several of my characters in this novel have expressed views on the same topic (eg. john, mary, fred, throughout the book talk about what freedom means to them). is there a way to isolate their views so I can compare them?
You could cut and paste their views in a custom metadata field, linked to the scene in which they make them. Then in the outline view you can see that custom metadata field in isolation and see if it is working as intended. Ultimately it’s a cut, paste and collation exercise. I don’t think there’s a way to do that automatically, if that is what you are seeking.
I’ve just done some extensive plotting and in my case each metadata text field has been named after a character. But you could also name it after specific plot arcs (instead of character arcs). Whatever works for you basically.
You’ll end up with a spreadsheet, linked to the structure of your work. If you want to print that as one consolidated text document, Scrivener will do it, which you could then import into your binder and use as a structure ready to go in a separate window - or copy and paste into a synopsis.
I would first use a keyword for the topic so every scene where they expressed their view is identified. You could then use a Comment color (you can have up to 16 custom colors for comments, or use one of the defaults to highlight their view. Now use the keyword in project search and pull up every scene with this topic. Use ctrl + A to select all and view in Scrivenings view and will see all highlights in the Inspector if open to comments. Can now jump from special color comment for view to view to view and quickly compare. If want to keep in one document, then create a view document. Open as Quick reference panel and and paste into the floating panel as scroll thu the Scrivenings view of your collection.
Assuming they express their view in one place, elaborate on and test their views throughout the novel, I agree with the Keyword and Comment marker approach and finally creating a Collection. The benefit of this is if you need to edit anything the original text is always edited, even from a Collection.
Looking at this example below:
I could assign Alisha as a keyword to documents and/or Alisha ~ Backstory, in other places Alisha and/or Alisha ~ Foreshadow, etc. Assigning more than one keywords, I’d get hits for Alisha in all categories or just for specifics where I want.
In practice, clicking on the keyword icon brings up all the keywords in a novel. Clicking on Alisha ~ Backstory and clicking on the magnifying glass opens a mini menu. Clicking Search Keywords Only lists all the documents where the keyword was found in the Binder as a search result. You can then save that search result as a Collection.
You’re able to click on multiple keywords as well and get a search hit.
Your keywords would look something like:
Freedom
----Freedom ~ John
----Freedom ~ Mary
----Freedom ~ Fred
Once again, using this approach, you edit an original document, where required, even if from a Collection, since a Collection is an editable view of the original document.
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Thank you. I will try these suggestions.