Anyone using Scrivener?

quantum tea — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 05:44:09 -0700

I'm thinking this may be the year I try and use Scrivener for my novel. I have it downloaded and I'm more than a little lost. So, any Scrivener pros out there? Where would you suggest I start? How do you tame this beast?

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

BetaWulf — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 06:30:43 -0700

I've been using it for 3 years (I switched to it on Nov 5, 2009, after already starting NaNo in another program). The best place to start is with the built-in tutorial (under Help). It's a Scrivener project that you read through and manipulate to learn what Scrivener has to offer. Once you've done that, you'll know what it has available under the hood, but it's very easy to just use a few features; it doesn't force you to use it any particular way. One thing to keep in mind, is that while you can format your text as you go, there's really no need. You can change your font every other scene and it'll come out of scrivener as a uniform text. Specific advice on that front: Don't use the tab key to indent paragraphs, the "Styles" are just formatting presets, and there is zero need to use "CHAPTER 3" as a title to a chapter (compile settings will insert that automatically if you want). The typical way to use it is with the Novel template, keeping scenes in separate documents inside of chapter folders, but you can organize however you want. Once you are done with the tutorial, try importing a past novel into Scrivener and then splitting the document into chapters and scenes. For very quick and friendly help, log onto the forums at http://www.literatureandlatte.com/forum Ask your questions in the "Technical Help" section for your platform, since it's monitored closely by the developer and other staff.

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

daqu — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 22:00:14 -0700

I'm definitely using Scrivener. I downloaded the free trial version of it last year for NaNo, and now I'm not sure how I ever wrote entire novels on MS Word. It is a little hard to get used to at first, yes, but once you do it's incredible!

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

subparwelder — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 10:38:49 -0700

I've downloaded Scrivener and watched the video, now I'm about 1/2 way through the tutorial. It seems way overpowered for my needs, but I'm loving the idea of keeping my research and character cards handy. At home and work I've got two monitors to allow research to be available while writing, but on the laptop I don't have enough lebensraum to not be slowed down. Scrivener seems to be able to handle this problem seamlessly.

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

Railenthe — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:21:34 -0700

I first used it last year, starting around the time it first became available as a beta for Windows--and made my 50K with it. It makes keeping things organized so much easier. Besides breaking this behemoth into manageable bites, it makes it easier to hold research in one simple place and has a nifty full-screen mode to kill distractions (it almost feels like using a typewriter: bare and to the point). I'd work through the tutorial--it covers everything you need to know to get started. And you can go back at any point if something doesn't make much sense. Also, it seems to me that, unlike using Word, or LibreOffice, or even OpenOffice, it doesn't eat as much space when you get past the bigger benchmarks. (Loading a 30K doc in Word = brutal. Even on a machine with 4 GB ram)

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

calante — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:17:58 -0700

Scrivener is a fun program, but don't worry about feeling overwhelmed. The more you use it, the easier it is to use the functions that work for you and ignore the rest. I'd suggest playing around with it rather than focusing on the tutorial, so you don't get distracted by features you aren't interested in, or all the editing stuff that you shouldn't use til December 1 :-) If it helps, here's what I do with a new project: 1) Collect any necessary research in the Research folder. I usually import some stuff like the SSA's lists of popular names by decade so I have something to refer to if I need a minor character's name. The goal for me is to avoid getting distracted by the internet in the middle of the November writing frenzy. 2) Create a Background Info folder and collect info that I'll need to refer to throughout the project. Character sheets if you use those, worldbuilding info if needed, etc. 3) Create a bunch of blank documents in the Draft folder. Switch to Corkboard view and start jotting down individual scenes on each card. I organize by scene and then edit into chapters later on, but you can do it however you want. Personally, I keep it pretty vague at this stage because I don't do well with hyper-detailed outlines, but I do like to have a bare-bones structure in place before I write. --> I often write stories with multiple MCs and/or multiple timelines, so I find that using labels and looking at the Corkboard view helps me ensure that I haven't forgotten a viewpoint character for too long or dropped a secondary storyline. Keywords are another way to keep track of this if you prefer it, but I like pretty colors :-) 4) Set targets. If you click on the Targets button in the toolbar or Show Project Targets in the Project drop-down menu, you can select an overall target (e.g., 50K) and/or session target (e.g., 1667 words). You can also set targets for individual files by clicking on the tiny target in the bottom right of the window, or in Outline mode you can set targets for all the files at once. 5) Write! I use the Composition mode a lot to screen out other distractions, but you may or may not find that useful. Once you know how you like to set Scrivener up, you can shortcut this by creating a new project, customizing it however you want, and then Save as Template (under the File drop-down menu). I do this so I have everything set up from day 1, from a blank character tracker file to the labels I use instead of the default Character & Concept ones, to how I like my toolbar to look. Have fun, and definitely check Scrivener's forums if you have questions. I've learned a lot from those folks :-)

