1. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Labels in Scrivener

    Discussion in 'Writing Software and Hardware' started by Wreybies, Jan 16, 2017.

    This may be old hat to many Scrivener users, but it’s something I only just started making use of. I was going through my WIP with an eye to catching slipped POV, which has been on my mind since participating in a recent thread on the topic. My story is serial 3rd person limited, and anyone writing in that mode knows that when there are multiple characters in a scene that will each eventually get “screen time” as a POV character, it can be easy to slip from one to another inadvertently. In doing this, I realized that I didn’t have a good grasp of how many chapters/scenes are from each character’s POV, and that would seem an essential thing to know.

    Enter Labels.

    As with most things in Scrivener, you can use this function to keep track of whatever you want to keep track of. You can create labels to mean anything you want and then implement them in order to get a better visual in your binder of what’s going on in your story. I created labels to simply identify which scenes are from the POV of a given character. This was illuminating to me because I realized I have neglected one of my two MC’s and I think that my feeling of stuckness is at least partially attributable to this. As you can see, I’ve got three yellows in this part of the story and only one red. Act 2 and Act 3 aren't any better. The document that has a blue bar doesn’t count because that’s the scene I’m working on now that I realized I’ve ignored this character shamefully. You’ll notice that when you’re working on a given document, the label color is represented by a dot rather than a full bar. It’s easy to use once you know where to look and how to turn the function on. The routes for Mac and Windows are the same.

    [​IMG]


    To turn the function on you go to View> Use Label Color In and then pick where you want to see the color. I chose the binder as this was the most visual for me.
    [​IMG]


    To create and/or assign a label to a document or folder, right-click the item and go to Label and pick the label you want. If you’ve not created any labels, it’s the same route and then choose Edit. You’ll get a window that lets you create the labels you want and then can use.
    [​IMG]

     
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  2. writemare

    writemare Member

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    Always good to learn more about Scrivener, thanks
     
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  3. Lifeline

    Lifeline South. Supporter Contributor

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    I use different icons for separating POV characters, though it's good to know there is another option to do the same thing :)
     
  4. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    Thanks for this, @Wreybies . I don't use Scrivener, but Pages has a labels function I might try. I've never used them, but I can see where they might come in handy for something like this.
     
  5. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    I would imagine that most well-equipped word processors have something along the same lines. The way Scrivener does it feels very inspired by the Tags function for general files and folders on Mac OSX. ;)

    Screen Shot 2017-01-24 at 4.26.25 PM.png
     
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  6. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    Yeah. I'll explore that option and see if I can find a use for it. I have always ignored Tags, but why not? They might come in handy.
     
  7. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    In my general files (as in the image I posted), I use them to indicate the status of a work project. All those folders semi-hiding behind the popup window are translation projects. Red dot means done and delivered, green is the project I am currently working, nothing means not started yet.
     
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  8. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    Is there some kind of weird mauve colour with green stripes that says: "I've just edited this chapter for the umpteenth time and it's still not right...?"
     
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