What can I say? Scrivener is one of the most perfect apps for writers. It’s designed to create books, novels, scripts, epic poems, and nonfiction masterpieces. How can you use this program to enhance your writing? Start by opening up a doc and playing. There’s so much inside this program that will strengthen your writing process. Here are a few of my favorites.
Word Count—Deadlines are a thing, whether you are under contract, participating in National Write A Novel Month, or just trying to learn your own process. Scrivener has a great word count feature to help you keep on track whatever your time restraint. Under the Project menu, use the Project Targets option to set up your goals. The app will keep track of the total goal and the word count for each session. The feature is very helpful to not only stay on track but to determine your writing pace. Under that same menu, you can explore Project Statistics, like the number of printed pages, useful for a set contract goal.
Drafting—I use Scrivener exclusively for drafting. The Binder on the side of the screen shows all the chapters/sections I’ve written in order. If I need to change a scene, it’s easy to find the spot in the doc. If I need to move a scene, I just click and drag. Editing doesn’t get much easier. I also use the Binder to make a mini bible for the book. I add a few extra folders—character, setting, timeline, the reject folder. As I’m drafting, I can refer easily back for details.
The Forums—I cannot stress enough how valuable the Literature & Latte forums are. Writers from all walks are on there and happy to talk shop. They have fantastic ideas for how to use and customize the program, especially templates. Many writers have taken the basic novel or script template and customized it to create a unique usable doc. You’ll find every kind of genre and subgenre. Get on those forums and talk to people. Learn a few customizations of your own to generate your own template to make the program even better for your writing.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, there is a learning curve for the program. Play with it, export to Word once in a while, just in case. But the best way to understand Scrivener is to use it. And for the price, I’m not sure you’ll find a better writing tool.
I LOVE Scrivener. The best thing about it is you can use a tiny fraction of what it offers and that is fine. So much easier to organize in chapters or scenes.
ReplyDeleteLove it. Use it even for organizing my guest bloggers and my own tweets and teasers and copies of my reviews!