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

BetaWulf — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:30:48 -0700

One of the first things I loved about Scrivener is that all my support material went into the project file, so I didn't have to go to hunting for my wordcount spreadsheet or the bookmark for a wikipedia page I was using as research. That alone makes Scrivener invaluable to me; never again will I lose inspirational pictures due to an unwise attempt to free up hard drive space. I think the most powerful part of Scrivener is how much of it can be ignored while you write. Don't use outlines? Don't use that view. Don't like the corkboard metaphor? Ignore it. Don't have a use for keywords, document notes, annotations, status, snapshots, etc... Don't use them. Like to write all of your book in one long document instead of breaking it into scenes and/or chapters? ... Well, then what the heck do you want Scrivener for? :)

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

dankoboldt — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 06:56:42 -0700

I've used Scrivener since joining NaNoWriMo. Many professional writers do. Two nice features that haven't been mentioned are the corkboard view, which lets you look at (or organize) all of your scene "cards" from a high level, and the full screen view, which forces you to write and do nothing else. Beware the word counter, though, which yields totals that don't always match up with the NaNoWriMo official counter.

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

BetaWulf — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:37:03 -0700

I noticed this article, linked to by @ScrivenerApp on twitter, which really illustrates how Scrivener can help you not only write your rough draft, but also revise it. http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2011/08/25/writing-liar-with-scrivener/

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

BetaWulf — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:43:25 -0700

Oops, forgot the quote that really underlined a strength of the working-with-small-pieces aspect of Scrivener: "...there’s the diagonal stamp across each index card. Every time I started a new piece I would label it according to what state I thought the writing was in: Incomplete, Rough, Semi-Polished and Polished. [...] This labelling system was also really helpful whenever I was stuck on writing new pieces. I’d go into corkboard view and find a piece labelled Incomplete and work on it until I could upgrade it to Rough. If there were no Incompletes, I’d work on a Rough and so on." While I'd advise against revising as you go, once you are to the editing stage in December (or January, or whenever), there's no reason you have to continually go through your story from beginning to end; you can jump around, fixing and adding things in any order.

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

subparwelder — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:00:06 -0800

Scrivener for Windows is now out of beta! http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php?platform=win I'm gonna order mine at full price, but Nano finishers can get 50% off with validation, so if you are planning on finishing and want to save some cash you can use the trial version till then.

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

baroke — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:42:26 -0800

but i need to write on line, and google docs is so limiting. can scrivener help me?

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

harpsinger — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:07:41 -0800

I'm loving Scrivener! I read the tutorial last monday while I was waiting for midnight to arrive, and that was helpful. I'm saving all research for after the holidays, although I am keeping a list of things I want to research in the 'research' folder.

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

BetaWulf — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 06:09:42 -0800

Maybe. Dropbox, or possibly other services like it, can be synced to any computer you can install the client on. Scrivener can do an "External Folder Sync" to a Dropbox folder. So you could edit those files on whatever computer you're at, and then when you get home and open Scrivener up, it would incorporate your changes. However, If you can install dropbox on your machines, then you could just install scrivener and have it open the project directly. But as far as being able to edit your novel in a web browser... I don't think anything like that would work with Scrivener.

