The guide: the parts of each kind of writing, and what Perfect Day does for you as you type. In the app, F1 shows the part for what you’re writing, and every key.
Writing a novel
A novel is chapters of paragraphs. Just type: Perfect Day sets it as a book, with the pages breaking exactly where they will in print.
The parts of a book
Text
Ordinary paragraphs, indented as books are. Enter starts the next one.
Chapter heading
Starts a chapter on a fresh page, with a drop capital and the first line in small capitals. Ctrl+Enter starts one after the chapter you're in, numbered to follow it (any after it move up a number); or type “Chapter Five” or “Chapter 5: The Storm” on a line of its own and press Enter. After Ctrl+Enter (or Enter at the end of a chapter’s number) the cursor waits on the line beneath for its title, if it has one, printed in italics under the number; Enter or Tab goes on to the text, and an empty title leaves nothing behind. On betas, Perfect Day keeps the numbers: add, cut or move a chapter and the rest follow in order, and the number itself can’t be typed over (only the title after it). Page layout chooses whether they’re written in words, figures or Roman.
A flourish
An ornament beneath each chapter heading, if you’d like one: a floral heart, a pair of leaves, a diamond or a short rule. Choose it in Page layout (Enter on the printed page, Ctrl+L), with the book’s other touches (its drop capital and scene breaks): the book takes it, and so does every book you start after.
Part heading
Groups chapters: Part One, Book Two. Type “Part One” on a line of its own and press Enter, or choose it with Tab.
Scene break
The gap between scenes, printed as an ornament (a pair of leaves unless you choose another in Page layout: Enter on the printed page, Ctrl+L). Press Enter twice at the end of a paragraph, or type * * * and Enter.
Someone speaks
Just type it, quotation marks and all: they curl themselves, opening and closing (“Hello,” she said). A speech that runs on into another paragraph opens it with a quotation mark again, as books do.
Block quote
A letter, a poem, a song or a long quotation, set in from both sides, a size smaller. Choose it with Tab; Enter carries it on line under line (a poem stays line for line, a line too long hanging beneath itself), and Enter on an empty line goes back to the text. Its source: a last line starting with a dash (type - and a space), set at the right in small capitals.
Epigraph
A quotation at the head of the book or a chapter, small and in italics (Tab offers it only there). Made like a block quote, its source too. Changing the style of any line of a quotation changes all of it.
As you type
Quotation marks
Curl themselves: " and ' become “ ” and ‘ ’.
Dashes
A hyphen with a space either side, between words, becomes a dash, keeping the spaces you typed, as British books set it: late - too late becomes late – too late (Ctrl+Z gives the hyphen back). A line never starts with one. Two hyphens make an en dash for ranges (1914–18), three an em dash.
Tab
Changes what the paragraph is: text, chapter or part heading, epigraph, block quote. Shift+Tab goes the other way.
The scrapbook
Nothing you write is lost. What you cut or copy goes in the scrapbook, kept for good: Ctrl+V pastes the newest; Ctrl+Shift+V shows the pieces waiting in the margin and then the newest few, to choose one and drop it in with Enter (or More, for the whole scrapbook, which you can search). What you delete or type over comes back with Ctrl+Z, and earlier versions of the whole piece are kept as you go (History, in the menu). A whole piece of writing can be thrown away: Delete or Backspace on it on your desk moves it into a Waste paper folder in your writing folder, and Waste paper, below the list, puts it back. Ctrl+J shows pieces still waiting for a home in the margin.
Saving
There's nothing to remember: your writing saves itself whenever you pause, and every couple of seconds a copy is put safely aside. If the computer stops or the power goes, it all comes back the next time you open it. Earlier versions are kept as you go (the menu: Tools, History). New versions of Perfect Day arrive by themselves, as you choose in Settings and extras: when it opens, Perfect Day looks for one for a moment (any key skips fetching it), and then quietly every few hours. Ctrl+Shift+R starts Perfect Day again just where you were, in a new version if one is ready.
Accents
Hold a letter down for its accents, as a Mac offers them: hold e for è é ê ë…, then press the number of the one you want (or ← → and Enter). Esc keeps the plain letter; Ctrl+Z gives it back after. In the desktop app.
Ctrl+Z
Takes back anything Perfect Day did for you (a heading it recognised, a style it chose for the next line) and leaves what you typed. Ctrl+Z after any guess undoes just that.
Writing a script
A film or television script in BBC / UK format. Each line is an element: Perfect Day puts it in its place on the page, and knows what usually comes next, so mostly you just type and press Enter.
The elements
Scene heading
Where and when, in capitals: INT. FERRY DECK - NIGHT. Type INT. or EXT. at the start of a line and it becomes one; or press Ctrl+Enter; or Enter on an empty line of action.
Action
What we see and hear, in the present tense. Enter after a scene heading or after a speech gives you a line of action. Begin a character's name with a capital and the rest is offered, from the names already in the script: → takes it.
Character
The name of whoever speaks next, in capitals above their lines. Type the name in capitals on its own line and press Enter, or press Tab on a line of action. Names already used are offered as you type: Enter or → takes one.
