[Project Variable] & Chatacters, Locations and Objects
Gloshawk
I can see the benefit of using project variables to name your
characters (even locations and objects). Imagin you are busy with a a
first marjor revision of a largish novel - when, like a 'bolt out of
the blue' it occurs to you that your main character should not be
called Mussel Toffynose, but Ryan Blake, and the city of Monotinosy
shoud in fact be Metropolous.
I'm assuming that Charactes, Locations and Objects are currently not
project variables - but wouldn't it be nifty??
Carl Maniglia
Isn't that what "Global Search & Replace" already does?
Regards
Carl
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Gloshawk
On Dec 18, 12:29 am, Carl Maniglia <carlmanig...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Isn't that what "Global Search & Replace" already does?
>
> Regards
>
> Carl
>
> On 17 December 2011 21:24, Gloshawk <weimanga...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Hi Simon,
>
> > I can see the benefit of using project variables to name your
> > characters (even locations and objects). Imagin you are busy with a a
> > first marjor revision of a largish novel - when, like a 'bolt out of
> > the blue' it occurs to you that your main character should not be
> > called Mussel Toffynose, but Ryan Blake, and the city of Monotinosy
> > shoud in fact be Metropolous.
>
> > I'm assuming that Charactes, Locations and Objects are currently not
> > project variables - but wouldn't it be nifty??
>
> > --
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> > For more options, visit this group at
> >http://groups.google.com/group/ywriter?hl=en.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Simon Haynes
Search and replace will change one word for another.
Global/Project variables mean you'd have to call your character [Char1] or something all the way through the book, and define Char1 as a variable. It's not really practical (or necessary.)
Global variables will rarely be used in the text itself - they're not for that. They're for the extra bits and pieces (like author bio) which you might want to share across 20 yWriter projects.
Regards
Simon Haynes
--
Freelance software engineer: http://www.spacejock.com
Author & freelance writer: http://www.spacejock.com.au
Gloshawk wrote:
> It does?
Dave Shaw
Replace, it changes the name throughout the text, and also in the list of
characters. It doesn't do anything in scene or chapter descriptions. I'm not
sure about notes, didn't have any with that character's name in them. I'm
guessing locations and items would work the same way.
Dave Shaw
Gloshawk
However, if, when you added a character location or item you were
asked whether you wished it assigned as a global or project variable,
you could perhapse have a search and replace done automaticallt simbly
by changing your characters locations and items names - but I'm sure
that global search and replace manually does this in a simpler more
obvious manner.
On Dec 18, 5:59 pm, Dave Shaw <daves...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> From experience, if you change a character's name using Global Search and
> Replace, it changes the name throughout the text, and also in the list o
> characters. It doesn't do anything in scene or chapter descriptions. I'm not
> sure about notes, didn't have any with that character's name in them. I'm
> guessing locations and items would work the same way.
>
> Dave Shaw
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Gloshawk <weimanga...@gmail.com>
> To: yWriter <ywr...@googlegroups.com>
> Sent: Sun, December 18, 2011 3:12:16 AM
> Subject: [yWriter] Re: [Project Variable] & Chatacters, Locations and Objects
>
> It does?
>
> On Dec 18, 12:29 am, Carl Maniglia <carlmanig...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Isn't that what "Global Search & Replace" already does?
>
> > Regards
>
> > Carl
>
> > On 17 December 2011 21:24, Gloshawk <weimanga...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > Hi Simon,
>
> > > I can see the benefit of using project variables to name your
> > > characters (even locations and objects). Imagin you are busy with a a
> > > first marjor revision of a largish novel - when, like a 'bolt out of
> > > the blue' it occurs to you that your main character should not be
> > > called Mussel Toffynose, but Ryan Blake, and the city of Monotinosy
> > > shoud in fact be Metropolous.