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

jsights — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 05:22:01 -0800

I FINALLY downloaded version 2.0 (the NaNo trial version since I'm broke right now) and PlainText for my iPad. At the write in today, I will be using only my iPad. I even left my laptop at home. So we'll see how I do with that. It will be the first time I've done any serious typing on the iPad. (I brought my bluetooth Apple keyboard too, just in case I need it.)

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

reona32 — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:14:51 -0800

You! With all the technology I want. Stop it!

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

etoiline — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 10:43:04 -0800

I'm surprised at how well I'm doing with the Scrivener/Plaintext on iPad combo this year. I do want to get a bluetooth keyboard someday, but even without one, I'm able to write at work and not have to lug my (relatively, compared to the iPad) heavy laptop and charger in my bag. ~j

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

Merideth — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 12:46:43 -0800

Where did you see the info on getting it for half price? I might be interested in that at the end of the month... :) M.

On word counts

BetaWulf — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:33:56 -0800

Depending on your typographic style, you may find your word counts off by a wide range of words when you validate. This is usually down to one culprit, the dash, and it's cousins, the em-dash, the ellipses, as well as an punctuation that accidentally joins two words. "word.count" is one word according to the NaNo validator, as is "seat-of-the-pants", Greg:Absent, and many other things like that. If you are using Scrivener for Mac, the worst of the bunch, the regular dash character ( - ) is taken care of by using the Compile feature, and choosing the NaNoWriMo obfuscated compile preset. If you use a lot of double-dashes -- that get automatically transformed into the em-dash (a single character), and you don't put any spaces around them, then you may need to dig into the compile settings and customize it yourself. Look for the "Replacements" tab in the Compile window, and go wild with it. Windows Scrivener users may have to do the search and replace by hand after they compile -- I think the windows version hasn't gotten that automatic replacement compile feature added in yet. If you have any trouble with this, ask here, at the NaNo Technology Scrivener thread, or the most responsive location is at the company's forums.

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

WriteAway93 — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 13:43:36 -0800

I just got Scrivener today for my birthday and I'm wondering if I should keep using the Nanowrimo trial until it runs out or should I download the full version. What do you guys think? Am I going to lose anything changing or get anything by changing now.

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

BetaWulf — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:18:35 -0800

On the Mac, there's not a lot of new stuff, but you might as well update to the latest, just to have the minor bug fixes and new tweaks to the program. On Windows, I'd upgrade too. It's got more bugs, being a newer program, and upgrading won't affect your current project. Plus, it has a setting to do automatic backups every time you close, so there's more safety against accidentally deleting text that you can't get back, or irretrievably messing up an edit or other action. Plus, if you have DropBox.com's free service, you can send your backups to the cloud so that your writing is never as vulnerable to a theft, hard drive crash or other disaster.

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

Merideth — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 06:52:34 -0800

I just used my awesome little code to get Scrivener at 50% off, no more trial version for me! But... I have a friend who would also be interested in getting it but didn't participate this year (I'm dragging him with me next year though). Was wondering if anyone who won and already owned it would mind sending me their code so I could pass it on? Thanks!

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

BetaWulf — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:01:56 -0800

Check your nano mail. By the way, for anyone feeling iffy about doing this kind of sharing, I'll quote from the winner's page : "...if you have already purchased Scrivener, feel free to pass your coupon code on to a friend." We're all friends here, so feel free do this for anyone who didn't win (or participate) in NaNo. They get awesome software, Literature and Latte get a new customer... everybody wins!

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

BetaWulf — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:03:13 -0800

One other thing though; you shouldn't post the coupons in a public space, since they're only good for one purchase, and we don't want to foster hard feeling when someone goes to check out and doesn't get the 50% off they expected to.

Re: Anyone using Scrivener?

gongli2000 — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 09:18:59 -0700

I HAVE to use the tab key to get the first line in a paragraph to indent. I open a new project with the default settings which seems to have an indented first paragraph, but when I create new paragraphs they don't automatically indent. What's going on? This should just work?