Dialogue
What they say. Enter after a character’s name starts it.
Parenthetical
How a line is said, briefly: (quietly). Type ( on an empty line of dialogue, or press Tab on a line of dialogue. Enter goes back to the dialogue.
Transition
CUT TO:, DISSOLVE TO: and so on, at the right. Type it in capitals ending TO: (or FADE OUT.) and press Enter: the next scene heading follows.
Act heading
ACT TWO, or an episode’s part, on a fresh page. Choose it from the menu: Element. Tab steps on from it to action.
Done for you
(CONT’D)
Added after a name when the same character speaks again after some action.
(MORE)
When a speech runs over a page: (MORE) at the foot, and the name again at the top of the next.
Running time
The status line counts a page a minute: this scene, and the whole script.
Empty lines
Enter on an empty line of dialogue, or an empty name with none offered, goes back to action; on an empty line of action, a new scene heading. Blank lines never pile up.
Emphasis
Ctrl+E underlines, as scripts show it.
Scene numbers
For a shooting script: the menu, Settings and extras, Scene numbers, puts them in both margins.
The outline
Ctrl+Shift+O shows the script scene by scene, each with its running time. → opens a scene to its beats (each line of action, and each conversation by who's in it), and a conversation to its speeches; Enter goes there.
Tab
Steps this line round the elements, as in Final Draft: action, character, dialogue, parenthetical, transition, scene heading. Shift+Tab goes the other way. The status line names each one, and says what Enter and Tab will bring next.
The scrapbook
Nothing you write is lost. What you cut or copy goes in the scrapbook, kept for good: Ctrl+V pastes the newest; Ctrl+Shift+V shows the pieces waiting in the margin and then the newest few, to choose one and drop it in with Enter (or More, for the whole scrapbook, which you can search). What you delete or type over comes back with Ctrl+Z, and earlier versions of the whole piece are kept as you go (History, in the menu). A whole piece of writing can be thrown away: Delete or Backspace on it on your desk moves it into a Waste paper folder in your writing folder, and Waste paper, below the list, puts it back. Ctrl+J shows pieces still waiting for a home in the margin.
Saving
There's nothing to remember: your writing saves itself whenever you pause, and every couple of seconds a copy is put safely aside. If the computer stops or the power goes, it all comes back the next time you open it. Earlier versions are kept as you go (the menu: Tools, History). New versions of Perfect Day arrive by themselves, as you choose in Settings and extras: when it opens, Perfect Day looks for one for a moment (any key skips fetching it), and then quietly every few hours. Ctrl+Shift+R starts Perfect Day again just where you were, in a new version if one is ready.
Accents
Hold a letter down for its accents, as a Mac offers them: hold e for è é ê ë…, then press the number of the one you want (or ← → and Enter). Esc keeps the plain letter; Ctrl+Z gives it back after. In the desktop app.
Ctrl+Z
Takes back anything Perfect Day did for you (a heading it recognised, a style it chose for the next line) and leaves what you typed. Ctrl+Z after any guess undoes just that.
Writing an article
A feature or news piece for a newspaper or magazine. A new article starts with the headline, a line for the standfirst and your byline: write each and press Enter to go on to the next.
The parts of an article
Headline
The piece in a few words, large at the top. A new article starts with its name here.
Standfirst
The sentence or two beneath the headline that draws the reader in, in italics.
Byline
Your name, in small capitals, above the piece. Filled in for you.
Text
The piece itself. It opens with a drop capital and its first line in small capitals.
Crosshead
A few words in bold to head the next part, as a long piece has every few hundred words. Press Ctrl+Enter.
Pull quote
A line from the piece, set large in italics to catch the eye of someone turning the page. Choose it with Tab.
Block quote
A longer quotation set in from both sides. Choose it with Tab; Enter carries it on line by line, and Enter on an empty line goes back to the text. A line starting with a dash (type - and a space) gives its source, at the right.
Section break
A pause between parts, printed as three dots. Press Enter twice at the end of a paragraph.
Done for you
Your commission
Tell Perfect Day the length you were asked for (in the menu: Length you were commissioned for) and the status line counts against it: 812 of 1,200 words. It counts the piece and its block quotes, not the headline, standfirst, byline, crossheads or pull quotes.
End mark
A small square after the last word, on the printed page only. It stays out of the Word file: that’s the magazine’s to add.
For your editor
Word export uses Word’s own Title, Subtitle and Intense Quote styles, so the copy drops into their template.
Tab
Changes what the paragraph is; Shift+Tab goes the other way.
The scrapbook
Nothing you write is lost. What you cut or copy goes in the scrapbook, kept for good: Ctrl+V pastes the newest; Ctrl+Shift+V shows the pieces waiting in the margin and then the newest few, to choose one and drop it in with Enter (or More, for the whole scrapbook, which you can search). What you delete or type over comes back with Ctrl+Z, and earlier versions of the whole piece are kept as you go (History, in the menu). A whole piece of writing can be thrown away: Delete or Backspace on it on your desk moves it into a Waste paper folder in your writing folder, and Waste paper, below the list, puts it back. Ctrl+J shows pieces still waiting for a home in the margin.