>
> > > I'm assuming that Charactes, Locations and Objects are currently not
> > > project variables - but wouldn't it be nifty??- Hide quoted text -
Kevin Daug
1. Your characters may likely be known by several different names
throughout the course of your story. For example, in the story I'm
currently working on, the main character is named "David Teague." To
his friends, he's "David," to other people, he may be "Mr. Teague," to
his sister, he's "Davie." At some point, he may be called "Dave" by
someone. That's five forms of address for this one character. Using
project variables would require a separate variable for each name and
the ability to keep straight which variable represented the particular
name I wanted to use at a particular point, and changing the
character's name would require me to remember to change all five for
that one character. Not to mention how awkward it would look to write
and read a passage like, "When [MainChar01Short] turned around,
[MainChar02Short] was standing behind him."
2. Using the global search and replace probably isn't the best idea
for renaming a character in a yWriter project since the search
algorithm doesn't discriminate between whole phrases and parts of
phrases, as I'm sure Simon can confirm. To illustrate, if you were
working on a story with a character named "Chris" whom you decided to
rename "Mike," and there was also a character named "Christine" in the
same story, using global search and replace to rename him would also
rename "Christine" to "Miketine." If the story took place during
"Christmas," it would then instead happen during "Miketmas." Your
boat wouldn't be "christened," it would be "Miketened." If you also
had a second character named "Chris," the search won't know how to
distinguish between the two characters.
All in all, it's probably best to just write the way you normally
would, and if you decide to change a character's name, just make a
note about it for later. Then when you start editing and read back
through the finished draft, circle all occurrences of the name you
want to change and fix them in the yWriter project later, and the same
for items and locations as well. In the long run, this won't create
as many unintended complications.
-Kevin
---
Dave Shaw
Melissa to Divya, which doesn't have the issue noted below. Melissa had no
nicknames and her name wasn't part of any other words that I had used (or any
other words in English, so far as I know - grin).
As a comment on naming characters in general, I should also note that my
critique partners don't like it when I have significant characters that start
with the same letter, much less the same syllable; Chris and Christine in the
same story would raise all sorts of comments about it being confusing. My
reason for renaming Melissa was because her name sounded too much like
Minelda's, and I was much more invested in Minelda.
So, the takeaway is that whenever you use global search and replace, you have to
consider the possible unintended consequences, as noted below. Manage those and
it's a very useful tool; fail to manage them and you'll probably shoot yourself
in the foot, sooner or later.
Dave Shaw
----- Original Message ----
From: Kevin Daug <kad...@gmail.com>
To: yWriter <ywr...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Mon, December 19, 2011 12:55:04 AM
Subject: [yWriter] Re: & Chatacters, Locations and Objects
<snip>
2. Using the global search and replace probably isn't the best idea
for renaming a character in a yWriter project since the search
algorithm doesn't discriminate between whole phrases and parts of
phrases, as I'm sure Simon can confirm. To illustrate, if you were
working on a story with a character named "Chris" whom you decided to
rename "Mike," and there was also a character named "Christine" in the
same story, using global search and replace to rename him would also
rename "Christine" to "Miketine." If the story took place during
"Christmas," it would then instead happen during "Miketmas." Your
boat wouldn't be "christened," it would be "Miketened." If you also
had a second character named "Chris," the search won't know how to
distinguish between the two characters.
<snip>
franontheedge
think of one way around it though, if such is possible to actually
program.
And that's to allow a user to confirm each individual replacement.
This would be best if 'confirm' or 'skip' could be set to yes, or
'automatic replace' to yes before the operation is begun.
Then if you KNOW you have Christmas and Christine type problems all
over the place, you can cope with it using 'skip' or 'replace', and if
you have a much simpler operation like the mentioned Melissa one, you
could use 'Auto'. This would still work for Simon's Author Bio type
stuff.
Now I don't program, so I've no idea if that sort of thing is possible
to do or just too complex.
I'd expect you'd need to set up for another pass manually to run
'skip' or 'replace' again for each diminutive/alternative name, like
in the David, Dave, Davie, Davy, Mr Smith, But if you use the
Character naming box to list 'other names' then at least you can find
a list of them.
If the program allowed more than 1 field box for other names, then
possibly this could also be programmed - but I suspect that the whole
thing is just to difficult, or too much work.
This is the unfortunate thing, all the stuff that's laborious for us
humans to do, and you'd think computer's would be good at, still need
to be set up in a program in the first place, and that means someone
has to do a lot of work to set these things up.
