Storyist
Storyist Software
$59, available via Amazon.com,  downloadable from the Storyist.com site
Compatible with Snow Leopard and older Mac systems

Storytelling software is not word processing. Microsoft made a fortune from Microsoft Word, but a writer who wants to tell a story will want more than the super-formatter from Microsoft brings to their screen. The Mac and storytelling have always been a close fit. Novelists use it, screenwriters even more so. If you’ve got an extensive business report or an article to compose, this is the kind of tool that can help your business. How close your work habits match a tool like Storyist will determine how much help such this software can deliver.

Storyist has been around for more than two years, and I’ve aimed my work at it through several versions. I got excited about the 2.0 release when I saw creator Steve Shepard demonstrate it at the 2009 Macworld Expo. A few months later a shipping version arrived (a license-free review copy.) I’ve spent time trying to slip my chapters of a new novel into what looks like a handsome template.

What follows will lead you into the details of startup, something a writer with experience in submission formats cares about. This kind of software tool is as personal as a barber or a massage artist. You try candidates until you feel the fit. While I waited on the 2.0 Storyist, I poured a 300-page novel into the competing Scrivener, from Literature and Latte. The latter program was the first I managed to fit around the massive body of my work.

So I had a standard to compare with Storyist. But the disadvantage any competitor brings are also its distinctions. “This is the way we do it,” Storyist says while I push words, sections, and chapters into it. Like understanding the difference between Swedish and Shiatsu massage, getting comfy with this program’s style was my first step in the road to crafting a story with Storyist. But the program is very big on pre-planning. Novelists call these distinctions “plotters” versus “pantsers” (as in by-the-seat-of).

I wish some of Storyist fundamentals didn’t need me to belt up my pants so early on. When I type a tab in a creative writing tool, I expect an indent — not a beep that rolls you into a menu of styles. That feels like a screenwriting choice, and I wanted to be able to keep my manuscript drafting simple. Storyist’s defaults and styles need to be scrutinized before your storytelling can begin. Read the rest of this entry »