I’m writing. a Scifi novel, and I wanted some advice on how to maybe achieve something in Scrivener. I recently re-read Clive Barker’s (amazing) novel Imajica, and one cool thing he did with this book, since it’s a HUGE epic fantasy novel, was include an appendix with it, the same way that Robert Jordan did with his Wheel of Time books. But the neat thing was this: In the eBook version of Imajica, on iBooks, the first occurrence of every made-up name, place, thing, etc. in the book is a hyperlink to the term’s appearance in the appendix. So as you’re reading the book, you can tap on names and phrases and terminology (at least the first time it appears) to go straight to its listing in the appendix. I’m wondering — how could I practically set this up with Back Matter and using Scrivener links, so that when I Compile my book to ePub 3 or MOBI, I get the same setup or effect? This would be a REALLY neat thing to do, I think. The only thing that strikes me about Barker’s book (that I think I would like to do differently), is having some “backlink” effect — a way to jump BACK to the spot you came from in the book once you reach the appropriate spot in the appendix. Right? Y’see what I’m saying? So say the reader is reading the book, and they run across the term, “the Interdimensional Matter-Shifter” for the first time; they tap it, they jump to the appendix, read the summary and definition of the term, then tap a tiny little “arrow” and jump back. is there any way to accomplish this with a MINIMUM of fuss? Yes, no?
Ah! You and I are entirely on the same track. I’m also writing fantasy - and wanting to create a alphabetised glossary (within categories like people, places etc.) with hyperlinks from my ebook. Sorry, I’m a newbie to scriv and was searching for answers - will watch this space to see if someone clever responds Fingers crossed!
I read a lot of interactive fiction ebooks, and the back button is usually enough to go back once. The only issue is whether it will go back more than one jump. So I’d recommend checking whether your use case just works out of the box before trying to force it to work.
Subgeniuszero, isn’t it possible to add links for that after you export it to Word or some other programme, assuming there may be some functionality in Word or another programme that enables this facility? You may of course have fixed the issue by now, but if not, why not try contacting the author whose book has that feature in it to see if he/she can let you know which programme they worked in to create the book? Most authors are searchable online! Otherwise, why not go onto Goodreads and message the librarians on the Librarians forum?
Automatic back-links should be coming in Windows V3, as they’re there already in Mac V3, but I’ve not worked with ePub so can’t say whether that will do what you want.
Fingers crossed!