Some questions to users

[PixeroJan]

Hi!
I have a few questions to you who use StoryLine:
What OS are you using? Windows, MacOS, Linux?
Do you have any experience with other novel writing tools such as Scrivener or others?

[Azmoinal]

Hi, I mostly use Windows and macOS but some time I work on ipadOS.

Before switching to obsidian, I worked on Scrivener. I like its interface, the export procedure and it feels good for the writing activities since it is a word editor without markdown language, but it doesn't push on structuring elements, it doesn't offer so much predefined tools or template to create and link researches, characters profiles, etc.

On the other side, I tried also Bibisco, it is great for helping writers providing a lot of tools to create novel structure, mind mapping and a great interview mechanism to help in defining characters but it lacks at all of a sync mechanism and a mobile version. Moreover the interface is ugly and it feels rough during writing.

Another software that occasionally I use is Ulysses. To be honest I don't like at all it subscription mechanism so I use it only to export a large markdown file into a pdf or other format.

Up to now, for the content written in obsidian, I was using longform to create a unique markdown file and Ulysses to transform it in a readable, good pdf or epub. I have still to try storyline export.

[beccapowellstuff]

Windows all the way - but only because I have too much on windows that moving would be a pain :(

Scrivener was my main tool - however - I moved to obsidian because I was getting very tired with the fact that they haven't really do any innovation for a long time, and also I was getting frustrated with the interface inability to change. I also am not a fully Anti-AI user - I like using AI as a tool that you can use to help with Editing/suggestions/writersblocks/15min writing prompts (get the AI to give you ideas, and you have to write to them) - Scrivener doesn't have any way to do that without a lot of copy and pasting - which was fine - but I wanted to make my workflow nicer. And Searching in Scrivener was a nightmare.

Therefore I moved to Obsidian which allowed me to step into that with Local LLM to especially use it as a editor the most for my first draft editing before I pass on to a real editor to review (ie - my friends :p ). It also has a lot better searching capability across a lot more notes, and moving to MD (which I hadn't used before) was a great way for me to do more with my writing, and linking which felt harder in Scrivener.

It still isn't perfectly - and I am missing the way of writing scripts like I could in Scrivener - but with a number of plugins and of course StoryLine, Obsidian is becoming a really great tool (I am just a hobbiest)

[Keiya5099]

Hello, as a Chinese writer, I use word on Windows. I have published academic monographs on economics and serialized novels online.
However, using such writing tools lacks effective productivity.
Since discovering Obsidian (less than six months ago), my understanding of writing has changed. After trying many plugins, including Long Form, I have high expectations for writing plugins. Due to updates and interruptions in Longform, as well as the differences I later discovered when comparing it to Scrivener (English version), I began considering switching to Scrivener. During this time, I discovered Storyline. Its features make writing feel like a miracle. In particular, the design of the Plotto tool is nothing short of a revolution in writing software for the AI era—a super tool that empowers humans to master writing in the AI age.

By the way, I use my iPad storyline of obsidian more often these days.

Congratulations, developers. Jan

[Netherleys]

Hello, I am a Windows user. I have gone through several writing apps, including Scrivener. I moved away from this even when I thought I knew it, there seemed to be something else to distract me about the set-up and complexity. I also realised I was writing more away from home, so needed some kind of online flexibility and reliability in terms of work across a couple of devices.

A lot of my writing involves footnotes (I am writing fiction and nonfiction), and this is something a lot of writing programmes don't offer. Atticus and Reedsy do but the pricing is a little overkill for me, and the other functions they incorporate aren't useful for me. I turned to Obsidian and recently found Storyline, which is incredible. Congratulations.

One thing: The Manuscript function doesn't appear to like footnotes, and when I export to .docx, the footnotes are gone (PDF is ok). I appreciate this is something the majority of users won't need, but it's there for reference.

Thanks for putting this together!

[apressler3]

I use mainly IpadOS and OSX. But do use Windows to a lesser extent. I have used Goodnotes for my writing so far, and only just decided to try Obsidian. This was the plugin I found via search. It looks promising.

Thank you for all your work.

[Golllog]

I use Mac, I'm a new Obsidian user (I bounced hard off it earlier), but after trying various fiction writing and organisation tools, including Scrivener, Novelcrafter and others, I stumbled across StoryLine here.

Not only have I found the best fiction writing/authoring tool I could possibly imagine, it works with Markdown, is completely open source, and I've made Obsidian my daily work tool — I do everything in there.

I owe you a debt of gratitude. Amazing work, one of the best community mods/plugins I've ever seen, for any software! I hope when this plugin gets published in the Obsidian Official plugins repo that it gets the attention it deserves, it's incredible!

On a side note, while I don't normally make it a practice to donate for open source work, I think yours deserves it. Unfortunately PayPal restricts donations from my country, at least that's what PayPal says. If you have other ways of getting donations, I'd gladly give one.