We can't have everything.
I personally would REALLY like the option for a "Save As" button,
since I hate to overwrite my MSS at some points, and prefer to be able
to actually refer back to previous incarnations, which is how I've
worked up to now with Word. But I've hesitated to ask this since
there must be some reason not to have it when people have been using
this prog for so long already.
Fran
> > > >http://groups.google.com/group/ywriter?hl=en.-Hide quoted text -
Dave Shaw
search and replace. He does have the confirmation feature in the scene find and
replace, so I doubt it's impossible.
I personally don't think changing nicknames is properly an issue for the
software to address directly, other than allowing each one to be handled
individually.
As for seeing what your past versions looked like, have you checked Tools =>
Backups => View Autobackups yet? You can look at your backups from any given
day and see what your project had in it at that time. This is MUCH better than
trying to remember to do a Save As at important moments. Of course, you can
still make copies of your project at any time just by copying your project
folder using ordinary Windows means.
Dave Shaw
----- Original Message ----
From: franontheedge <franon...@hotmail.com>
To: yWriter <ywr...@googlegroups.com>
franontheedge
No, I haven't looked at that yet.
Ah... right... well I've looked at it now... but I don't understand it
- the last autobackup appears to be one scene - I don't understand,
where's the rest of the manuscript?
It's a great, massive, HUGE! shame about the names replacement not
being available - cos I've noticed that in some places I've called a
character Miss Grey and in other's she's Miss Gray and I just know
I'll never find them all by hand - she's a major character...
(me, swearing at the mss)
Simon Haynes
franontheedge wrote:
> >>View Autobackups
> No, I haven't looked at that yet.
> Ah... right... well I've looked at it now... but I don't understand it
> - the last autobackup appears to be one scene - I don't understand,
> where's the rest of the manuscript?
>
> It's a great, massive, HUGE! shame about the names replacement not
> being available - cos I've noticed that in some places I've called a
> character Miss Grey and in other's she's Miss Gray and I just know
> I'll never find them all by hand - she's a major character...
>
> (me, swearing at the mss)
>
You can replace Grey with Gray (or vice versa) as long as you tick 'Match Case' and assuming you don't have other characters or locations called Greyfriars, Greyson, etc.
Henry Boleszny
One easy way to make sure that important characters are spelled consistantly is to (a) list them as a character and (b) select Settings->Mark known characters.
That way, yWriter highlights all characters you've identified when they're included in a scene. If you haven't spelled it correctly, it won't highlight.
Just a thought...
Henry
> Subject: [yWriter] Re: [Project Variable] & Chatacters, Locations and Objects
mikeshar...@gmail.com
issue when it's the surname of several characters, and they're main
characters or near enough. I tag the surname as part of the only
character who doesn't change their name to it.
I'm dyslexic and I think both are right on a casual look, since it's
got all the letters and more or less in the right order.
On Dec 21, 2:26 pm, Henry Boleszny <ozh...@live.com.au> wrote:
> Hi Fran,
>
> One easy way to make sure that important characters are spelled consistantly is to (a) list them as a character and (b) select Settings->Mark known characters.
>
> That way, yWriter highlights all characters you've identified when they're included in a scene. If you haven't spelled it correctly, it won't highlight.
>
> Just a thought...
>
> Henry
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2011 04:07:38 -0800
> > Subject: [yWriter] Re: [Project Variable] & Chatacters, Locations and Objects
Dave Shaw
access to any scenes after the first one. I suppose you could always restore
the backup to another project folder and open it from there, but that's not
ideal. Oh, Simon...
However, there WILL be backups of the individual scene from each day where it
was changed. Do you see those?
Um, not sure why you say the names replacement isn't available. If you do a
global search and replace for Miss Gray to Miss Grey, I think it should fix all
of them for you with minimal risk, especially if you check the case sensitive
box. I mean, you don't have a log of dialog where someone is complaining 'I
Miss Gray' or something similar that you don't want changed, do you? If you're
really paranoid that the global wouldn't work right, a global find will let you
go through and find each instance of Miss Gray so you can fix them manually.
