Provides: Step by step script development
Format: Download or DVD
Developer: Mariner Software
Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.9 or higher (including Snow Leopard)
Processor Compatibility: Intel or PowerPC
Price: $49.95
Availability: Out now
Version Reviewed:
When it comes to creative writing, my approach is pretty much the equivalent of throwing a handful of darts at a dartboard. Some will stick, some will come closer to the target, and some will fall to the floor. The theory is that if I lose interest in a premise or can’t push it beyond the first few chapters or scenes, then it was too far off target to be worth it.
Trouble is, I often find myself deeper into a story than I should be before I bother to, you know, figure out what it’s about. The project ends up becoming a mess, and what may have been a great idea often ends up getting buried under its own weight. This is where Contour from Mariner Software can come in and save a project.
As defined at Mariner’s site, “Contour is a proven story development system that streamlines the process of turning your movie ideas from first glimmer to full outline.” The software is developed for screenwriters, but I’ve found it helpful for stage play development and, to a lesser extent, novels (the format’s not nearly as rigid in novels). The system works by splitting the story development process into seven sections and asking questions to help you flesh out the key elements in each. You can see below how this would have looked for the writers of Spider-Man 2.
That’s actually one of the great things about Contour. Asking questions to guide your story is one thing, but knowing how to answer the questions is quite important. To address this, Mariner included sample answers for many popular movies: Kung Fu Panda, Silence of the Lambs, Star Wars, etc. So, if you’re not sure how to reply when Contour asks what will happen if your main character fails to reach his goal, look to see what would’ve happened if Luke Skywalker had failed.
Contour is like this throughout. The story development system, created by Emmy Award-nominated Jeffrey Alan Schechter, makes you feel more comfortable with your characters and plot because you’re forced to know them from the very start. The software begins with basic questions about the story you’re telling, then provides plenty of room to fill in the detail.
The question session begins by focusing on your main character’s goals, how/she will reach them, and what happens if he/she fails. This is the easy part, as I can’t imagine you’d even consider a project without first knowing this. Contour then digs into its philosophy of writing, in which a story is split into three acts: orphan, wanderer/warrior and martyr. Each of these acts is also split into “beats,” in which something of note takes place. That’s a lot of questions to answer, and a lot to think through. But this is important. Spend the time getting all of this hammered out now and you’ll spend much less time in rewrites filling in plot holes and trying to force that ending to make sense.
Helping you to develop your story is pretty much all that Contour does, and it’s both a strength and a weakness. With something as complex as story development (at least with the level of detail required here), having a basic interface that never really changes can bring some comfort. There’s so very little to learn here that you can use the software to almost 100% of its capabilities without seeking any guidance. When you launch it, you’re asked for some basic info about your project (title, genre and such), then you just jump right in.
But there’s much more to story development than just plot, so I’m a bit surprised there’s no option for filling in character detail (or at least listing them), possible production notes, story ideas, etc. Obviously, you’ll need additional software to actually write the screenplay. This is not a problem if you’re working with Mariner’s Montage or competing products such as Storyist or, of course, Final Draft. But if you’re using a standard word processor such as Microsoft Word or Mariner Write, you’re still stuck without decent screenwriting tools even with Contour.
Also, when using Contour, you have to realize that you’re buying into one person’s formula for developing stories. It’s a solid formula with which Mr. Schechter has certainly had success, but it’s a formula nonetheless. You’d have a hard time getting Adaptation to fit comfortably within this system. Spider-Man 2, however…
Ultimately, I’d like to see two more features come out of Contour. The first is on its way: compatibility with Montage. Integrating Mariner’s story development program with their script formatting program could create a killer toolset for writers. This is currently in beta, and I’m eager to see if Mariner is able to properly pull this off.
The second would be the ability to export the Contour timeline in outline format. Looking at story arc in Contour is one thing, but seeing it in outline format on a printed page (that you could hand off to others) would be much more useful being. The ability to easily generate this outline from the Contour entries would be a huge time-saver.
I should also point out that Contour for iPhone is currently in development. Mariner hasn’t announced whether this is meant to complement the Mac/Windows versions or if it’s meant to stand on its own. I can’t imagine I’d want to develop an entire story outline on the iPhone’s keyboard, so we’ll see what unique features Mariner can bring to the iPhone version, if any.
As it stands now, Contour is a great program for helping you organize your thoughts at the beginning of a project and for keeping you on track throughout. It’s incredibly easy to get started, and just as easy to make changes along the way. Contour will prove indispensable for new writers, and would likely be useful to those with some completed projects under their belt. And who knows? With it, perhaps my next novel won’t take me eight years to finish.
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There's a bug in 1.2.3 on the Mac, which may be there in earlier versions or later versions. The application only saves if your cursor is in the list of scripts on the left or when you quit the application.
I had been doing a save every so often while in one of the text fields where you enter information about your character, not in the list of scripts (this would be counterintuitive, if a feature), and my system froze due to issues with Flash (it does it every so often), so while I had been running Contour for about a week, making changes, and choosing the Save menu item, not a single iota of my work was ever saved.