The Secret Garden – little acorns

For a writer who publishes both fiction and plays.

Writes notes centred on a single topic.

Hasn’t decided which form their finished work will take.

Whether the topic occupying their thoughts should be presented as a novel, play or essay.

Suggestion

Post your notes under a single category title.

Aims

In this case study you will:

Back up your records.
Delete your records.
Restore your records to the application.
Convert a single category into a project.
Alter details of a converted project.
Change the text format of fields.
Create chapters.
Tag records.
Isolate records.
Delete records.
Transfer notes from a project notes list to a chapter notes list.
Create a character profile.
Transfer notes from a project notes list to a character notes list.

Background

This case study references the work of Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Hodgson Burnett wrote short stories, novels and plays.

Though she also wrote for adults, today she is best known for her children’s novels.

Perhaps the most popular is The Secret Garden.

Grounded in social realism, it contains elements that would not seem out of place in a fairy tale.

First published in book form in 1911, it tells the story of ten-year-old Mary Lennox.

Born in British India, Mary is sent to England to live with her uncle after a cholera epidemic kills her parents.

A fictional recreation of the book’s preparatory phase may highlight a range of features in Little Acorns.

Conceit

Little is known about the conception of The Secret Garden.

This gives us rein to present a fictional version of the book’s gestation that may highlight key features in Little Acorns.

Imagine that, in early 1909, Hodgson Burnett had no idea what form her next work would take.

Should it be a magazine article, short story, play or novel?

All that she knew was that it would be concerned with an orphan.

She jotted down notes centred about this single fact when they occurred to her.

This liberated her from the constraint that everything she inquired into – read up on or observed first-hand – had to support a particular genre.

At some point, she determined which form would suit her interest.

And bent her various, varied notes towards the presentation of it.

Had information technology been available to her, Little Acorns may have helped her in this endeavour.

Demo Records

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The records used in this case study are drawn from the demonstration set.

If you did not install these records when you opened the application for the first time, do so now.

To install demo records:

Click the dashboard tab at the top of the layout.
On the >> summary layout, click the demo tab in the middle of the layout.
On the >> demo layout, click the button labelled install to the right of the layout.
Click the button labelled yes on the panel bearing the message would you like to install demo data?

After a moment, a panel bearing the message demo data installed will confirm that you have installed demo data.

Dismiss this panel by clicking the button labelled OK.

Process

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Little Acorns organises the notes that you post to it.

Notes that you copy and paste from another source/import from a document/type into it.

But where should you situate your notes within the application?

Under one of the two top-level heading types categories and projects.

Each heading may be accessed by clicking its corresponding tab.

You will find these tabs at the top of each layout.

Think of each tab as a key that unlocks a separate cabinet in which you may file your notes.

Each of these cabinets holds a slightly different kind of note.

At a different stage in its development.

Projects

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If you know from the start what type of work your notes will be incorporated in –

that they are intended to support the creation of a series of essays, say –

you may store them under the projects heading without passing through the categories phase.

Under a project title that you create.

The title of your novel, perhaps.

So, if you knew that your interest in orphans was intended for a novel, you may have proceeded directly to the projects list layout.

Created a new project –

Called, say, The Secret Garden –

and added your first note to it.

Over time you would have added more notes to this project.

And posted them under the project sub-headings beats, chapters and characters.

Categories

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If you are unsure which form is suited to the presentation of the idea summed up in your note –

short story, novel, play, screenplay, poem, lyric, comedy routine, essay, article, blog post, dissertation, et cetera –

store it under the categories heading.

Under a title that you create.

A title that sums up its leading concern.

So, for instance, your note:

What would become of a child Orphaned in the colonies?

might be stored under the category title

Orphan

Over time, you may add more notes to the category Orphan.

Such as

Describe differences between India and England at the turn of the century.

At some point, you decide that you have accumulated sufficient material under this category to form the basis of a project.

A magazine article, for instance.

Or you may have added notes to the category Orphan such as:

Hero ugly, bad-tempered.

and

Mary: Ten-year-old girl, sent to live with her uncle in Yorkshire, death of her parents in India, spoiled.

And decided that you ought to present Orphan as a work of fiction.

A novel, say.

To do this, you will convert your category Orphan into a project.

This will enable you to organise the notes under the former category to a greater degree.

By sub-dividing them into beats, chapters and characters.

The following exercises describe how to do this.

That is, turn notes posted under a single category into a project.

