couldn't agree more - advanced tables is absolutely fantastic for outlining! I started off with Highlightr, too, just like you; until 2 days ago I replaced it with "editing toolbar", since it does everything that highlightr does, plus so much more - and all in a way that is basically self explanatory. It lets you add markup and html styling, and lets you remove it with the erasor icon, if you make sure everything that you want to be cleared of markup (like bold) and html is inside the text you selected. (In other words: You don't need to be precise, you can select a bit more text.)
When I first started to think about how to organize outlines (or in my case - timelines), I considered - excalidraw - dataview - advanced tables From a quick glance (without really knowing enough about it to judge), "make md" might also be a candidate. At the moment, advanced is my clear favorite, because of its ease of use, just like you demonstrated. I can start from what I know, and expand in any direction. In your setup, you seem to combine the best of all worlds. I hadn't thought of connecting it to a mid level outline, which seems like a great idea. (Very much looking forward to trying to replicate your setup with metadata menu, that seems like an extremely useful thing to do.)
Wow! I love the high level outline midlevel outline prose pathway you set up, with links that allow you to move through those by clicking, in both directions. "there is no seamless way for me to go from my high level outline to my mid level outline" ---> I am not sure I understood the problem you have there? Wouldn't this be kind of straight forward, if you use headers in your mid level outline, instead of a nested list? Possibly together with identation? (I guess linking to blocks works, but apparently they can only be read by obsidian?)
Yes, I've shifted away from the mid-level outline as it was getting clunky the more i wrote. I may try it again for the 2nd draft, but for now its mothballed.
You are doing such a great job of explaining your set-up, which seems extremely well thought through - how are you not (yet) the #1 channel for writing fiction inside Obsidian?
The main reason I keep using the typewriter, is that when I start writing a page, I feel compelled to finish that page with text. I forcing function to hit my word count :P
Question: Your dataview query "Flamingo Scenes" that you use to dynamically output your scenes is sorted by date. I seem to remember you were using a property called "order" in your previous video, where you showed how you use metadata menu? I remember thinking it make sense to want to keep those two independent, just in case you want to tell something outside of chronological order. Do you still use "order", and you just happened to sort things chronologically (with respect to novel time), since you were interested what this would look like, or did it get replaced by date, since you are planning to tell the story in chronological order anyway?
Good eye! Yes, since my novel will be told chronologically, I opted to sort the table by date instead of keeping the superfluous Order field. 2 birds, 1 stone. I turn dates into decimals so Obsidian sorts them as numbers. (Jan 1, 2024 becomes 2024.0101). If 2 scenes take place on the same day, I just add a 2 to the end of the number.
Thanks for a great update, interesting to see how you're using Obsidian... I see so much potential for novel writing but even with the Longform plugin, I still can't see a way to export to standard manuscript format, am I missing something?
This is interesting. Do you have resources for getting Knowledge to actually make use of a set up like this? Like info prose writing, and scene creation for example
couldn't agree more - advanced tables is absolutely fantastic for outlining!
I started off with Highlightr, too, just like you; until 2 days ago I replaced it with "editing toolbar", since it does everything that highlightr does, plus so much more - and all in a way that is basically self explanatory.
It lets you add markup and html styling, and lets you remove it with the erasor icon, if you make sure everything that you want to be cleared of markup (like bold) and html is inside the text you selected. (In other words: You don't need to be precise, you can select a bit more text.)
Editing toolbar is a good find! Going to test it this week, thanks
When I first started to think about how to organize outlines (or in my case - timelines), I considered
- excalidraw
- dataview
- advanced tables
From a quick glance (without really knowing enough about it to judge), "make md" might also be a candidate.
At the moment, advanced is my clear favorite, because of its ease of use, just like you demonstrated.
I can start from what I know, and expand in any direction.
In your setup, you seem to combine the best of all worlds.
I hadn't thought of connecting it to a mid level outline, which seems like a great idea.
(Very much looking forward to trying to replicate your setup with metadata menu, that seems like an extremely useful thing to do.)
Let me know how it goes! Happy to jump on a Teams call to talk your set-up when it's revised.
Wow!
I love the high level outline midlevel outline prose pathway you set up, with links that allow you to move through those by clicking, in both directions.
"there is no seamless way for me to go from my high level outline to my mid level outline"
--->
I am not sure I understood the problem you have there?
Wouldn't this be kind of straight forward, if you use headers in your mid level outline, instead of a nested list? Possibly together with identation?
(I guess linking to blocks works, but apparently they can only be read by obsidian?)
Yes, I've shifted away from the mid-level outline as it was getting clunky the more i wrote. I may try it again for the 2nd draft, but for now its mothballed.
You are doing such a great job of explaining your set-up, which seems extremely well thought through - how are you not (yet) the #1 channel for writing fiction inside Obsidian?
The main reason I keep using the typewriter, is that when I start writing a page, I feel compelled to finish that page with text. I forcing function to hit my word count :P
@@RanbirSinghLive totally makes sense. I'm a fan how you approach this so undogmatically, whatever works, works
Question:
Your dataview query "Flamingo Scenes" that you use to dynamically output your scenes is sorted by date.
I seem to remember you were using a property called "order" in your previous video, where you showed how you use metadata menu?
I remember thinking it make sense to want to keep those two independent, just in case you want to tell something outside of chronological order.
Do you still use "order", and you just happened to sort things chronologically (with respect to novel time), since you were interested what this would look like, or did it get replaced by date, since you are planning to tell the story in chronological order anyway?
Good eye! Yes, since my novel will be told chronologically, I opted to sort the table by date instead of keeping the superfluous Order field. 2 birds, 1 stone. I turn dates into decimals so Obsidian sorts them as numbers. (Jan 1, 2024 becomes 2024.0101). If 2 scenes take place on the same day, I just add a 2 to the end of the number.
Thanks for a great update, interesting to see how you're using Obsidian... I see so much potential for novel writing but even with the Longform plugin, I still can't see a way to export to standard manuscript format, am I missing something?
How do I you find ribbons?! I was with a friend when she bought the ones the office supply store could order . . . in 1990.
Link to Rawlings' outline? Thanks.
This is interesting. Do you have resources for getting Knowledge to actually make use of a set up like this? Like info prose writing, and scene creation for example
Best books I've found are Anatomy of a Story by John Truby and Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham