Any tips for novel writing in Pages?
I am determined to finish my next novel in Pages. I can't take the weight of Word any more. Does anyone have any tips for using Pages in this way, producing a manuscript that will probably run to 130k words in the end? I have tried everything in this field on OS X, from Mellel to Nisus, Ulysses and Copywrite, and I think Pages suits me best.
What I have discovered so far...
Good points
Reliability
Ease of use
Speed
The fantastic search and I think unique show search feature which is now my primary way of navigating the manuscript.
Could be better
No keyboard shortcuts for styles
It's simpler to number chapters manually than mess around with lists
The word count is awkward to get at
No outlining or easy navigation by chapters
Occasionally I get red underline spelling errors for words that are spelled correctly. This goes away if I right click and may be due to hyphenation though that is turned off for the document.
G5 dual Mac OS X (10.4.2)
Bodsham,
I started my novel with Nisus, switched to CopyWrite, then wrote the bulk of it with Pages. All in all, using Pages was a terrific experience. But the use of a word processor for a novelist is a very, very personal and subjective thing.
Things a novelist might like about Pages
- What you see on the screen is beautiful -- Pages renders text extremely well
- The system for defining styles is excellent. When I first fired up Pages 1.0, it took me 15 minutes to make a complete manuscript template, including headers
- It's very stable. Unlike Nisus, which was a nightmare (adding blank pages and weird indents all through the document), Pages behaves itself very well
- Plays nice with Word. I'm able to open and export Word docs very successfully
- Brilliant search feature; provides a list of word occurances, then lets you click on them
- Bookmark feature lets you easily jump from chapter to chapter
Things a novelist might not like about Pages
- A few people report a typing lag. If you experience it, it's a significant problem
- Bookmarks, while excellent, won't permanently sort alphabetically -- only numerically. Every time I open my document, my bookmarked list of chapters is sorted incorrectly. Not a big deal; just a minor annoyance
- Very mouse-intensive program. Not a huge issue for a novelist since we mostly just hit a carriage return; not a lot of styles in a text-based manuscript
- Gobbles up a lot of screen real estate. In order to have various inspectors and panes open, it's good to have a larger monitor, otherwise you'll find things sitting on top of your text
I'm sure there are many more strengths and weaknesses, but that'll get you started. By the way, you can download Devon Technologies' excellent and free Word Services that'll add a lot of very useful features (including word count) to your services menu. Get it at http://www.devon-technologies.com/download/index.html
-Dennis
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recovery mode
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Hi, braidenwhitesidemate.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
I would recommend going through the steps in the article below. If the issue persists, see the section labeled Issue not resolved.
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http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2802
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Any Tips for editing Live Event 2 camera shoot?
I need to quickly edit a 2 DV camera recording of a live multi-scene performance (duration of 90 minutes), with audio additionally recorded on a good quality remote mic.
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1
I want to make a safety copy of the synced rushes, as well as keeping the original camera sound recording as a back-up guide track.
2
I am worried about making sure I am working with Master clips, so that when I edit I don't mess up any of the source material. I am a little confused.
3
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5
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FreeshI am a pretty good source for basic sound info - you can email me if you like
[email protected]
you are right about the link - I am sorry - i checked the website before I typed the link in too! A blond moment
A low shelf filter - as included in FCE and soundtrack cuts the bottom off a soundmix. 20hz is a low frequency - not many speaker systems can reproduce this frequency, and most speaker systems can't even get to 40hz - even you high fi system or speakers which say they may be able too present sound for 20hz to 20khz - well unless you have spent an aweful lot of money and have a sub bass speaker the size of a car probably may only go down to 40hz, and the production of any 20hz sounds is more likely a feeling - a psychoacousticc effect. The thing about cutting off the bass is that practically it can make the recording sound less muddy, and you can make the recording sound louder. Most recordings for CD play have the bass started to roll of pretty heavily at 40hz and nothing present at 20hz... theirs this thing called narquist theory which talks about frequency responce - but it is this math heavy thing - so basically cut out a good amount of the sub bass. A low shelf filter does this and If you want to be conservative cut below 20hz, and if you want to be real give it a good cut below 35hz.
