StoryMill for Android

When I purchased this software it was because I was led to believe it was just what I needed to keep track of all of my notes for a novel I was writing. And for about a year it worked like a dream. But I have noticed in the years since that the app crashes 9 out of 10 times when I am trying to add information to specific sections. The constant crashing led me to stop using the software for months. Today I decided to open it back up and try using it again. And I counted 6 crashes before I basically just shut down the program. It angers me more than you can imagine that this application appears to still be for sale despite the fact that everyone reports just how much the app doesn't work. Also, the fact that this application hasn't been updated in nearly a decade leads me to second another reviewers comment that this just appears to be an abandoned app. It's honestly my opinion that this app should be pulled from all of apples app markets so that no one is essentially scammed into purchasing an application that rarely works the way it is intended to.

UPDATE: I wrote my previous review when this applicaiton/software actually worked with few, if any, complicaitons. Now, the annotation window screen cannot be opened. The entire software crashes on me at various points, depending one what it is that I am doing. I have sent these reports to Google. I spoke to an agent of Mariner Software, Inc. about this issue. It has not been my frist. The gentleman by the name of Logan replied, stating that he was not aware of the problem but has been able to repeat the issue on his end. However, he further stated that he does not know when the issue can be addressed or even fixed. (And I will remind Mariner now that there is more than just one problem.) Causing even more concern is that the software has not been updated since OS 10.7. We are now on 10.13.1. This software has been untouched since 2011. And if six years of letting the software be is not concerning enough, I have found that this is “abandoned software.” With a Federally abandoned trademark, I imagine that it’s possible that someone has registered the trademark and now it’s become abandoned software because any changes to the software could lead to litigation of something of the sort. I hope that’s not the case becuase they are still selling it. But how can they sell a product that doesn not effectively work? That is a problem. "On Wednesday, October 17, 2007, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed for STORYMILL by Mariner Software, Inc., Minneapolis 55401. The USPTO has given the STORYMILL trademark serial number of 77306646. The current federal status of this trademark filing is ABANDONED - FAILURE TO RESPOND OR LATE RESPONSE. The correspondent listed for STORYMILL is PATRICK J. GALLAGHER of FULBRIGHT & JAWORSKI L.L.P., C/O TRADEMARK DOCKETING DEPT., 600 CONGRESS AVENUE, SUITE 2400 AUSTIN, TX 78701 . The STORYMILL trademark is filed in the category of Computer & Software Products & Electrical & Scientific Products . The description provided to the USPTO for STORYMILL is Computer software for use in novel writing and other creative writing; computer software designed to assist in the creative and technical aspects of novel writing and other creative writing; downloadable software for use in novel writing and other creative writing; downloadable software designed to assist in the creative and technical aspects of novel writing and other creative writing." I wrote a review about several months ago and gave a poor rating. It was due to the program’s continual crashing and losing information, which is what others complained about in the one start ratings that can be seen. That has now changed. This software is now stable, no longer crashing or acting up in other ways. The benefit of this program in comparison to some of the other story writing software is that it is easier to use the Scrivener (not that Scrivener is bad by any means) and has more functions than Ulysses (not that having less is bad). It is a matter of preference. One of the benefts about this software is the timeline feature. It really helps one ogranize their story, saving one from having to use spreadsheets or writing it out by hand. It is all kept within the program. Also, you can keep your research, photos, links, characters, etc. all within the story. There’s snapshots so you can go back to earlier work or just keep track of the changes that have been made. It is all intuitive, so you don’t even have to pull out a manual. You can start using it the moment you launch the software. My only complaint is that there are some bugs still left to be ironed out, which is why I did not rate StoryMill as great. A search cue is misaligned in the timeline feature. Also, I find that once I add a photo, the largest I can make it is still to small to view effectively. It is better to set a link to the photo than to attach it. I find that bothersome and would like a feature that allows the image to be opened for larger viewing. I would also like to see this software coordinated with Mariner’s other software, such as Persona. It would be great to just import a character generated there into StoryMill. There are some other niggling things that I think could be improved on, but for the most part, this is an effective story writing software.

I am an intermittent writer since I have three young children. Each time I get an idea or come back to a scene, Storymill allows me to get back to where I left off effortlessly. I really enjoy the full screen writing view that is free of distractions.

I had this software for a while and used it every now and then, mainly to keep track of my characters. But whenever I go to create a new character, the new one would have the previous character’s data instead. And when I deleted that data from the new character’s file, it would also delete the previous character’s data! It had a few other issues that weren’t as serious, but still pretty annoying. But I paid $40 for this app! Update it and fix the issues! For those interested in buying, you’re better off with just using a simple word processor or Google Docs instead.

I downloaded and began using StoryMill 4.0.5 three days ago. I printed and read the Instruction Manual. Pretty basic. To save, it's the usual two options - Command/S or File Save. I’ve been going at my project enthusiastically and I’m a fanatic about saving. I save constantly because I go back through my material frequently, cutting and pasting data between Characters and Scenes. Everything was running smoothly and when I finished up this evening, I closed my project. I remembered one more thing. I opened the project I just closed and all of my work for the last two days is missing - GONE! I went to Time Machine and it, too only has the data from the first day. After losing so much, I checked the Mariner Software StoryMill forum and found that MANY people suffered this difficulty over a year ago and it still has not been fixed. I wish I had read the forum before I trusted this software with my book. Frustrated and angry don’t begin to describe how I feel.