Saving
There's nothing to remember: your writing saves itself whenever you pause, and every couple of seconds a copy is put safely aside. If the computer stops or the power goes, it all comes back the next time you open it. Earlier versions are kept as you go (the menu: Tools, History). New versions of Perfect Day arrive by themselves, as you choose in Settings and extras: when it opens, Perfect Day looks for one for a moment (any key skips fetching it), and then quietly every few hours. Ctrl+Shift+R starts Perfect Day again just where you were, in a new version if one is ready.
Accents
Hold a letter down for its accents, as a Mac offers them: hold e for è é ê ë…, then press the number of the one you want (or ← → and Enter). Esc keeps the plain letter; Ctrl+Z gives it back after. In the desktop app.
Ctrl+Z
Takes back anything Perfect Day did for you (a heading it recognised, a style it chose for the next line) and leaves what you typed. Ctrl+Z after any guess undoes just that.
A book of poems
Verse, set as a book of poems sets it: each line where you end it, each poem under its title and centred on the page by its longest line, its lines flush left. Poems follow one another where they fit whole; one that doesn’t starts a fresh page.
The parts of a book of poems
A poem
Ctrl+Enter starts one: type its title, then Enter for its first line. The title is printed in small capitals, centred, with room above.
A line
Enter ends it, wherever you want it ended. A line too long for the page turns over onto the next, indented, as poetry books do. Nothing is justified or hyphenated.
A stanza
Enter twice leaves an empty line between stanzas.
An epigraph
Tab on the line under a poem’s title, round to Epigraph: printed in italics, before the poem.
Centred lines
Page layout, Verse: each poem centred as a block (the usual way), or each line centred on its own, for shaped poems.
Keeping a journal
One notebook, a little each day: somewhere to just write, whether or not there’s a novel in it yet. Each day’s entry starts a fresh page under its date, and it’s waiting for you whenever you open the journal.
The parts of a journal
Today’s entry
Opening the journal on a new day puts today’s date at the end, with the cursor beneath it: just start writing. On a day that already has one, you’re put at its end. A page left empty becomes the next day’s rather than staying blank.
A day you missed
Tab on an empty line, round to the date: a date is suggested, the day after the entry above, selected so that typing another replaces it.
A break
Ctrl+Enter (or Enter twice at the end of a paragraph) puts a break where you are, for a second sitting or a change of subject: printed as the small ornament between entries, under the same date. Each day has one date; a new day’s comes by itself when you open the journal (or Ctrl+Enter, if it’s been open since yesterday).
A title
Press Enter at the end of the date and type it on the line beneath (The lighthouse keeper); Enter again goes on to the entry. It’s printed in italics beneath the date.
Text
Paragraphs, set as a book sets them; each entry opens with its first few words in small capitals. Speech, Tab and quotations work as in a novel.
Done for you
The title page
From the desk of you: your name in spaced capitals and the journal’s beneath, at the front when it’s printed.
Finding your way
The outline (Ctrl+Shift+O) lists every entry by its day, with its title or first words and its length, gathered by month.
Counting
The status line shows today’s words and the journal’s total. The dates aren’t counted.
Printing it
A year’s journal prints, or goes to Word, as a little book of numbered A5 pages. Each entry follows the one before, after a small flourish, when it fits whole in the rest of the page; otherwise it starts the next page, so no entry is split unless it’s longer than a page.
The scrapbook
Nothing you write is lost. What you cut or copy goes in the scrapbook, kept for good: Ctrl+V pastes the newest; Ctrl+Shift+V shows the pieces waiting in the margin and then the newest few, to choose one and drop it in with Enter (or More, for the whole scrapbook, which you can search). What you delete or type over comes back with Ctrl+Z, and earlier versions of the whole piece are kept as you go (History, in the menu). A whole piece of writing can be thrown away: Delete or Backspace on it on your desk moves it into a Waste paper folder in your writing folder, and Waste paper, below the list, puts it back. Ctrl+J shows pieces still waiting for a home in the margin.
Saving
There's nothing to remember: your writing saves itself whenever you pause, and every couple of seconds a copy is put safely aside. If the computer stops or the power goes, it all comes back the next time you open it. Earlier versions are kept as you go (the menu: Tools, History). New versions of Perfect Day arrive by themselves, as you choose in Settings and extras: when it opens, Perfect Day looks for one for a moment (any key skips fetching it), and then quietly every few hours. Ctrl+Shift+R starts Perfect Day again just where you were, in a new version if one is ready.
Accents
Hold a letter down for its accents, as a Mac offers them: hold e for è é ê ë…, then press the number of the one you want (or ← → and Enter). Esc keeps the plain letter; Ctrl+Z gives it back after. In the desktop app.
Ctrl+Z
Takes back anything Perfect Day did for you (a heading it recognised, a style it chose for the next line) and leaves what you typed. Ctrl+Z after any guess undoes just that.
Esc opens the menu, where everything is listed and explained, so there are no keys you need to learn first.