Either way, thank you for sharing your project and your hard work, I can't thank you enough :)

[PixeroJan]

Thanks for your kind words. This whole project started with me needing better planning tools for my self.
Today StoryLine is available in the official community plugins repo so it can be installed from inside Obsidian.
I had to remove the Donate button to get it accepted though but I'll think about another solution.

[Golllog]

Plenty of the most popular plugins have donation options in their README.md, and some include built-in donate/sponsor buttons in their settings screen (e.g Notebook Navigator: https://github.com/johansan/notebook-navigator). It's an excellent plugin BTW, worth checking out.

Congrats on getting StoryLine published in the official plugin list!

[Golllog]

FYI I managed to get a donation done the other day, if it helps anyone else with PayPal & their restrictions on donations from certain countries, I used the 'donate with credit card ' feature and changed the country I was donating from - oddly it worked fine.

Such fine work @PixeroJan can 't thank you enough, nothing is ever quite perfect I'm sure, but this has to be the nearest thing to it!

[PendragnJenna]

Sorry, I've been under deadline, so I just saw this discussion. I'm a Mac user. I've been using Scrivener since its beta days, but I've grown frustrated with the fact that it honestly hasn't changed significantly since then. Features that were difficult 20 years ago (compiling!) remain a challenge, and it lacks the functionality of newer writing apps. I looked at several other options, but hadn't found the right fit, especially because I want to store my data locally rather than on a proprietary system that might disappear. I'm also strongly anti-AI, which rules out several apps.

I'd been using Obsidian for random life stuff and part of my series bibles, but it wasn't until I came across StoryLine that I considered Obsidian as a complete replacement for Scrivener. StoryLine has all the series bible and plot-tracking I used to need to keep in other apps and a solid writing space where I remain in control of where my work is stored. I used the CSS hacks that @rk-kontur posted as a foundation to apply my own color scheme and other changes (thank you, rk-kontur!), so it blends right in with my theme. I no longer feel as though I'm fighting my writing environment, and as a result, I'm writing more words per day.

I also appreciate how responsive you've been to feature suggestions and modifications. You're really going the extra mile to make this a plugin that fits into everyone's workflow.

[jne22]

Mac user, used scrivener and pretty much every tool under the sun - love storyline - have even paid for it ;) Sent a donation - and recommended on reddit so hopefully will being you a few more fans.

[shawnhoefer]

I have a Macbook Air M2, a late 2013 iMac running Linux (Zorin OS), a Windows 11 machine, a Chromebook, and a ZFold6. As such, I use all of the above (Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux), but my Macbook is where I write the most.

[rk-kontur]

I only see this now. Here are my 5 cents:

• Writing for me has many faces, these days (professionally), it is a lot of podcast related stuff (concepts, workshop outlines, episodes I fix for other people).
• I used / tried a lot of programs before (owning Scrivener, Dramaqueen (https://dramaqueen.info/about-en/) and Aeon Timeline Licences) but since discovering Obsidian, always wanted to make use of its truly superior capabilities for all my work / personal related stuff. So I don't use these programs anymore.
• I toyed with the idea of buying a license of Causality but never really made the jump. I do think it has a lot of inspiring features, though, especially:
  • crosslinking of events / items
  • side by side view of manuscript (with perfectly color coded beats) and planning areas (whiteboard and timeline)
  • capability of "breaking out" the side by side view in order to lay out the areas onto a multi-monitor setup (which currently is not my reality but was for a long time)
  • editing sequencer like view of event (this is very cool I think!)
• If this sounds interesting, here is the link: https://www.hollywoodcamerawork.com/causality.html
• I am working on Windows & Android

[maxinerkatz-collab]

Hi! I used Longform as a plugin before this with the ITS theme. Now Storyline is a big part of my writing vault. I have tried AeonTimeline, Scrivener. I use syncthing to use it on MacOS and Windows 11.

[hittjwX]

Windows and Linux user. Longtime Obsidian and Scrivener user. More than 110 publications in Scrivener. More than 130 publications in Obsidian. Rendering Markdown with Pandoc.

[shawnhoefer]

I just realized that the response I provided one month ago only answered half the question. I have used many different writing applications: Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice, Scrivener, NovelCrafter, Bibisco to name a few. Oh, yeah, right... and Obsidian.

[detection]

I use Windows and Android (phone). I've really only used the usual word processors before this (Word/Google Docs/Ellipsus). But I recently started ideating for a project that needs more planning and I had been looking at Scrivener, then learned it has no mobile option, and my search led me here. I'm still poking around quite a bit but it's very impressive. Would love to see the mobile experience a bit more streamlined in the future.

[jeffrey-schneider]

Windows user. NovelCrafter for about 2-3 months. Gonna drop it since I found this. I like having control over my files. If NovelCrafter folds, what do I do?