I've been using search and replace tools since the '70's, and have found using
them to advantage is mostly a matter of a little thoughtful creativity to work
around their limitations. They ALL have limitations when applied to the English
language, unfortunately.
Dave Shaw
----- Original Message ----
From: franontheedge <franon...@hotmail.com>
To: yWriter <ywr...@googlegroups.com>
Henry Boleszny
> Hmm - I just noticed that on the autobackups, too. The viewer doesn't allow
> access to any scenes after the first one.
Perhaps you're only seeing one scene because you only edited one scene?
Just a thought.
Henry
> From: dave...@bellsouth.net
> Subject: Re: [yWriter] Re: [Project Variable] & Chatacters, Locations and Objects
> To: ywr...@googlegroups.com
Dave Shaw
I'm talking about the full backup, not the individual changed scene ('sequential') backups. The viewer only shows the first scene in the full backup. It would be nice if it provided a way to access all the scenes without having having to restore it.
Dave Shaw
From: Henry Boleszny <ozh...@live.com.au>
To: Simon <ywr...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wed, December 21, 2011 6:10:56 PM
Subject: RE: [yWriter] Re: [Project Variable] & Chatacters, Locations and Objects
Henry Boleszny
Okay, I'm lost and confused. Where are you seeing this?
I've looked in 'Tools->View autobackups' and I've gone to the Autobackups folder. I've expanded the zipped Full Backup folder. I've had a look at what was inside. I see all the scenes there.
Henry
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:26:31 -0800
Amy P. Reed
On Dec 21, 2:26 pm, Henry Boleszny <ozh...@live.com.au> wrote:
> Hi Fran,
>
> One easy way to make sure that important characters are spelled consistantly is to (a) list them as a character and (b) select Settings->Mark known characters.
>
> That way, yWriter highlights all characters you've identified when they're included in a scene. If you haven't spelled it correctly, it won't highlight.
>
> Just a thought...
>
> Henry
Amy P. Reed
ap.reed @ gmail.com (take out the spaces)
http://www.nightlifechron.com
http://blog.nightlifechron.com
http://cctxwritersgroup.proboards.com
Henry Boleszny
Henry
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:36:07 -0600
Subject: Re: [yWriter] Re: [Project Variable] & Chatacters, Locations and Objects
From: ap....@gmail.com
To: ywr...@googlegroups.com
Dave Shaw
All of the scenes are in the Full Backup zip file, just as they should be. However, when I open that particular file in the yWriter Autobackups viewer, I only see the first scene. It doesn't display any index to access any of the other scenes. Any scenes changed on that day are listed in the viewer, but individual unchanged scenes, other than the first scene, are not accessible from yWriter without restoring the full backup.
Dave Shaw
Subject: RE: [yWriter] Re: [Project Variable] & Chatacters, Locations and Objects
Henry Boleszny
Hence my confusion. I thought the discussion related to edited scenes ONLY rather than to viewing every scene in the project.
I don't see unedited scenes in the viewer either.
I have a vague memory of Simon saying the viewer can pick up other scenes, but I can't recall how nor can I find that email in my archives.
Henry
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:26:31 -0800
Cayendi
> 2. Using the global search and replace probably isn't the best idea
> for renaming a character in a yWriter project since the search
> algorithm doesn't discriminate between whole phrases and parts of
> phrases, as I'm sure Simon can confirm. To illustrate, if you were
> working on a story with a character named "Chris" whom you decided to
> rename "Mike," and there was also a character named "Christine" in the
> same story, using global search and replace to rename him would also
> rename "Christine" to "Miketine." If the story took place during
> "Christmas," it would then instead happen during "Miketmas." Your
> boat wouldn't be "christened," it would be "Miketened." If you also
> had a second character named "Chris," the search won't know how to
> distinguish between the two characters.
>
If you want to change Chris, but don't want to risk changing Christine
or even Christmas, enter Chris and a space in the search box.
There will still be instances where this won't work, but it's easier
to do three searches (Chris /Chris./Chris, for instance) than having
to search for all the mangled words.
Cheers,
Cayendi