A simple novelyst multi-scene editor plugin based on the tkinter.scrolledtext widget.

Installation

If novelyst is installed, the setup script auto-installs the novelyst_editor plugin in the novelyst plugin directory.

The plugin adds an Edit entry to the novelyst Scene menu, and an Editor plugin Online help entry to the Help menu.

Operation

Launch the scene editor

Open a scene editor window by double-clicking on a scene or via the Scene > Edit menu entry when a scene is selected, or by hitting the Enter key.
If the project is locked, editor windows cannot be opened.
If you choose a scene already open, the window will be brought to the foreground.

Select text

Select a word via double-clicking.
Select a paragraph via triple-clicking.
Extend the selection via Shift-Arrow.
Extend the selection to the next word via Ctrl-Shift-Arrow.
Ctrl-A selects the whole text.

Copy/Paste text

Ctrl-C copies the selected text to the clipboard.
Ctrl-X cuts the selected text and moves it to the clipboard.
Ctrl-V pastes the clipboard text content to the cursor position.

Format text

Ctrl-I places “Italic” markup around the selected text or at the cursor. If the selection is already italic, remove markup.
Ctrl-B places “Bold” markup around the selected text or at the cursor. If the selection is already bold, remove markup.
Ctrl-M removes “Bold” and “Italic” markup from the selection.

The operations described above do not take effect on markup outsides the selection. Be sure not to nest markup by accident.

A note about formatting text

It is assumed that very few types of text markup are needed for a novel text:

Emphasized (usually shown as italics).
Strongly emphasized (usually shown as capitalized).
Citation (paragraph visually distinguished from body text).

When exporting to ODT format, novelyst replaces these formattings as follows:

Text with [i]Italic markup[/i] is formatted as Emphasized.
Text with [b]Bold markup[/b] is formatted as Strongly emphasized.
Paragraphs starting with > are formatted as Quote.

Undo/Redo

Ctrl-Z undoes the last editing. Multiple undo is possible.
Ctrl-Y redoes the last undo. Multiple redo is possible.

Split a scene

Via File > Split at cursor position or Ctrl-Alt-S you can split the scene at the cursor position.

All the text from the cursor position is cut and pasted into a newly created scene.
The new scene is placed after the currently edited scene.
The new scene is appended to the currently edited scene.
The new scene has the same status as the currently edited scene.
The new scene is of the same type as the currently edited scene.
The new scene has the same viewpoint character as the currently edited scene.
The editor loads the newly created scene.

Create a scene

Via File > Create scene or Ctrl-Alt-N you can create a scene.

The new scene is placed after the currently edited scene.
The new scene is of the same type as the currently edited scene.
The editor loads the newly created scene.

Word count

The scene word count is displayed at the status bar at the bottom of the window.
By default, word count is updated manually, either by pressing the F5 key, or via the Word count > Update menu entry.
The word count can be updated “live”, i.e. just while entering text. This is enabled via the Word count > Enable live update menu entry.
Live update is disabled by the Word count > Disable live update menu entry.

Please note

Live updating the word count is resource intensive and may slow down the program when editing big scenes. This is why it’s disabled by default.

Apply changes

You can apply changes to the scene with Ctrl-S. Then “Modified” status is displayed in novelyst.
If the project is locked in novelyst, you will be asked to unlock it before changes can be applied.

Exit

You can exit via File > Exit, or with Ctrl-Q.
When exiting the program, you will be asked for applying changes.

License

This is Open Source software, and the novelyst_editor plugin is licensed under GPLv3. See the GNU General Public License website for more details, or consult the LICENSE file.