Narrative timeline in minutes of film or number of pages of script (not events timeline)

Feature Requests
#1

Hello.
First, I would like to thank you for your great software.
I would like to know if you could create a new timeline type related to the narrative beats and folders and not to the events.
You can see this type of timeline in the Causality Software for exemple :

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Or in Final Draft : The Outline Editor™: How to Use the Tool for Outlining Success
You can see this feature aims to represent the timeline of narration and not of the story, though it is spécific to the narrative and outiline views. It allows to organize the narration in term of minutes of the film you are writting, or in term of pages of the script.
As your software is dedicated to timelines, I think this feature is a must have :wink:
Have a good day,
Olivier

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#2

Just out of curiosity, @obouilland : Wouldn’t it work for you to just create events named “Act I”, “Act II” ‘Catalyst’, “Debate”, etc.?
Or cleverly make use of calendar markers?

#3

I’ve not written a film script but I do use the Save the Cat beat system. I show how I do that in this video: https://youtu.be/8FR1325pZxI?si=qKlu0mGc-1uI3F05

In a nutshell, I track beats by creating a Beats item type and populating it with each of the beats, like this:

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As for tracking film runtime in minutes or number of script pages, there might be good news for you: In the forthcoming AT 3.5, my understanding is that the Narrative/Outline scene order can be shown in, say, the Timeline or Subway views–a feature I have been eagerly awaiting. In other words, you will no longer be limited to viewing Timeline events in strictly chronological order, but rather can view them in narrative order.

Plus, you will be able to set up multiple tabs of a given view type, such as the Timeline view. This suggests that you would be able to customize, say, a Timeline view according to minutes of runtime, which would tie into an item type field you could create for that.

I’m certainly no expert here, but perhaps something I’ve said will help. Hope so.

#4

I’ve used Aeon Timeline writing screenplays and have recommended it to other screenwriters. The problem we’re all having is that most of us write by using the Narrative, with the structure arrived at by moving events around in the story. Nailing down when events happen chronologically comes last unless it’s a documentary. The harder part is coming up with ideas and shifting them around. The Narrative spreadsheet allows me to move events around easily – but I can do that in any existing software.

The beauty of your app is found in two things: the Timeline and the Relationship screen. Neither of these is yet available in the view that the story is best created in: the Narrative. The ability to filter quickly is another huge plus.

The current Timeline exists as if writers want to see a precise chronology and analyze that with the app’s tools. The fact is that almost all screenwriters want to analyze the story as the audience receives it, not chronology. I long for the ability to shift from Narrative Spreadsheet to a Narrative Timeline because each has its own unique way of moving events around. And I want to use the Relationship view to analyze how the script as it’s coming together and after the first draft.

Lastly, for me the best aspect of the Timeline is that I can show parallel lanes by using the Group feature. I can easily move events around visually to align events in the best way for the story to come alive for the audience.

I hope you’re working on this. You’ll get a lot more screenwriters buying your app because then it would outshine any other app out there – including Final Draft.

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#5

Just out of curiosity: How does Aeon compare to specialized screenwriting software, especially Causality?

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#7

Aeon is much more refined and usable. Causality has an actual script panel that allows you to type in scenes, beats, etc., and the timeline can move them around in sync, but the interface is clunky. Slowly getting better.

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#8

I see. Does Causality manage the timeline the way you want?

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#9

I had not been aware, before reading this discussion, of Causality Story Sequencer. I’ve just started a thread on its use by novelists over on the Scrivener forums. I’m hoping to receive feedback from anyone who has used it for novels before I dive into evaluating the software.

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#10

The Scrivener forum is quite lively. It’s clear that writers’ favorite activity is reflecting on writing. :grin:

But to get back to Causality: I installed it once and looked at the manual. The concept is naturally appealing to an engineer, but nonetheless I quickly lost interest in it, because it’s actually a bit clunky.

I think it’s a useful tool in the tough screenwriting business when you have to churn out episodes of a TV show under deadline pressure without losing the thread and getting kicked out of the game. Then you can be sure that, even in a tangle of plot lines, there is still something going on that the audience can follow.

But it is a tool with a learning curve, not a creativity aid for aspiring novelists who spend years spinning their favourite ideas around. My personal problem is that I enthusiastically work my way from one captivating scene to the next, only to realize after 250 pages that the story is going nowhere, or that my interest in the original theme has waned. Maybe I’m not a novelist after all. But hey, I’m not giving up. Tomorrow I’ll pick up the thread again. Tomorrow …

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