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Amy
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then you could look at exciting the signal - but that is another story.... -
Does anyone know any tips for editing video to display on an LED digital billboard?
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Any tips for debugging apply handlers? How to use SYS.AnyData
Well, I'm setting up my first stream.
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Contact iTunes Customer Service and request assistance
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Any tips for 'challenging!' multi-cam edit?
Hi all, I might have set myself a bit of a task here but here goes...
I had an opportunity to film my daughters school play over the course of two shows (different nights). On the first night I shot the performance from the back of the auditorium and basically left the cam running for the whole 60 odd minutes then changed tapes for the second half.
On the second night I captured from near the front for close ups and again left the tape running.
With regards to sound I propose to use the recording from the second night (close to stage) as this gave the best balance between children's voices and the sound coming from the CD/Piano.
The challenge now is to edit! All I want to do is run with the whole tape from the 2nd night and cut to long shots when I need to see the whole stage - lip sync won't be so much of a problem in this case! I still need slight adjustments though.
So, any tips out there? Areas I am scratching my head over at the moment include:-
1. The whole sync thing - how can you do this scene by scene (as it was different nights)
2. Capture. Is it easier to simply capture the whole thing then go in with the razor balde tool and cut scenes or would it be better to use log and capture scene by scene?
3. Invest in a 2nd cam, talk the wife in to filming as well and sync them at the start!
4. Sure there will be other areas I will face in the nights ahead but what should I also consider?
While the end product will be a few fund raising (for the drama club) DVD's - and as such I can get away with lots - I would like it to be as slick as possible so any suggestions would be gratefully received.
Something I have learned already is to buy a better tripod - cheap non-fluid ones are rubbish. Invest in decent mics (I use a Sony HDR-HC1 with an external Sony mic) and to get there hours before it starts to bag the front row! How do these people reserve seats half a day in advance? One last thing - why oh why do camcorder manufacturers put that annoying stop start beep on their cams? I have got so many of these recorded on the soundtrack (from other users) it is driving me crazy!
Anyway, back to the FCP 5.1 editing....
Thanks in advance all,
MichaelJim, Brian, Studio X,
Many thanks for the replies - they are much appreciated and I will be working through them in detail!
Have to admit it did not even cross my mind that there might be copyright issues with a kids play. The aim was to simply let the parents have a copy in return for a very small donation to the drama club. Oh well, perhaps the DVD will be free but strongly encouraged to make an, unconnected, $15 donation!
Interesting to see 2 different takes on the editing, just what I wanted though so I can try different options so thanks again.
Studio X - really interested in the Soundtrack Pro options to clean audio - I will take a look at this. I have also been wondering about investing in a better external mic. Even so far as to go to the Sony HDR-A1 for the XLR inputs. Any thoughts as to which mic you would go for if you had either a single 3.5mm input to play with or, if I go the XLR route, which mic would suit the A1?
Thanks again everyone - fantastic advice.
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Any tips for editing an HDV time lapse?
I have done some extensive Googling on time lapse and understand the limitations of video as compared to film, and how most professional time lapsers use still cameras. Be that as it may, I am just having some fun with my new HDV camera and its built in time lapse/interval record feature.
What I would like to know is if there is an easy way or any tips/tricks for processing it? Being HDV, it has captured as several hundred 15-frame videos.
Any advice?
NB What I have tried so far is:
1. dumping all the clips onto the timeline (thank god they fall in order!)
2. changing the speed of the first one to 00:00:00:01 frame
3. pasting Attributes: Speed over the rest of them
(please don't laugh if this is a ridiculous method; I am very new to this!)Hello.
Is it 15 frames long or 17?
Just wondered as it might make sense if it was 15, as that is the GOP length for HDV, meaning that perhaps the camera records the pictures this way to ensure that you will have a complete 'i' frame... just a thought...
Lol! i got to laugh... my girl friend just read over my shoulder (i'm on my laptop), at an angle, and thought my first line was - 'Are you 15 years old or 17?'... oh dear... she now thinks i'm a chat-room stalker.
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