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Winning NaNoWriMo with Scrivener

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Whether you’re plotting in advance or completely winging it, Scrivener can help you win National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

Here are some of my favorite features to help you hit 50K in November, or whatever your writing goal is, any month of the year.

Handling Ideas, or the Lack Thereof

When you’re writing for speed, you can’t afford to be slowed down by ideas for future scenes, or get stuck trying to conjure the perfect piece of dialog. Nor do you have time for additional research.

Instead, make a note and get back to writing. Scrivener offers several options for leaving notes.

Annotations and Comments: These are notes you can leave at a particular point in your text, which makes them great for reminders about fixing a bad description, looking up precise medical details for an injury, or anything else that’s spot-specific.

screenshot of annotation and comment

Document Notes: Think of these like a sticky note you can slap on the scene. They’re best for general thoughts about the overall scene (e.g., research needed, ideas for changes in a character’s scene goal, ideas for where to take the scene if you’re plotting it right before writing).

screenshot of document notes and synopsis

Documents: For manuscript-level notes and ideas, you might instead create a document to jot down things as they occur to you. I also like the idea of having a Change Log document for notes on scenes I’ve already written, so I’m not tempted to fix them when I should be writing new material.

Another use for documents is to create one when you have an idea for a future scene, and use it as a placeholder. You can enter a brief description of what you think will happen in the Synopsis card, or maybe quickly write out the conversation or piece of action that came to you before you forget. When you get to that point in the manuscript, the scene will already be waiting.

screenshot of binder

Synopsis: For those who plot—either the whole book in advance, or each scene immediately before you write it—the Synopsis (see image in Document Notes section) is a great place to keep a reminder of what’s supposed to happen, in case you forget. If you don’t plot at all, you can add a short description of what happened after you write the scene, to help you keep track as your story builds.

The Corkboard lets you view the synopsis cards storyboard-style. If this is your thing, I recommend not grouping your documents into folders until you’re done using the Corkboard to view, plot, and reorder your story.

screenshot of the corkboard

Blocking Out Distractions

Scrivener’s Composition Mode (called Full Screen Mode in Windows) is the next-best thing to noise-canceling headphones. It hides everything but the document you’re working on, and even allows you to customize the background color or image. I like to [Read more…]

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Finding Projects in Scrivener 3

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Over about 15 years years of teaching others to how use various software and computer systems, I’ve noticed there is much confusion around files. Confusion about where they’re located, how to find them, how to rename or move them. Not having those skills is usually what people really mean when they tell me they’re “not very good at computers.” I get it! There's a lot to know. Which is why I always recommend learning the basics of your computer’s file system—both Apple and Microsoft have free … [Read more...]

Scrivener Quick Tips: A Roundup of Handy Features

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Whether your home office has been invaded and you have little time to write, or you suddenly find yourself with nothing but writing time, I’ve pulled together a motley collection of handy features that every Scrivener user should know about. NOTE: When the process differs between versions, I’m using S1, S2, and S3, to denote Scrivener versions 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Quickly Moving Documents Between Projects Want to add a file to a project that already exists in another project? … [Read more...]

Using Bookmarks in Scrivener 3 for Quick Access to Supporting Materials

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The ability to import research, images, and web pages into Scrivener is one of its best features, but sometimes creating a bookmark—a link to the file or location—might be a better option. (NOTE: Bookmarks were called references prior to Scrivener 3.) When might you want to use a bookmark instead of importing a file or web page? - When you always want the most up-to-date version. When you import a file, Scrivener creates a copy of it, thus freezing it in its current incarnation. … [Read more...]

Creating Collections in Scrivener 3

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Looking for a way to view or store a group of your documents in a Scrivener project without losing their order in the Binder? If so, read on to learn about collections. Introducing Collections In Scrivener, a collection is a subset of your project’s documents that share the criteria of your choosing. For example, you might have a collection composed of all documents that haven’t yet been started, or all those where a specific character is mentioned (helpful for creating a series bible on a … [Read more...]

Using Styles in Scrivener 3

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You would not want me to advise you on what to wear, but if you want to design a good-looking DOCX, PDF, or EPUB, I'm your girl. And if you've ever wished Scrivener had Microsoft Word-like styles, get ready to rejoice, because Scrivener 3 has replaced the old Presets function—which offered formatting shortcuts without any memory—with Styles. *cue balloons and confetti* Okay, great, but what exactly are styles? Introducing Styles Styles are memorized font and/or paragraph settings … [Read more...]

Compiling a DOCX in Scrivener 3

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Beyond a basic orientation to the software, what’s the number one thing people want help with in Scrivener? Compile. No contest. In April, I introduced Scrivener 3’s new approach to compiling (exporting) with a post about section types. Section types are foundational to the new compile feature, so if you need to bone up on the topic, I recommend you start there and then come back. (Or at least check it out later.) Ready? In this second installment on compiling, I’m going to help you … [Read more...]

Scrivener 3’s New Approach to Compile

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In an attempt to make compiling (combining and exporting) your work in Scrivener 3 easier, you can now choose the final appearance of your manuscript based on a visual representation. Whether you’re producing an ebook for an online retailer or sending out the first 50 pages of your manuscript to an agent, chances are you’ll have several sections that are formatted differently. For example, your title page, scene text, and back matter. To successfully format your work, you’ll need to … [Read more...]

New Year, New Scrivener

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Did you hear? Scrivener 3 for Mac released in November (Windows is in beta now and due out later this year), and the upgrade brings some cool new features. Below are some of the tools (available for both Mac and PC) that I found most exciting while parsing through the changes for a free mini-course I created to help Scrivener 2 users transition to the new version. Writing History You’ve always been able to track your word count and progress in Scrivener, but if you wanted to keep a log … [Read more...]