![]() ![]() No problem, Scrivener allows you to have two sections side-by-side (or one above the other, if you prefer). There may be times when you are referring back to something that happened earlier, and want to keep referring back to it as you write. Note that sections viewed in scrivenings mode need not be contiguous: you might, for example, choose to put key scenes together to check for continuity – so there could be copy from chapters 1, 4 and 7 in one view. Scrivener puts a fading line between each section, so you can see where they begin and end. Just select as many documents as you like in the binder on the left, and then click on ‘Scrivenings’ mode. There are times when you only want to see the section you are writing at that time, clicking back and forth into other sections as required, but there are other times when you want to see how an entire chapter is flowing – or several chapters, or the entire manuscript. You can open any of these and have them appear in a column on the right, as in the above example, or as a floating window.įloating windows (which Scrivener calls Quick Reference windows) can be resized and repositioned as desired.Ĭhoosing how much or little to see at a time My novel is a technothriller, so I have a whole bunch of photos of equipment and aircraft that feature in the story, as well as PDFs and webpages with facts & figures. In there, you can put anything you like: notes, photos, PDFs, webpage grabs … anything at all that you might need to refer to while writingįor example, some people like to have photos of people they are using as inspiration for characters. You can see beneath the manuscript itself are sections for characters, places and research. Need to remind yourself of what happened earlier? Just click on that scene in the binder, and flick back-and-forth between the two. Then when you are writing, have that overview of where you are in the plot by having the binder visible on the left. Shuffle things around as required by simply drag-and-dropping cards. Break things down into manageable units (I have each scene as a separate document). Do your outline planning first, on the corkboard. ![]() This can be used both to put you in the right mood, or to show something specific that you need to describe in detail.Īnd a closer view of the binder, on the left: In this example, we also have a photo showing the setting of the scene. The card titles are reflected in the left-hand column – what Scrivener calls the binder – so that you have an overview of the structure while you write. You may notice that chapters 2 and 3 show multiple cards – that’s because any card can become a folder, with smaller-chunk cards within them. You can drag-and-drop cards around the board to restructure things, and double-click on a card to open the actual chapter text. You write yourself some crib notes describing what happens in each chapter. I’m not going to show you my novel, so this is just some nonsense I threw together to give you the basic idea. By default, it looks like an actual corkboard, but Jony Ive threatened to come round to my place and confiscate both my Macs unless I changed it to something neutral. The corkboard view is intended for planning, and for rejigging the structure when your plan doesn’t quite work out the way you thought it would. Scrivener is such a flexible tool, and so customizable, that it’s hard to even provide an overview without a dozen different riders saying “if you choose to” and “this is just one of several ways of doing this,” but with that understood, I’ll give an overview based on the way that I use it. I refer to it as an app for novelists, as that’s probably the most common usage, but it can be used for anything from a college thesis to a screenplay. The app is currently available for OS X (with a much-lagged version available for Windows), and there’s an iOS version in the works. Outlines, pen-portraits of characters, web pages, photos, notes, PDFs … absolute anything and everything that might help you create your opus magnum is right there all within a single app … What Scrivener does is bring together in one place all the resources you are likely to need to plan, research, write and either submit or self-publish a novel. What’s wrong with Pages or Word? It was only once I tried it for myself that I understood. I must admit that the idea of specific software for creative writing stuck me as on odd one when I first encountered it. Most never start it, and most of those who start it never finish it, but if you want to make a serious attempt, using Scrivener would definitely be the biggest favor you could do yourself. ![]() ‘Writing a novel’ seems to be one of the default items on most people’s wish-lists. ![]()
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