Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr. Drib
Hitch, how is Power Structure fitting in with your needs?
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Hey, DD:
I really quite like it. It doesn't do some things, that would be handy, but I can live without those. For example, one thing that Scrivener does do, is allow you to create a "Whatever" section, into which you can type chapters of material that you're not going to use. (For example: if you're writing a mystery, you end up writing huge chunks of story that you know upfront you're not actually going to use. You type the story of the murder itself--every single step--so that your protagonist can then turn around and solve it. You need to know what clues can be created, etc.) I'm still playing with how to work best with PS (as I am currently working on a story that has a big chunk of it told in flashbacks to a red herring plotline from 20 years prior), to put that in a "spot" that makes sense to me.
I absolutely ADORE the Gestalt view. For those of us who are completely OCD about things like structure, sub-plots, etc., I think it's really great. I can pop it open, view it in Act-->Chapter-->Plot Point-->Plot Point Detail (item by item). It's incredibly useful in that way. As it advertises--
it's about structure.
It's 99%, a structure-creation/outlining tool. Pantsers would HATE it, methinks. But it's great for me.
I will still end up doing the final writing in YW, I suspect, because I have some bits and pieces that I want to be SURE don't get bollixed, in timelines, and because I very much like the other YW features.
To me, PS is not a "writing" tool (it doesn't even give you daily word counts, goals, etc., so I don't see how someone OCD enough to use it in the first place could STAND not knowing THAT stuff, if you think about it), it's purely for outlining. I wouldn't write in it. I'll get the structure complete, output it, and then import that into YW, and go from there.
That's my take on it thus far. I'll revert back on this in more detail in, say, a month, when I've done more with it. I've done a lot--but I haven't checked all the functionality, etc. Right now, it's a corkboard for me, with character outlines, the basic overall plot structure, and some work I'm doing on the thematic sub-plots.
ETA: Sorry, I also forgot to mention--again, for the OCD amongst you--each chapter provides a spot for a checklist: "What has to happen in this scene?" so you can say things like "Betty has to find spot," "Betty has to save spot from drowning," "Betty meets Sam, Spot's owner," yadda, if you need that type of item-by-item reminding. I use it for those things in a chapter that need to move me forward in the story, so I don't forget them; they're like NOTES or reminders in Scrivener. e.g., "don't forget, she has to find the enchanted Chamber Pot in this scene." :-)
Hitch