Then, transfer notes stored under the details notes listing under that project to notes listings under the sub-headings beats, chapters and characters.

Rest assured, wherever you decide to post a note in Little Acorns –

under the heading categories or the heading projects

or under one of the projects sub-headings beats, chapters and characters –

you will be able to find it again by performing a simple keyword search across the application.

Via the top-level heading notes.

(Its access tab will appear at the top of each layout after you have added a single note to the application.)

Backing Up Records

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Before making major changes to your records, it is wise to back up your data.

That way, should you make alterations that you later regret, you may restore a previous version of your records.

To back up your records:

Click the dashboard tab at the top left of the layout you are on.
Click the backup tab in the middle of the >> summary layout.
On the >> backup layout, click the button labelled backup on the far right of the layout.
After you see the message would you like to backup your records?, click the button labelled yes.
On the Browse For Folder panel, select a valid directory to receive your backup.

(e.g. your \Documents directory)

On the Browse For Folder panel, click the button labelled OK.

After a moment, a panel labelled Save A Copy will pop up.

Along with the message Saving Little Acorns_DDMMYYYY_HHMMSS.fmpur

(where DDMMYYYY is the current date, and HHMMSS the current time.

So, for example, a backup file created on 1 January 2030 at nine o’clock in the morning will be labelled

Little Acorns_01012030_090000.fmpur)

Restoring Records

You may test the integrity of your backup by:

Deleting every record in the application.
Restoring records from a backup.

Deleting Every Record In The Application

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To delete every record in the application:

Click the dashboard tab at the top left of the layout you are on.
On the >> summary layout, click the button bearing the dustbin icon on the far right of the layout.
When you see the message are you sure you want to delete all of the records in the app?, click the button labelled yes.

After a moment, a panel labelled delete will pop up, confirming that you have deleted every record in the application.

Dismiss this panel by clicking the button labelled OK.

Restoring Records From A Backup

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To restore records from the backup you saved earlier:

Click the dashboard tab at the top left of the layout you are on.
Click the restore tab in the middle of the >> summary layout.
On the >> restore layout, click the button labelled restore on the far right of the layout.
On the select a source for your restoration panel, select the backup file that you created earlier.

It may be in your \Documents directory.

It will be called Little Acorns_DDMMYYYY_HHMMSS.fmpur.

(where DDMMYYYY is the current date, and HHMMSS the current time.

So, for example, a backup file created on 1 January 2030 at nine o’clock in the morning will be labelled

Little Acorns_01012030_090000.fmpur)

Click the button labelled open on the select a source for your restoration panel.
After a moment, the field labelled restore on the >> restore layout will list details of the restoration performed.

That is, the date, time, and name of the source file.

Converting A Single Category Into A Project

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Now that you have backed up your records, you may safely update your record set.

The first thing you will do is convert a category into a project.

To do this:

Click the categories tab at the top left of the layout you are on.
On the >> categories list layout, click the button labelled convert on the far right of the record called Orphan

(NB. do NOT click the button labelled convert situated above the records in the categories list.

That button will convert all of the categories in the categories list to projects).

When you see the message convert these categories into projects, and transfer their notes to the new projects?, click the button labelled yes.

After a moment, a panel labelled convert will confirm that you have converted the category Orphan and its notes into a project with the same name.

Dismiss this panel by clicking the button labelled OK.

To view your converted category:

Click the projects tab at the top of the layout you are on.
On the >> projects list layout, click the button bearing the arrowhead icon on the far left of the record called Orphan.
On the >> project details layout for Orphan, click the notes tab in the middle of the layout.

All of the notes formerly under the category Orphan now appear here.

When Orphan was a category, all of its notes were stored in one place.

After converting Orphan to a project, all of its notes are stored in one place.

That is, under the details notes list for the project.

This is the place to store notes of a general nature that pertain to the entire project.

And/or notes that you have yet to post under the sub-headings beats, chapters and characters.

Altering Details Of A Converted Project

Now that you have converted the category Orphan into a project, you will change various elements in the project.

First of all, you will change the name of the project to the title of your novel.

To do this:

Click the projects tab at the top of the layout you are on.
On the >> projects list layout, click the button bearing the arrowhead icon on the far left of the record called Orphan.
On the >> project details layout for Orphan, click the button labelled edit on the far right of the layout.
On the >> projects edit layout for Orphan, click into the field labelled project.
In the field labelled project, delete the text Orphan, and type the following text in its place

The Secret Garden

While you are on the >> projects edit layout for the project The Secret Garden (formerly called Orphan), you may enter further details about the project.

