing that the outline, index cards, and plot points are there waiting for that moment when you write yourself into a corner and need to plan your escape route without the distractions of dialogue.
If you have a Mac running OS 10.4-10.6 and a Great American Novel in the works, Storyist will help you keep everything organized and in one place. Download the demo and see for yourself!
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Let me be blunt. Storyist 2 is simply the best software for writing a novel on a Mac.
How do I know this? I'm one of those people who is constantly searching for the perfect software fit. You know the type. I've used and discarded just about every word processor for the Mac since MacWrite, back in 1984. I believe I've finally found what I need in Storyist 2.
Storyist 2 gives me multiple templates for the various professional formats used by publishers and producers. It helps me manage my project by forming collections of images and data on characters, settings, plots and any additional categories that come to mind. Storyist 2 gives me a storyboard, an outliner, and a very powerful string search tool. It gives me any number of bookmarks and in-text comments (both of which may be made invisible to place out of the way). Storyist 2 gives me split-screen and full-screen editing, and it gives me sophisticated exporting.
In short, Storyist 2 gives me everything a writer needs from software and does it elegantly. (Just as an aside, my previous tool was Scrivener. Storyist is better.)
There is also a very special additional advantage that comes with Storyist: Steve Shepard, the product's principal designer and engineer. His is the voice of Support at the Storyist web site [...]. He is also very active on the Storyist forum [...] and is supernaturally fast with good solid answers to tough questions. I personally consider him an important part of the total package. (Do you think Billy G ever chimes in when you have a question about Word? I think not.)
So, if you're trying to birth a novel, Storyist 2 can be the midwife. If you just want to check out software (as I often do) download a free demo from their web site at [...]
How do I know this? I'm one of those people who is constantly searching for the perfect software fit. You know the type. I've used and discarded just about every word processor for the Mac since MacWrite, back in 1984. I believe I've finally found what I need in Storyist 2.
Storyist 2 gives me multiple templates for the various professional formats used by publishers and producers. It helps me manage my project by forming collections of images and data on characters, settings, plots and any additional categories that come to mind. Storyist 2 gives me a storyboard, an outliner, and a very powerful string search tool. It gives me any number of bookmarks and in-text comments (both of which may be made invisible to place out of the way). Storyist 2 gives me split-screen and full-screen editing, and it gives me sophisticated exporting.
In short, Storyist 2 gives me everything a writer needs from software and does it elegantly. (Just as an aside, my previous tool was Scrivener. Storyist is better.)
There is also a very special additional advantage that comes with Storyist: Steve Shepard, the product's principal designer and engineer. His is the voice of Support at the Storyist web site [...]. He is also very active on the Storyist forum [...] and is supernaturally fast with good solid answers to tough questions. I personally consider him an important part of the total package. (Do you think Billy G ever chimes in when you have a question about Word? I think not.)
So, if you're trying to birth a novel, Storyist 2 can be the midwife. If you just want to check out software (as I often do) download a free demo from their web site at [...]
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
I've been using Storyist since NaNoWriMo of 2007. Before that, I was using OpenOffice/paper; everything is in a binder on my bookshelf, and I'm pretty sure I've lost a chapter or two. Storyist has allowed me to buckle down and get really serious about writing. Now I've got a three book series in Storyist, complete with characters, settings, notes, everything, all in one file. There is a lot to Storyist - I'm not sure I've uncovered everything - but the moment I have a question, I pop over to the forums: [...] and ask away. The developer is always quick to respond and willing to help.
Your manuscripts are automatically formatted to industry standards, so if you entertain aspirations of being published, that's a great boon. If, like me, you like to have your characters visible as you write, you can do that. Divide the screen between the manuscript and your plot points? Got it. If you're still unsure, download the demo and see for yourself. Stop by the forum if you have questions.
- Calli
Your manuscripts are automatically formatted to industry standards, so if you entertain aspirations of being published, that's a great boon. If, like me, you like to have your characters visible as you write, you can do that. Divide the screen between the manuscript and your plot points? Got it. If you're still unsure, download the demo and see for yourself. Stop by the forum if you have questions.
- Calli
Most Recent Customer Reviews
EZEPUB Review
It is great to review quality products such as Storyist.
Authors today have few super choices when putting together their novel, screenplay or stage play. Read more
Authors today have few super choices when putting together their novel, screenplay or stage play. Read more
Published 22 months ago by C. Hayden
Storyist is great!
I've been using Storyist for novel writing for over two years. This is a solid product with responsive support and a great community on its forums. Read more
Published on December 5, 2009 by I. Foraker
The Best Writing Solution Around
I have also been using Storyist from it's early days (when it was ONLY a hundred times better than Microsoft Word), and have been very happy with my decision to stick by it. Read more
Published on December 4, 2009 by B. Wagner
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