This would be incredibly useful to writers like me, but I’ve no idea if it’s technically feasible or whether it’s a big ask.
Continuity is frankly a pain in the ****.
Quite often, characters have important statuses or variables that change over the course of the story. This is especially true of LitRPG where they have a literal skill list, but it’s also true of any kind of story with a resource element, and it’s really easy to get wrong, and a fiddle to get right.
For example, in my kind of writing I track character injuries, unit casualties, and ammunition. A romance writer might want to track “Outfit”.
What would be really useful is a button that fills the current field with the contents from the first populated field “up-story”.
So, for example, I go to an empty scene, go to the “Eric Injury” field and click “Update from Previous” and Scrivener looks back 3 chapters to return “Scratched forehead, twisted ankle, thorns in palms.” I update that after I’ve drafted the scene, and the information becomes available two chapters later.
I imagine a Romance writer doing something similar with “Outfit”.
Custom metadata fields almost get you there. You can have a free-form text field for “Eric Injury”, viewable in outline mode. You could then copy and paste (or maybe just write in the status of that injury as it heals or gets worse) from one entry in the outline to the next. If your choices are a static list possible values, then version 3 has the ability to create a pre-determined list of values to pick from.
Yes, I don’t know if any approach we added as a feature will be more broadly useful than copy and paste. It’s not fancy, but it gets the job done without any assumptions about what is “up-story” (including, for example, that one is writing a story in the first place, and that it is told in a linear fashion).
The problem may be one of finding that particular point in order to copy the information more easily? If so, there is a fundamental design principle in the software that should make it easier for you to pinpoint where that information is. Take the Label or Keyword, which can be used to track a particular character throughout the tale. By having a common identifier combined with key bits of information relayed in custom metadata—or even within the text itself, perhaps by using some annotative technique such as colour highlights or inline annotation markers—you can effectively close the gap between textually distant areas of the project by searching for that identifier.
To put it to a practical demonstration: let’s say you have fifteen scenes, each as individual texts in the binder, within which a character features a major role, and you use some tool to tag those scenes somehow. No matter the method, the Project Search tool can be used to look for that identifying mark, you then get a list of only those items in the binder sidebar that pertain to the aspect of continuity you are concerned about. By selecting those items together they can all be viewed in the outliner, and here is where you can copy and paste or review information that you’ve marked in the past—all in one topically concise list. And for those that don’t keep track so much with metadata, you can use Scrivenings to read the whole non-linear thread back to back, and much more easily spot continuity issues while proofing it as a kind of isolated storyline within the larger tale.
And of course through the combination of metadata you can use less of it. Instead of having a dedicated “Eric Injury” field, you can have a generic “Injury” field that is shared by a dozen characters—you know it is Eric in a particular case because in the same outliner you can see Eric’s keyword or label (maybe that doesn’t work for precisely what you’re doing, but you get the idea).
Two other tools to try out:
Duplication & Splitting: depending on how you build your outline, if you create a new scene as you write rather than outlining beforehand, you can duplicate from the last place in the story where this scene branches from, and in doing so inherit all of its qualities, such as metadata fields. Just wipe the text out, make any necessary adjustments, and you’re ready to go. Splitting is another form of duplication that may work better for you if you identify breaks after having already written a bit.
Bookmarks (or “References” as they are called in v1): for connections between areas of the story that defy categorisation, or that you find yourself looking up frequently. For each section of your draft you can build a list of such notable items in the inspector sidebar. If you build up a network of linkages as you write over time, then these cross-references can solve all kinds of editing problems in the future as well.
These basic tactics will mature in time, once version three is available (or if you chose to install the beta). For example, loading a search result into the editor is now much simpler, and can even be done without using the sidebar. I.e. you can keep automatically generated plot line lists as collections and flip between them effortlessly with the editor header bar. Metadata itself is getting a boost, with additional data types that will improve sorting in the outliner (and well, you can sort for a start) and the ability to make your own list fields (like how Status works). Bookmark lists now feature a dedicated sidebar editor, so you can read the part of the story you linked to alongside what you’re writing. Lots more!
I can see a romance author having a use for unit casualties. :mrgreen:
I suppose the real issue is having dynamic information at the finger tips. Currently I’m doing it by copy/paste. A grab button would make it easier to do this without breaking flow.
I think non-fiction authors might also find it handy, e.g. to track concepts as they unfold, but I use Scrivener for fiction…