Does anyone know how to insert a short three-liner at the start of each chapter? A different one of course at each chapter Thanks for all feedback!
Hey, in case you are still trying to find the answer to your problem... I'm not exactly sure what you are asking, but I want to help. Do you mean something that is auto-formatted with each new chapter? Or do you mean like a new page for every three liner?
I can think of two ways to do it, maybe others know a way to do it with more finesse though. 1) Just write it and separate it with a # or use italics or both. 2) Make the chapter folder then add two scenes (text file) within the folder. Use the first one for your chapter opening and the second for the actual chapter.
Yeah, if, as @Lifeline mentions, each little three-liner is different for each chapter, this seems like a very easy way to go. Create an initial Scene document in each chapter folder that just contains the three liner, and then the next scene document is the actual beginning of the chapter. There's a way to do this in the compile function that's shown in this video, but it would seem to be a single plug-n-play bit of verbiage that would be identical for each chapter. There may be a way to make individual and unique for each chapter, but Ginger's way looks like the easiest way with the least poking around "under the hood", so to speak.
Yeah, to cut this whole story short I used @GingerCoffee 's no 2) way. I found it about 1 months ago Thanks for all the feedback (and you will forgive me the irony) *snort* edit: Was it really only one month?? I must live in some kind of time-warp..
I'm really surprised they didn't include the "MS Word is the industry standard" excuse. Though, this phrase tends to get issued with a voice of remonstrative authority rather than as an excuse. "That application is not the State approved application that every comrade should be using. I question your allegiance to the party," says the Voice of Authority. "But, dude, it makes perfect .doc files just like Word. What's the problem?" I say. "It's not the State approved application," replies the Voice. "Ok, yeah, I get that you're all about 'State approval", but seriously, it makes the exact same files as Word and a bunch of others as well for people who want to go right to ebook. I mean, dude, when you turn in your manuscript, you're not asked to also turn in a copy of your MS Word license, right? So... What's your beef?" I'm thoroughly annoyed at this point at the lack of logic in the argument. "Because it's not State-" I cut the Voice off at this point. "Yeah, whatever. You do you and I'll do me. Have fun with the comrades." I get back to writing.
I am extremely interested in this software, but confess that I am disappointed that the Windows version does not have all of the features of the Mac version. I do have a question, and I hope that it is not one that has been asked repeatedly already, is there a simple way to work on the same project on more than one computer without dealing with The Cloud? I see that the EULA allows for use on more than one computer, and that is excellent. Is there a backup and restore function that could be used on a USB drive, or is there one file that can be copied and pasted to a USB drive?
You should be able to copy and paste a project folder back and forth to a USB, or else just save the projects directly to the USB.
You can do it from a USB or an external hard-drive, yes. For purposes of how the application deals with the files, there shouldn't be a difference between that and saving to "the cloud".
What is it about this software that makes otherwise rational people go so evangelical about it? (Yeah, @Wreybies, I'm lookin' at you! ) I've tried it. I didn't care for it. I don't need one excuse, let alone five. If Scrivener works for you, enjoy! I'm happy you've found each other.
Thanks for the replies; it seems like a great program. If I get lucky, I may find a discount coupon for it.
For me, it's a two-part answer. 1) MS Word for Mac is atrocious. It's not the same creature you know on a PC. It's just not. It's slow, it stalls, it hangs up. Mac users are not accustomed to apps that do any of these things, like, ever. 2) I'm a non-linear writer. I know you can make all the things that Scrivener does happen in other ways, but those other ways just aren't wrapped up so nicely and neatly and conveniently as they are in Scrivener.
But Word is the industry standard! )) ETA: HEY! how come it moves the bracket at the start of my smilies?!? I thought it was a typo, but I went in and fixed it, and it stayed the same! This wouldn't happen in Word!
It may be, but if you have a few minutes I'd like to talk to you about Scrivener. (For the above joke to work, you have to picture me as young, attractive, probably blond, a crisp white shirt and a little black name-tag thingie at my chest. Oh, and I probably have a bicycle with me.)
Firstly, I just want to mention that on Windows Scrivener's project files are actually folders (named [project_name].scriv) with a bunch of files in them. This, however, does not change the fact that you can copy the project onto USB drives (as long as you copy the entire folder). Secondly, I have all my Scrivener projects on my USB drive. When I work with them I simply open the project from the drive (Open the USB -> Browse to your project -> Open [project_name].scriv -> double-click [project_name].scrivx), without having to copy to project to my computer's hard drive. Even though Scrivener has save to (and load from) the USB directly, I never have any problems with it being slow or anything. Scrivener also has an automatic backup function and you can tell it exactly where you want the backups and if you want the backups as folders (i.e. like Scrivener projects) or compressed as .zip files.
Honestly...after getting Scrivener, I just can't use any other word processor. Not Microsoft Word, nor...I forget the name of it, but I used to use an open source program. Point is, Scrivener is THE ultimate writing program along with Scapple. Putting them together is a deadly combination of idea generation and implementation.
I'd say your BRAIN is a deadly combination of idea generation and implementation. If software helps you out, that's great, but don't give it too much credit - the great works of literature were written without anything fancy, and lots of people are using modern software and not coming up with anything too good. Brain - it's the best yet!
I tried Scrivener, but although it had a lot of neat and useful features, I found one thing lacking that I simply can't overlook. It doesn't have a Canadian English dictionary and has no provision for adding one. Sure, it allows me to switch to British English, but that's not the same. And the one option provided for Canadian spellings has so many mistakes in it, it's useless. Of course, Scrivener isn't alone, so I'm not picking on the developers of this fine product. The list includes every Adobe product as well as every FOSS and free-to-use word processor out there. Back in the 1980s, Word Perfect (which was, ATT, the defacto standard) had properly-done dictionaries for all variations of English. So to my mind, there's no excuse for any word processor not to 30 years on, especially where there are FOSS dictionaries for almost every language on the planet, including Canadian English.
I use DropBox for this, if you want to avoid any remote storage you could use a networked external hard drive.
It might also be worth adding that Scrivener has a built-in backup function which you can set up to automatically create a .zip backup of the project in your preferred location. You can then set it to back the project up e.g. when you close the program, and to keep a certain number of backups (1, 5, etc.). That could be used to back up the project to a USB drive, Dropbox, etc. automatically.
I have to say that this strikes me as a little bizarre. Why does an experienced writer need a built-in dictionary at all? Surely experienced writers can spell well enough. If you need a Canadian English dictionary, you can get one in book form. That said, I've never seen any software that has a built-in dictionary of any kind (American, British, whatever) that comes anywhere close to being adequate. The lack of an adequate Canadian English dictionary is no surprise. In the rare cases I need a dictionary, I use the Oxford English Dictionary. It provides both British and American spellings of words. I grew up in Canada, and I rely on my own judgment to determine which spelling I want.
