Causality Screenwriting Software is Good for Novels and Short Stories, Too!
By nature, I’m a pantser, which has a definite plus side because I love to explore ideas before I commit them to paper. The downside is endless rewrites when I get stuck or the story loses cohesion by the time I type the last word.
I tried traditional outlining when I signed up for a NaNoWriMo challenge in 2006, but I wasn’t able to stick with it. If I remember correctly, I veered away from it halfway through the story, when my characters decided to take on minds of their own. That worked well until I got stuck again.
Out of desperation, I turned to about a half dozen books on how to write, including Stephen King’s On Writing. I invested hundreds of dollars in writing software with the hopes that I could write a cohesive plot that readers would enjoy.
Scrivener helped a bit because it allows me to jump to particular scenes that need work. I’m able to write a synopsis for each scene, which I can view in outline mode. It’s made my writing process a helluva lot more easier, but there are quirks that I’ve had to deal with.
For instance, I would write about a conversation between my main character and another, write another seven to ten chapters and then would have to figure out where that reference was so that I could continue on with my story. Or, I would need to go back and figure out exactly when an event took place and what characters were involved. I find myself constantly finding plot holes or inconsistencies that weaken my story.
I’ve always been a visual person, so I decided to check out a trial version of Aeon Timeline (because my novel has two timelines that intertwine) but it didn’t gel with me. I bought Outline 4D when it went on sale last summer and was immediately overwhelmed by its complexity. So that’s another app that’s gathering dust on my hard drive.
A month ago, I went on another search for screenwriting software. I’m considering learning how to write video scripts (for podcasts and courses) at some point for clients and wanted to know if there was something better than the Final Draft or Movie Magic.
I stumbled upon Causality when I read a listicle article for screenwriting software on Industrialscripts.com. The first two lines under the Causality subheading caught my attention:
“Causality takes a different approach to most screenwriting software. It allows you to plot timelines and key moments to visualize them, focusing on that crucial key cause and effect narrative chain that many beginning writers overlook, to their peril.”
BAM! I can say goodbye to plot holes. I can spot weaknesses in my characters’ reactions and strengthen them. I can tighten my plot so that it is riveting and keeps readers turning the page. I went to the site and watched the tutorial videos. Right off the bat, I knew I would be able to use this software for all of my writing projects.
The interface took a bit of getting used to, and I’m not yet sure what the difference is between Book Mode and Novel Mode. I used the Book mode to create my first visual outline for what started out as a short story idea, which may turn into a novella. The outlining process was actually fun and didn’t take long to learn.
Make sure to watch the step-by-step videos. You can download them directly to your desktop to watch offline, which I thought was extremely helpful. Download the user manual and read through it at least once. You’ll find plenty of screenshots and easy-to-read language, which makes it a quick read.
Causality offers a variety of act templates that can help you format your novel into a cohesive structure.
What I Liked About Causality
Customizable Display
There are a number of ways that you can customize your set up display. You can shrink the panels by dragging or by clicking icons in the tool bar on the left side of the screen. You can also choose your setup options by using the drop-down menus from the menu bar. What I find potentially useful is the ability to separate each section so that you can display them in separate monitor screens.
If you don’t have three monitors at your disposal, then you can shrink the panels down to fit your desktop or laptop screen. Or, you can break up or collapse the panels you aren’t using so that you can focus on one particular area.
Night Mode is also available, which can help ease eyestrain. Here is what Night Mode looks like.
Character Color Coding
I do this in Scrivener, but it’s much more visible in Causality. Setting up characters is a quick and easy process. You don’t have to go through lengthy Q&A sessions, which is a good thing because this allows me to discover who my characters really are as I create the visual outline. Just enter their name, an actor name (optional), a short biography (or story role) and detection words. Then set the color. You can adjust the brightness and tone of the colors so that they are unique to the other characters. If you want, you can put a check in the box with a label that reads “Output highlighted PDF for character” and click OK.
It’s very easy to add or delete characters from the main interface. The character list sits below the timeline. To the right of it are dot indicators that let you know when each character appears in your story. You’ll get a bird’s eye view of the major and minor characters and anyone in between.
Lanes
This is where your plot points and notes for your scenes and chapters are housed. You can set up multiple lanes to chronicle your characters’ reactions to plot points, set up character arcs, set up relationship arcs, set up a timeline for subplots and more.
Editable Headings
By default, Causality formats the scene headings into screenplay format. You can edit the text in the boxes to display chapter headings instead. If you’re using the default file format, you can insert acts wherever you want.
Snippets
These are great for recording any “mind-movies” that pop up as you are writing the information about your beats. Use them to write an exchange between characters, write down a description of the setting and more.
Cause and Effect/Connections
This is a cool feature that allows you to see the consequences of your characters’ actions as the story unfolds. You can also connect important events to show the build-up that leads to the climax.
Reports
You can create custom reports to print out every beat, snippet and note so that you will have everything you need before you start writing. Go into the Printing Options dialog panel to select exactly what you want printed. Once downloaded, you can import the report into Scrivener.
Overall Rating — 4.8 Stars out of 5
I like Causality much better than Outline 4 because it’s easy to use and has a much simpler, more intuitive interface. I would love it if I could export my outline directly into Scrivener. Maybe a future update will provide novelists with that option.
I have a love-annoyed relationship with how the beats are placed inside the lane and how they display in the snippet panel. Any changes you make to the beats will affect how their position in the snippet panel and vice versa, which is good.
I like a linear layout design because I work with chapters. The videos helped me figure out how to group beats to form scenes for a chapter. I was able to create blocks that represented chapters, with groups that represented scenes, which contained the individual beats. When I repositioned them on the lane, I was able to get them to list in vertical lines that look more organized.
The problem (and why I have a love-annoyed relationship with the order mechanism) is that the beats can get accidentally rearranged within your groups when you reposition the block along the lane. So, I check the order of the beats before I print out the PDF to make sure that they are in the correct order.
Don’t like the exorbitant one-off price of $270, but they are constantly making updates. So, we’ll see how the software evolves over the next couple of years. The subscription plans were a friendlier option for me.
I also like that it’s available for both Macs and PCs. The best part is that the developers update the software frequently to fix any bugs that pop up. It’s definitely worth a test drive.
