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Is there a program/tool that can use to deal with boilerplate such as indicating who is speaking in my text on the go with hotkeys? What I'm imagining is, for example, when writing a back-and-forth dialogue I can just select a text segment and press a preconfigured key dedicated to a character and the line gets "assigned" to that character in some way. This can be highlighting the text a specific color, or a literal auto rearranging of the text so it looks like {CharacterName}: "text". That way I don't have to spend a bunch of time constantly typing up character names or punctuation and keep the flow of my writing.

This becomes an issue at times when I get in the flow of things, end up with a couple thousand words of text and then have to untangle who said what for a while.

I mostly use Scrivener but I'm also open for using other tools/word processors.

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  • 1
    There are apps that allow you to have multiple clipboards at once.
    – Ben
    Commented Nov 22, 2023 at 11:09
  • @Ben Windows allows multiple clipboards if you use Windows + V
    – GammaGames
    Commented Nov 22, 2023 at 19:14
  • When I write theatre plays, I start each line with the character's name initial letter. Then I do a find-and-replace on the whole document and replace <newline><initialletter> with <newline><full name>. This works for theatre because every line is assigned to a character, but it wouldn't work so well for another type of text.
    – Stef
    Commented Nov 24, 2023 at 9:05

2 Answers 2

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You don't really need a new package, use what you are accustomed to using.

There are several keyboard utilities, in Linux Mint or in Windows, that allow to set your Function keys to a specific series of keystrokes.

Go to www.bing.com, select "Chat", and ask about keyboard utilities that let you do that. It is Autokey in Linux Mint, and there are several in Windows, including the built-in Windows Mobility Center.

Ask:

"In Linux Mint, can I program the function keys on my keyboard to produce a series of keystrokes (like a character's name when I am writing)? How would I do that?"

Or put your current Windows version in place of "Linux Mint" and it will provide a plain English description of how to do it.

Obviously, avoid reprogramming any Function keys you actually use (I don't use any in my writing).

But you could also program something like "Ctrl+Alt+g" to type out "Gary said.", etc.

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I frequently face this issue when I'm writing sketches that are dialogue-heavy. I prefer to use tabs to separate speakers. For example, my sketches usually begin this way:

  • [Harry]

    • [Paul]

  • Excuse me, sir.

    • Yes?
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