Ellen Mulholland––writer, dreamer
  • Home
  • Blog and More
  • Words by Ellen
  • Words about Ellen
  • 10 simple writing tips
  • Writers to read
  • BIRDS ON A WIRE
  • THIS GIRL CLIMBS TREES
  • Book Reviews
  • Author visits, book signings, more
  • Shop
  • Young Minds

getting the most from scrivener, 3 

8/10/2014

2 Comments

 
PictureCorkboard View of chapter synopses.
Since we last met, I have written 23,000 words, completed my third YA, and am revising and crying while preparing to meet with an editor this week. That's all in the last seven days. Now, I don't attribute it all to this delightful app, but I might extend to it half the credit. Yes, you heard me, Scrivener and I are tight, 50/50, that's us. 

Let me tell you why.

Did you know that a scrivener is someone who writes for illiterate folk? That makes me laugh. I'm afraid it's mostly true. Scrivener has embedded its little multinational soul inside my head, snuggled in deep, massaging and word-smithing my tired literary brain. Although this darling scribe was birthed by Literature & Latte Ltd. less than ten years ago, it remains far wiser than me. 

At most times.
But rather than give away all my power to a software program, I have developed a symbiotic relationship. I pour my heart and soul onto its stark white editor's body; it offers outlines and corkboards, character sketches and document storage ideas. 
I continue to peruse the universe for its human form as I must admit I find Scrivener quite sexy, but that is between me and my therapist. For you, a share of VIEWS from my WIP (which I mentioned above reached its final chapter).

PictureCorkboard VIew of Character sketches and photos.
VIEWING MODES
In Scrivener, you have, essentially, three choices in which to work. Document. Outline. Corkboard.  

Last week, I discussed the dreamy Composition Mode you might use when in DOCUMENT. That's your main writing mode on a plain white scrolling background. Again, I recommend you enter Composition Mode when in Document view.
(NOTE: when you click on your entire manuscript in DOCUMENT mode, you can enter SCRIVENINGS mode and scroll through all chapters at once.)

If you want to view your plot structure 'at a glance,' take the time to enter a synopsis for each chapter. This makes OUTLINE mode a great place to check the seams of your subplots. You can also complete other items in the Inspector, which include synopses, word counts, and custom meta data.


CORKBOARD is another 'at a glance' view of your work in progress. However, here, you can post other notes, character ideas, keywords, pictures, etc. 
You can see my CORKBOARD view while I've clicked on the Characters list from the Binder. I added photos swiped from the Internet, so I could visualize my characters in real life. (Thank you, lovely actors and actresses for feeding my imagination.)

I won't go into more detail here, as I believe the Scrivener tutorials tell it best. As I assured one writer, yes, definitely spend time on the tutorial. It's worth it.

Please share your aha's here with Scrivener or other tools that aide us in producing our best work possible.

Write on!

2 Comments
Onisha link
8/11/2014 01:22:14 am

Thanks for the informative post!

Reply
Ellen Mulholland link
8/11/2014 06:13:12 am

Onisha,
You are so welcome. Please pass it along. We are stronger as a community.
Write on!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Subscribe to our mailing list

    * indicates required

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    November 2022
    August 2022
    April 2022
    January 2021
    December 2020
    December 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    January 2019
    July 2018
    November 2017
    June 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    Categories

    All
    Animals
    Antagonists
    Apps
    Authors
    Blogs
    Book Suggestions
    California
    Characters
    Childhood Memories
    Common Core
    Community
    Crime Novels
    Death
    Editing
    Endings
    Exposition
    Figurative Language
    Flash Fiction
    Friendship
    Genres
    Grammar
    Great Books
    Headlines
    Historical Romance
    Ideas
    Inspiration
    Magic
    Magical Realism
    Martin Luther King
    Music
    Mystery Novels
    NaNoWriMo
    Nature
    Organization
    Paris
    Peace
    Plot
    Protagonists
    Query
    Rain
    Reserach
    Resources
    Revising
    Seasons
    Secret Project
    Senses
    Sensory Writing
    Social Media
    Solstice
    Summer Reading Lists
    Survey
    Theme
    Time Saving Ideas
    Time-saving Ideas
    Twitter
    Twitter Chats
    Villains
    Weather
    Women
    Wonder
    Words
    World Events
    Writer's Block
    Writing
    Writing Challenge
    Writing Tips
    Writing Tools
    WWII
    YA
    Young Writers

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from shixart1985, francisco.j.gonzalez, jinxmcc, pedrosimoes7, vanhookc, mikecogh, Brett Jordan, Leonard John Matthews, NICSOLUCION, Jason Grote, FaceMePLS, Chris Parker2012, quinet, raffaespo, torbakhopper, shannonpatrick17, haru__q, Javier A Bedrina, ChrisL_AK, Brett Jordan, MIKI Yoshihito (´・ω・), liebeslakritze, aldenjewell, koalazymonkey, La Citta Vita, Barrett.Discovery, Javier A Bedrina, Leedman, 陈霆, Ting Chen, Wing, Creative Tools, ..Russ.., Sten Dueland, JD Hancock, The Marmot, Rose PT, Brett Jordan, Kim Bost, lublud, liebeslakritze, UNE Photos, Vassilis Online, Zahlm, Jahvoronok, kurafire, rodtuk, Shan Jeniah, manoftaste.de, Last Hero, torbakhopper, steveczajka, Fountain_Head, thewritingreader, Highways Agency, pawpaw67, Nicholas_T, Gwydion M. Williams, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, Canned Muffins, volkspider, peddhapati, DaveBleasdale, Keith Allison, TP studio, Drew Selby, stoneysteiner, WeGotKidz, mrsdkrebs, Kelly Short6, mkhmarketing, moria, WWYD?, Rega Photography, Brett Jordan, Creative Tools, numberstumper, symphony of love, Hub☺, chris kuga, PaoloPV, mikecogh, thewritingreader, Amanclos, Leo Hidalgo (@yompyz), JD Hancock, themonnie, Gwydion M. Williams, jennnster, Sistak, dno1967b, Gwydion M. Williams, Lohan Gunaweera, tsmall, Gustavo da Cunha Pimenta, Hometown Beauty, Charles Henry, Manchester Library, sheggy, Brett Jordan, chaskerr4, Javier A Bedrina, D&S McSpadden, DougitDesign.com / Doug Aghassi, State Library of South Australia, Max Goldberg, bjornmeansbear, juliejordanscott, rcmd_tagcoor_10_3, thedailyenglishshow, mpclemens, Daily Dose Of Champions, edenpictures, MoneyBlogNewz
  • Home
  • Blog and More
  • Words by Ellen
  • Words about Ellen
  • 10 simple writing tips
  • Writers to read
  • BIRDS ON A WIRE
  • THIS GIRL CLIMBS TREES
  • Book Reviews
  • Author visits, book signings, more
  • Shop
  • Young Minds