To do this:

Click into the field labelled form.
Select the value Novel from the pop-up list

(If the value required was missing from the pop-up list, you may type it in the field).

Click into the field labelled genre.
Ignore the suggestions in the pop-up list by clicking into the field again.
Type the following text in the field labelled genre

Fantasy

Go to the field labelled description, by clicking your Tab key.
Copy/paste the following text into the field labelled description:

A selfish girl, sent to live with her uncle after her parents die, learns to love and care for others.

Go to the field labelled premise, by clicking your Tab key.
Copy/paste the following text into the field labelled premise:

A badly behaved child is a neglected child.

Go to the field labelled theme, by clicking your Tab key.
Copy/paste the following text into the field labelled theme:

Redemption

If you are happy with the values you have entered, click the button labelled save on the far right of the layout.

Changing The Text Format Of Fields Globally

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On returning to the >> projects >> details layout for The Secret Garden, you notice that the text format of the fields is inconsistent.

The text of those that you typed in are in the application default (i.e. Verdana 13).

But those that you copied and pasted in are in a smaller, italicised font.

You may rectify this as follows:

On the >> project details layout for The Secret Garden, click the button labelled edit on the far right of the layout.
On the >> projects edit layout for The Secret Garden, click the button labelled format.
When you see the message would you like to reset the format of these fields to the default (Verdana 13), click the button labelled yes.

After a moment, a panel labelled format will confirm that you have formatted all of the fields.

Dismiss this panel by clicking the button labelled OK.
If you are happy with the values you have amended, click the button labelled save on the far right of the layout.

Organising Project Notes

When Orphan was a category, all of its notes were stored in one place.

After converting Orphan to a project, all of its notes are still in one place.

Under the details notes list for the project.

This is the place to store notes of a general nature that pertain to the entire project.

And/or notes that you have yet to post under the sub-headings beats, chapters and characters.

Having updated the details of the project The Secret Garden, you may begin to transfer the notes listed under it to the sub-headings beats, chapters and characters.

Why should you do this?

Notes posted under the sub-headings beats, chapters and characters will be easier to sort when you decide to export them to your word-processing package.

Creating Chapters

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You will begin to organise the notes under the project details notes list by turning the 2 notes

Chapter: MISTRESS MARY QUITE CONTRARY

Chapter: THERE IS NO ONE LEFT

into chapters proper.

You may do this in either of two ways:

By typing text into the application.
By copying and pasting text into the application.

Typing Text Into The Application

To type text into the application:

Click the projects tab at the top of the layout you are on.
On the >> projects list layout, click the button bearing the arrowhead icon on the far left of the record called The Secret Garden.
On the >> project details layout for The Secret Garden, click the chapters tab in the middle of the layout.
On the >> chapters list layout for The Secret Garden, click the button labelled new on the far right of the layout.
On the >> chapters edit layout for The Secret Garden, click into the field labelled chapter.
In the field labelled chapter, type the text:

MISTRESS MARY QUITE CONTRARY

Go to the field labelled action, by clicking your Tab key.
In the field labelled action, type the text:

Cholera epidemic in India, Mary’s parents die, she is discovered entirely alone in a bungalow by British soldiers.

Go to the field labelled description, by clicking your Tab key.
In the field labelled description, type the text:

Describe India, Mary’s ugliness inside and out.

If you are happy with the values you have amended, click the button labelled save on the far right of the layout.

Copying/Pasting Text Into The Application

To copy/paste text into the application:

Click the projects tab at the top of the layout you are on.
On the >> projects list layout, click the button bearing the arrowhead icon on the far left of the record called The Secret Garden.
On the >> project details layout for The Secret Garden, click the notes tab in the middle of the layout.
On the >> projects notes list layout for The Secret Garden, click the button labelled copy to the right of the note Chapter: THERE IS NO ONE LEFT.
On the >> notes list layout for The Secret Garden, click the chapters tab in the middle of the layout.
On the >> chapters list layout for The Secret Garden, click the button labelled new on the far right of the layout.
On the >> chapters edit layout for The Secret Garden, click the button labelled paste on the far right of the layout.
This will paste the text

Chapter: THERE IS NO ONE LEFT

into the field labelled chapter.

Click into the field labelled chapter.
Delete the text

Chapter:

To leave the text

THERE IS NO ONE LEFT

Go to the field labelled action, by clicking your Tab key.
In the field labelled action, paste the text

Mary is sent to live with an English clergyman. She hates his poverty, and loathes his children.

