I recently posted a video on Facebook and a picture on Instagram showing the redraft I’m currently working on of my 2019 book, The French Photographer (working title). The video and pictures showed my Scrivener manuscript and it prompted a lot of questions from people about why I like using Scrivener to write a novel. I have blogged about using Scrivener to write a novel before, here and here, but that was a while ago. So I thought it was time to write an updated post, focusing on why Scrivener makes my redrafting process so much easier. First, the Binder…
Posts Categorized: Using Scrivener
I’m flying through the redraft of my fourth book at the moment (working title One Night), which is fabulous. But one of the reasons why I’m flying through is because I’ve really been making Scrivener, the writing app I use, work hard for me. Many of you know I love Scrivener. I started using it when I wrote my third book, A Kiss from Mr Fitzgerald. One Night is the second book I’ve written with Scrivener so I know the program much better now and I love it even more than before. And, as it’s been a while since I last raved about Scrivener, I thought…
I thought I’d start a new series where I post some Scrivener Quick Tips every 6 weeks. These posts will show you how to use one small but very handy feature of Scrivener. Today’s Scrivener Quick Tips are about using the Name Generator to come up with great names for your characters. I love the Name Generator because sometimes I find character names difficult. I scan my bookshelves, I scroll through all the names in my mind, but nothing seems quite right. With the name generator, I can quickly produce a list of names that I would never have thought…
I’ve written before about my love of Scrivener. And just when I thought I couldn’t love it any more, I find out something else about the program that makes me swoon! I’ve been playing around with Scrivener’s Outliner and I’ve discovered that, especially for a non-planner like me, it’s an excellent tool for helping you create a fluid outline for your book right from the initial phase of having an idea. So, let me explain how to use Scrivener to plan a book. You Don’t Need to Be a Planner to Use Scrivener’s Outliner Ordinarily I don’t tend to plan,…
It’s been a few months since I last raved about my love of Scrivener so I thought I’d update you on whether my love had waxed or waned. In summary, I began writing my new book with Scrivener on March 18 this year. I have now essentially finished it. I have written 80,000 words in just over 5 months (see the lovely Scrivener Project Target pic below). This has never happened before. I am on a creative high. How much of this can I put down to Scrivener? It’s hard to say. I think it’s been a huge help. I’ve…
Two weeks ago I blogged about how Scrivener was helping me to imagine all kinds of structural possibilities for my novel, because of the way it made setting up and manipulating the ordering of the scenes in my book so easy. This week, I’m going to cover off three other features of Scrivener that I love, and that are making me want to spend more and more time writing my book. Word Count Targets The first of these features is such a simple thing, really. In the picture below is the Project Target box. It has a green bar at…
The new love of my life is not tall, dark and handsome, nor is it likely to bring me flowers every day. But it does something even better – it makes writing a book a breeze. And it’s name is Scrivener. Scrivener is a program especially designed for novel writing, screen writing, any kind of long form writing. Hmmmm, I hear you think, I have a word processor for that. But if you use a word processor you are missing out! I have to admit, I was sceptical too when I began. Did I really need to waste time learning…