• Writing

    Scrivener Basics (3) Compile!

    My final week of Scrivener tutorials. Start here, then here, if you came here first and need a refresher or basic training. Compile… This is in the Toolbar, but it’s special! Compile develops your output but will look at metadata to do it. To not have to fiddle with the metadata (even though it’s handy as the third tab in the inspector synopsis pane), keep consistent throughout on how you put together chapters. Chapter headings as folders, scenes as documents within, etc. When ready to send any part of your document outside of Scrivener, use Compile. In there you will work from top, left, right top, centre, right bottom, then…

  • Writing

    Scrivener Basics (2)

    This is a continuation of last week’s tutorial where we learned about the toolbar, the binder, and starting a project. Go here to start from the top. For your reference, this is the screen and the terminology I will use.   In the Format Bar… Styles <Preference><Editing><Formatting> determines ‘no style’ To change by document <Formal><Style><Set Default Formatting> Toggle ‘use different default formatting’ Using the Style shortcuts will apply to the whole paragraph. For a selection, use <Formal><Style> from the file menu Highlight Choose Highlight in various colours to mean different things is you like. You can search (using inspector) by colour. I use yellow, for example, to mean I need…

  • Writing

    Scrivener Basics

    I love Scrivener. I used to write in Word, but having a lot of files open at once slowed me down and I ended up with many files with similar stories representing different chapters or a large, unwieldy file that felt disorganized. Partly Word didn’t work because I hadn’t done the outline yet and my brain kept telling myself, “I need to write about the time that…” Then I discovered Scrivener and it changed the way I write, organize, and feel about my large works/manuscripts. I recently did a seminar to teach some of my writer friends the basics of the programme and thought I’d share my notes here in…