Subway view currently allows: Character, Story Arc, and Location. It’d be insanely great if we could use Scrivener’s Keywords as well. Also, pick up Scrivener’s colors rather than forcing color reassignment in Aeon Timeline.
Thanks a million!
I have not used tags in Scrivener, but instead use custom metadata. (Honestly, I never thought to use tags, probably because I created my initial outline in AT3, and only then did I make a fresh project in Scrivener where I populated it initially by syncing to it.)
However, if I did use tags and then encountered this issue in AT3, I’d probably refactor my Scrivener tags into custom metadata. It’s no doubt a good deal of work, admittedly.
Alternatively, if I were set on using Scrivener tags, I would try something like this as a workaround:
- Create a custom item type in AT3, which can be named anything that makes sense to you, such as “Tags.”
- In AT3, sync keywords as items of this type.
- Establish relationships between events and these keyword-based items.
I could then view these items as tracks in Subway View.
That’s very impressive, but it kinda misses the point.
I’ve recently switched from Aeon v2 to Aeon v3. I delayed because v3 is vastly different—operationally and how it syncs with Scrivener. I finally made the switch because I’m in the developmental editing stage, and I need to sharpen my story. Aeon v3 has features I can really use, and so worth the effort to learn v3 and how to sync it. I converted my old v2 .aeon file to v3, so there may be some weirdness hidden in the converted file.
When I started my developmental edit, I realized I could use Scrivener’s Keywords within Scrivener as Story Arcs. In Scrivener’s Outliner I can view Keywords as colored blocks, rather than a bunch of phrases—easier to scan down the scene list and get the big picture. However, Aeon’s Subway View is even better.
That my converted .aeon file is equating Scrivener Keywords with Aeon Tags is a fluke. I see I can go directly from Keywords to Story Arcs. But that means managing the same data in two places, and Aeon is kind of evil when it comes to Keywords. It wants to manage them the same way in manages the metadata it created—its colors, its spelling, its order, etc. But it also comes down to how Subway View uses data. Why only three sources? Characters, Locations, and Story Arcs? Why not more? And that’s the real wish behind this feature request.
The whole point of Scrivener is creating the manuscript (MS). Where it blows away any word processor is it’s ability to manage metadata associated with pieces of the MS (typically scenes, or events in Aeon). The whole point of Aeon is the big picture view, based entirely on metadata. For the most part Aeon creates new types of metadata (event times, characters, locations, and all those wonderful categories you’ve invented). Aeon shares them with Scrivener by tucking these things into Scrivener’s Custom Metadata within the Inspector. Brilliant!
Usually, if Scrivener invented a piece of metadata (title, synopsis, etc) Aeon doesn’t much mess with it. That we can now edit those bits of Scrivener-created metadata using Aeon v3, without blowing up the world, is fantastic. Metadata Aeon invented, and shares with Scrivener, should belong to Aeon. Yes, I can type a new character’s name into Aeon’s list within Scrivener’s Inspector, but if I spell the character wrong I’ve got to fix it in Aeon. Fair enough.
For my particular issue I could convert my Keywords into Story Arcs, then keep and manage them as Story Arcs, and forget Keywords. I may have to do that.
Which leads back to the limitation of sources for Subway data. Why only three?
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This is helpful. I see more clearly why you are making the feature request.
Let me ask what is probably a dumb question: Have you tried mapping AT3’s Relationships to Scrivener’s Keywords in the sync dialog? Wouldn’t that then give you the ability in Subway view to select tracks based on keywords?