Go to the field labelled description, by clicking your Tab key.
In the field labelled description, paste the text

Mary is at her lowest ebb.

The values that you copied and pasted into the chapter fields are in a smaller, italicised font.

You may rectify this as follows:

On the >> chapters edit layout for THERE IS NO ONE LEFT, click the button labelled format.
When you see the message would you like to reset the format of these fields to the default (Verdana 13), click the button labelled yes.
After a moment, a panel labelled format will confirm that you have formatted all fields.
Dismiss this panel by clicking the button labelled OK.

If you are happy with the values entered, click the button labelled save on the far right of the edit layout.

Transferring Notes From A Project Notes List To A Chapter Notes List

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Now that you have created two chapter headings, you may transfer notes to them.

To do this:

Click the projects tab at the top of the layout you are on.
On the >> projects list layout, click the button bearing the arrowhead icon on the far left of the record called The Secret Garden.
On the >> project details layout for The Secret Garden, click the notes tab in the middle of the layout.

The first amendment you will make to this transferred record set is to delete the two notes that you no longer need (because you converted them to chapter headings).

There are several ways to isolate records prior to making global changes to them.

The easiest way is to tag them.

Untagging Records

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Before tagging records in a set it is best to remove tags that you have already placed on that record set.

Otherwise, you will return previously tagged records along with recently tagged records when you click the tagged quick find button.

To remove tags from all notes in the application:

Click the notes tab in the centre of the layout you are on.
To ensure that you perform the following exercise on all notes under a project, click the button labelled show all at the far left of the notes listing.

The label on the button will change to showing all.

(If it is already labelled showing all, don’t worry; that means that the current listing incorporates all of your notes for the current project).

Click the button labelled tag on the far right of the layout, just above the notes list.

After a moment, all of the individual tag buttons to the far right of each note will be labelled yes.

And the button formerly labelled tag on the far right of the layout, just above the notes list, will be labelled untag.

Click the button labelled untag on the far right of the layout, just above the notes list.
After a moment, all of the individual tag buttons to the far right of each note will be labelled no.

Now that you have cleared existing tags from your record set, you may tag the 2 records that you wish to isolate.

Tagging Records

To tag the note Chapter: MISTRESS MARY QUITE CONTRARY:

Click the button labelled no (below the field label tagged) on the far right of the note.

The button will now be labelled yes.

Do the same for the note Chapter: THERE IS NO ONE LEFT

Now that you have tagged 2 notes, you will isolate them.

Isolating Records

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To isolate records that have been tagged:

Click the quick find button labelled tagged to the right of the field bearing the placeholder text enter search string here.
After clicking the toggle button labelled tagged, you will see the following 2 notes only in the list of notes under the project detail list The Secret Garden

Chapter: MISTRESS MARY QUITE CONTRARY

Chapter: THERE IS NO ONE LEFT

Deleting Records

To delete both of the notes

Chapter: MISTRESS MARY QUITE CONTRARY

Chapter: THERE IS NO ONE LEFT

at the same time:

Click the button above the notes list that bears the dustbin icon on the far right of the layout.
When you see the message are you sure you want to delete these notes?, click the button labelled yes.

After a moment, a panel labelled delete will confirm that you have deleted 2 notes from the project The Secret Garden.

Dismiss this panel by clicking the button labelled OK.

10 notes remain in the project detail notes list for The Secret Garden.

Transferring A Note From A Project Notes List To A Chapter Notes List

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Now you will transfer particular notes from the project details notes list to your recently created chapter THERE IS NO ONE LEFT.

First off, you will transfer the note that mentions cholera.

To find notes containing the word cholera you will perform a search as follows:

Click into the field bearing the placeholder text enter search string here.
Type or copy/paste the following text into this field

cholera

This should return 1 note only to the list of notes under the project The Secret Garden

Cholera epidemic.

To transfer this note to your chapter heading:

Click the button labelled transfer to the far right of the note Cholera epidemic..

After a moment, a panel labelled select the target for this note will appear.

This panel facilitates the transfer of the current note to another project, or a beat, chapter, character or campaign within the current project.

Click the button labelled chapters on the panel labelled select the target for this note.

This will bring up a list of the chapters that you have created for the current project.

Click the button labelled transfer to the right of the chapter THERE IS NO ONE LEFT.
When you see the message transfer selected note to this chapter?, click the button labelled yes.

