getting the most from scrivener, 3

Corkboard 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).

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Corkboard 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!

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