Tag: Scrivener

Scrivener Novel Format

Scrivener chapters

Just 530 words so far but although I haven’t made much progress on the challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in November it has given me the opportunity to dip into the novel writing format of Scrivener, a program that I’ve used for writing articles for years.

Chapters

The Novel Format includes folders for two blank chapters, which you can easily adapt and add to.

Each chapter can be divided into scenes. As an illustrator I tend to think in scenes rather than in chunks of dialogue, so I like the visual approach of the corkboard view where I can see the files and, if necessary, rearrange their order. Each scene can have an image attached to it.

Characters

Scrivener characters

There are folders too for characters, locations and research plus, one of my favourite Scrivener writing tools, the Name Generator. My characters Clark Rafferty and Vanda Redman were the first names to pop up on the suggestions for male and female names. For Len Platter – the disaster prone TV chef, star of the ill-fated Platter’s Oven-Ready Deal, I had to scroll down the list a bit. But Len Platter sounds about right for a character who’s attempting to follow in the footsteps of ‘backstreet mechanic’ Fred Dibnah and ‘gastronaut’ Keith Floyd.

character notes

Each character gets a character sketch sheet.

Writing Mode

writing in Scrivener

When you’re writing you’ve got the choice of keeping an eye on the overall structure of your novel or going for a clutter-free Composition Mode.

If you finish your novel, which I won’t, Scrivener can:

generate a document in the standard manuscript format for novels. Settings are also provided to make it easy to compile to a paperback-style PDF for self-publishing or an EPUB or Kindle ebook.

Scrivener, notes on Novel Format

If I do get around to writing another book it’s likely to be non-fiction rather than a blockbuster novel but there’s also an option for a standard non-fiction template . . . plus templates for theses, screenplays, poems and stage plays.

Link

Scrivener – Literature and Latte

Inky Folk

figures
Real G-pen and Wet Wash brush in Clip Studio Paint
comic script
Comic script template in Scrivener

Inspired by Marcos Mateu-Mestre’s Framed Ink, I’m going for a livelier, inkier look for my comic based on Sabine Baring-Gould’s The Book of Were-Wolves.

Rather than launch straight into drawing, I’m starting with a script, using Antony Johnson’s Comic Script Format template in Scrivener.

I’ve used Scrivener for writing articles for years, but always using a plain ‘Basic’ template, which isn’t very different to using a standard Microsoft Word document but Scrivener can do a lot more than that. The Comic Script Format makes it more like using screenwriting software, such as Final Draft.

From Sketchbook to Finished Article

Scarborough Castle, October 2015.
Scarborough Castle, October 2015.

I write my Wild Yorkshire nature diary for the Dalesman magazine five or six weeks ahead of publication so in the past week I’ve turned my attention to the October article, which really makes me feel as if summer is coming to a close!

Usually I have plenty of material to sift through but last October we’d only just got over selling my late mother’s house and we had so much on that Barbara and I managed only a book delivery excursion to the Peak District and a couple of days in Scarborough.

Moleskine sketchbook page, October 2015.
Moleskine sketchbook page, October 2015.

juvenile heronWith such a short time on the coast, I tried to draw whenever I got the opportunity but that meant that I didn’t get around to writing many notes, certainly not enough for my 800 word Dalesman article.

Barbar's notebook.
Barbara’s notebook.

Luckily while I was perching on the sea wall at North Bay sketching rocks and birds, Barbara was sitting on a bench nearby writing in a pocket notebook, so I’ve filled in the blanks in my article from her observations.

rocksIt reminds me of Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy: she wrote meticulous descriptions of the scenery and natural history that they’d encountered on their walks and he’d put them into verse, implying that he’d been wandering ‘lonely as a cloud’ (except for Dorothy following him and scribbling in her notebook).

Scrivener

In Scrivener you can easily move around the sections of the article you're writing using the virtual corkboard.
In Scrivener you can rearrange the sections of the article you’re writing using a virtual corkboard.

seaweedI’ve got the chance to be more productive than Wordsworth: I don’t have to lie on my couch ‘in vacant or in pensive mood’ because I can get my ideas together using my favourite writing program Scrivener, which is set up so writers can drop rough drafts in, rearrange them on a virtual corkboard and then go into a full screen, distraction-free writing mode (that’ll be the day, when I don’t get distracted!).

Even so it took me a couple of sessions to polish up the article so that it flows but, even using Barbara’s notes, I’d only got to 500 words. Having set the scene on the coast I didn’t want to change the location to the Peak District or to our home patch to finish off the article.

Halcyon Days

kingfisherAs I drew last October I’d been amazed to see a kingfisher fishing in the sea, diving in from a concrete post, so I decided to write a little more about that. I looked up the kingfisher in Birds of the Western Palearctic but even in the twelve pages of closely written notes of this nine volume handbook I couldn’t spot a suitably fascinating fact that would draw my article to a close.

the white goddessBrewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable and Cassell’s Dictionary of Classical Mythology weren’t all that helpful either but then I remembered my favourite study of the roots of classical mythology, The White Goddess by Robert Graves. I’ve still got the copy that I bought as a student. His explanation of the myth of the kingfisher mentions the account written by Pliny the Elder, the Roman naturalist, which I was able to track down via Google. Pliny describes the floating nest that kingfishers were believed to make at sea during the calm halcyon days of December:

“Their nests are truly wonderful; they are of the shape of a ball slightly elongated, have a very narrow mouth, and bear a strong resemblance to a large sponge. It has never yet been discovered of what material they are made; some persons think that they are formed of sharp fish-bones, as it is on fish that these birds live.”

That struck me as the perfect way to round off my article.

Links

Scrivener writing software.

Dalesman Yorkshire magazine and visitor guides.

Sunday morning with Scrivener

using Scrivener
Full screen distraction-free writing in Scrivener.

 I like to keep things as simple as possible, which why I’ve pared down the pens and watercolours in my art bag to the bare minimum. It’s the same with writing. You might assume that pen and paper would be the ultimate in simplicity but if you’re like me and you go over and over your text trying to make it clearer and more succinct you can end up with an almost illegible mess of crossings out and rewrites.

Notes for my 'Walks around Ossett' booklet.
Notes written while researching my ‘Walks around Ossett’ booklet.

Lamy Safari fountain pen

Of course I’m talking about writing for books and magazines here; this online diary has to be more rough and ready!

Corkboard

Corkboard view in Scrivener
Corkboard view in Scrivener

My favourite program for distraction-free writing is Scrivener, from Literature and Latte, the people behind the Scapple mind-mapping program that I was using yesterday. Scrivener enables you to bring together your research and rough drafts. A useful option is the corkboard with post-it notes representing each section. You can easily rearrange them to improve the flow of your story.

This morning I’ve got my Onward Christian Soldiers Scapple mind-map propped up in front of my iMac and I’m writing a rough draft of each of the aspects of the story. I’m in distraction-free mode because I don’t want to get bogged down with my research. I’ll come back to that later when I’ve got the flow of the story established. If I can’t get readers hooked, all those names, dates and places won’t be of much interest anyway.

Over the last month I’ve occasionally updated friends on how I’m getting on with my article – the equivalent of an elevator pitch – and I find myself going back to certain vivid anecdotes. It’s a good test that if I find a story interesting, my Dalesman readers will probably find it interesting too.

pencil 3b

Links

Scrivener is described by Literature and Latte as ‘your complete writing studio’ but it’s worth going for Scapple too you’re doing a lot of research and brainstorming.