After a moment, a panel labelled transfer will confirm that you have transferred the selected note to the selected chapter.

Dismiss this panel by clicking the button labelled OK.

9 notes remain in the list of notes under the project The Secret Garden.

Transferring Several Notes From A Project Notes List To A Chapter Notes List

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Tag the following 3 notes:

Differences between India and England at the turn of the century.

Starts in India.

What would become of a child Orphaned in the colonies?

Isolate these 3 notes by clicking the toggle button labelled tagged to the right of the field bearing the placeholder text enter search string here.

After clicking the toggle button labelled tagged, you should see 3 notes only in the list of notes under the project The Secret Garden.

To transfer these notes to the chapter THERE IS NO ONE LEFT:

Click the button above the records list that is labelled transfer on the far right of the layout.

After a moment, a panel labelled select the target for these notes will appear.

This panel enables you to transfer the notes selected to another project, or a beat, chapter, character or campaign within the current project.

Click the button labelled chapters on the panel labelled select the target for these notes.

This will bring up a list of the chapters that you have created for the current project.

Click the button labelled transfer to the right of the chapter THERE IS NO ONE LEFT.
When you see the message transfer selected notes to this chapter?, click the button labelled yes.

After a moment, a panel labelled transfer will confirm that you have transferred the notes selected to the chapter selected.

Dismiss this panel by clicking the button labelled OK.

6 notes remain in the list of notes under the project The Secret Garden.

To see what became of the notes that you transferred:

On the >> project details layout for The Secret Garden, click the chapters tab in the middle of the layout.
On the >> chapters list layout for The Secret Garden, click the button bearing the arrowhead icon on the far left of the record THERE IS NO ONE LEFT.
On the >> chapter details layout for THERE IS NO ONE LEFT, click the notes tab in the middle of the layout.
You should see the 3 notes that you transferred from The Secret Garden project details notes list.

Plus the 1 note that you transferred earlier.

Creating A Character Profile

You will now transfer some of the notes stored in The Secret Garden project details notes list to a character notes list.

What will you gain by doing this?

Posting notes regarding a particular character under a single sub-heading helps to build up their profile.

You will do this in two stages:

Create a character sub-heading under The Secret Garden to receive notes currently stored in the project details notes list.
Having created the character sub-heading Mary Lennox, you will transfer notes to it.

Creating A Character Sub-Heading Under A Project To Receive Notes Stored In The Project Details Notes List

To create a character sub-heading under the project The Secret Garden to receive notes currently stored in the project details notes list:

Click the projects tab at the top of the layout you are on.
On the >> projects list layout, click the button bearing the arrowhead icon on the far left of the record called The Secret Garden.
On the >> project details layout for The Secret Garden, click the characters tab in the middle of the layout.
On the >> characters list layout for The Secret Garden, click the button labelled new on the far right of the layout.
On the >> character edit layout for The Secret Garden, click into the field labelled first name.
In the field labelled first name, type the text

Mary

Go to the field labelled last name, by clicking your Tab key.
In the field labelled last name, type the text

Lennox

Go to the field labelled nickname, by clicking your Tab key.
In the field labelled nickname, type the text

Mary Mary Quite Contrary

Go to the field labelled role, by clicking your Tab key.
In the field labelled role, type the text

Heroine

If you are happy with the values that you entered, click the button labelled save on the far right of the layout.

Transferring Notes From A Project Notes List To A Character Notes List

Watch How To… Video

Now that you have created the character sub-heading Mary Lennox, you will transfer notes to it.

To do this:

Click the projects tab at the top of the layout you are on.
On the >> projects list layout, click the button bearing the arrowhead icon on the far left of the record called The Secret Garden.
On the >> project details layout for The Secret Garden, click the notes tab in the middle of the layout.
Tag the following notes:

Hero ugly, bad-tempered.

Mary: Ten-year-old girl, sent to live with her uncle in Yorkshire, death of her parents in India, spoiled.

Isolate these 2 notes by using the tagged search button.
Transfer the 2 isolated notes to the character profile Mary Lennox using the transfer list button.

Conclusion

In this case study you:

Backed up your records.
Deleted your records.
Restored your records to the application.
Converted a single category into a project.
Altered details of a converted project.
Changed the text format of fields.
Created chapters.
Tagged records.
Isolated records.
Deleted records.
Transferred notes from a project notes list to a chapter notes list.
Created a character profile.
Transferred notes from a project notes list to a character notes list.