Truby's method is to start with a "What If," and develop a logline. From there, you continue to define and refine with more and more detail. Not just on characters, but on the story itself. A designing principle, central conflict... He method is to just continue refining and defining until you have a good sense of what you need to convey in the story. Then you go onto to writing. I'd recommend Truby's "Anatomy of Story" if you're willing to part with some money. Paperback is about $15, but the Kindle edition is $10.
Ah, I understand. I deliberately don't want those as part of my manuscript. Libreoffice actually allows the creation of notes and comments, but I never use them. For that kind of thing I use Zim - Desktop Wiki. (freeware). Basically it allows me to create a Wiki style document with hyperlinks to other pages, documents, and images, which in turn can be linked to other pages and documents. By the end I have an interactive Wiki of the book. For the brainstorming element I use a Mind Mapping program (freeware) called Edraw, which lets me lay out relationships and plot elements visually. I find visual maps of individual chapters very useful in keeping track of the action and plot. I tried a writer software once called yWriter5 (freeware) which is supposed to do much of what Scrivener is supposed to do, but I hated the need to structure my notes the way the software wanted and not the way I liked. It is quite popular though. Has anyone else tried yWriter5?
I installed it, played with it for a couple days and forgot about it. I'm not sure I still have it installed anymore. Scrivener I still use extensively for drafting, outlining and index carding.
not true... if a 75 year old tech-know-nothing [me] was able to set up and use the chapter navigation feature, et al. easily enough, anyone can... i don't find anything missing in ms word that is needed to write or edit novels, which i've done for clients... i agree with all cog said in post #134 [!] above...
This is one of those perks about Scrivener I'm curious about... T and I have managed our long, complicated pieces with Word, so it's not a huge hindrance to jump between files, but if those cumbersome steps can be removed or substituted with something easier, why not. Our comp's gonna go through a bit of an update soon though, but I think at the very least when we start a new writing project, we should give Scrivener a try, especially 'cause both T and I are hopeless organizers when it comes to story planning and if Scrivener makes it easier... Won't hurt to try.
We have 4 comps, and tend to do our solo writing on laptops (using Word or Open Office) while we work on our joint effort on the main computer (the one to be updated soon). Everything's saved in DropBox, and we have like a gazillion story planning files there. It's a mess...
The real issue your going to have then is something that Scrivener can't fix. If the document is open in multiple computers Scrivener will detect that and try to lock it down so nothing gets corrupted. @Wreybies has Scrivener on multiple computers, he might be able to help
I went through the Scrivener tutorial, and I really found the program to be useful. Do you think Scrivener is good for someone who writes mostly short stories? It looks like it's marketed toward people who write novels.
My 2 cents for the Scrivener vs. Word discussion: One of the best features Scrivener can offer that Word cannot is that you can add images, pdfs, websites, etc. as resources and access them directly inside Scrivener! You can even split the screen into two, showing the pdf or website or whatever in the one of the panes and writing in the other. No need to navigate between windows, browser tabs, adobe reader and image viewers.
I don't know of writer software that will allow simultaneous work on the same file. Final Draft has it's collaboration system, as does the paid for Celtx, but those are not meant for novels. If the file is broken up then two people can work on different parts. Scrivener breaks a projects up into multiple files, but the top level project file is one file. I work solo on different machines. I use dropbox as a sync method and backup system.
There's no need as we don't have to split the screen. We have a pretty nifty set-up already for collaborative writing However, the story planning / resource organizing side of it is a mess, so in that sense Scrivener could be useful, plus if it formats automatically to the industry standard...
I write 1000-2000 words a day during the week and 5k a day on weekends. I am not sure what difference it would make to put my words on a different piece of software. I don't need to piece the scenes together because the story is written front to back. After follows before. It is entirely chronological. If I edit and think "I need to add a scene here!" I just add it by writing it where it needs to be. I am not about to write it separately and then try to shoehorn it into the text. I am not seeing the problem. I do get that it's inexpensive and that's great! I will try it when I finish this series and switch to writing the next one. I may become a hipster like the rest of you Scribner nut-huggers and then I will be utterly intolerable to everyone who "still uses Werd". I'll be like an ex-smoker discussing the merits of not smoking, with smokers.
I don't know what that is. Aren't nut-huggers underpants? Are you calling us underpants because we use a different software?
Yes. You, my friend, are an underpant. And I might be too once I am infected by Scribneritis and I finally see the error of my wayward ways. The way I envision a true nut-hugger might be best viewed in the following context. They love something because it is what they have. I race cars. I own a Mustang. I researched my car and Consumer Reports loved the Mustang GT. Its reliability was wonderful and owners liked it a lot. I special ordered it with drag racing in mind and got exactly what I wanted. Eight years later, I still would not change what I ordered. Haven't even burned out a light bulb yet. With over 800 1/4 mile launches at redline, on nitrous, I am still on the stock clutch. Still have the stock brake pads! 143,000 miles. There was no such thing as a 2006 Camaro or Challenger so they were never in the running. The Subaru WRX Sti was quite highly rated for reliability and close to the Mustang in stock performance but the way it looked just did not measure up. I like them. Just not as much. Now enter a FWD Chevy Cavalier owner. He's 18, loves his car and is deeply impressed by its modest power. He has no experience with either a fast car or a RWD car so he begins his diatribe about how all cars except Chevys and in particular, Cavaliers, are worthless. He is a huge fan of his car (which is fine) but has no experience with other platforms. He is convinced that his is at least as good, probably better. Nut-hugger. As a forum moderator and administrator on car racing forums I got to facepalm a LOT over the last decade. Rotary engine fans, Civic DX (automatic) first-time-drivers, guys blatantly repeating what they heard other people say, kids with blown up cars telling other kids how to tune their car. Nut-huggers. 9mm Glock guys commenting on .45ACP 1911 platforms and vice versa. Goodness. Those are sights to see. You can tell the guys who do not own both. The experts and even the guys who *do* own both say things like "Both have their uses and benefits." but the nut-huggers are all-or-nothing. And it's exhausting. Shoot what you like. Write on what you like. But we can't expect others to switch to what someone else likes for any reason unless they found a way to solve a problem which the other person has.
This post is a bit off the mark, it seems to me. You seem to equate "nut-huggers" with people who don't know what they're talking about, because they've only used one piece of software. We're big fans of what we use, but we don't use it because we're ignorant of what else is out there. We use it because we know what is out there, and have made our very informed choices. I use Scrivener for writing. I used to use Word. I used various versions of Word for years. I've also used WordPerfect, WordStar, Notepad, various programming text editors, and just about anything else that runs on a PC and can receive text. For my purposes, Scrivener is the best of these. Those of us who chose Scrivener are not nut-huggers. Or underpants. And we're not like ex-smokers talking about the merits of not smoking, with smokers. The reason those people are annoying is that they preach the non-smoking gospel in inappropriate venues. This thread is for the discussion of our favorite writing software. It is the appropriate venue. By definition. This isn't the Debate Room. Let's try to not call each other names, okay?
Dress yourself up however you like! Just don't report yourself if you don't like the names you call yourself...
