Malinda Lo
Blog
Aug 17, 2011
Revising with Scrivener
On Monday I finished the latest draft of my next novel, currently titled Adaptation.1 I say “latest” because it’s already been revised once before, but that was a very quick and dirty revise to get it in shape to submit to my editor. So what draft is this? Maybe the third? I don’t know, because the way I wrote this book was sort of convoluted, and involved several lengthy, narrative chapter-by-chapter outlines that I submitted to my publisher before the book was sold. I think of those outlines as mini-drafts, and then there was the “rough” draft that nobody saw except for me, then the “first” draft that I sent to my editor (and in between “rough” and “first” there was a halfway-there rewrite of the middle chunk of the book), and … now we have the latest draft. Done. Woohoo!
It took me about two weeks of thinking (rereading, being frustrated, going for walks) and six weeks of intensive revising. It was probably the most intensive six weeks of revising I’ve ever done. It was also the most rewarding. Some days I actually felt like I knew what I was doing, which isn’t always the case with writing! Usually I find that there’s a lot of stumbling around in the dark and feeling for the light switch. This time I felt like I brought flashlights.
I love the look on Mulder's face in this picture. Ha!
During those two weeks of thinking, I thought a lot about my editor’s editorial letter and my agent’s comments. I also thought a lot about the book I originally imagined in my head, and how it differed from what was on the page. I reread my early notes about the main character; I reread those narrative outlines; I skimmed through my writer’s notebook at the various “a-ha!” moments I had scribbled down during the process of writing. It turned out that I had to shuffle around a lot of plot points to turn this manuscript into the book I wanted it to be. And for the first time ever, I did this shuffling around entirely on my computer, using Scrivener.
I’ve been writing with Scrivener for a couple of years now. I actually bought my Macbook Pro primarily to use Scrivener, and I wrote Huntress with it. However, even though I went through all the tutorials and tried to use the program the way it was supposed to be used, it never fully connected with me until this most recent revision.
Scrivener: File directory system on left; editing pane in center; "inspector" on right
In the past, I’d been using Scrivener largely like a glorified file system. Every chapter got its own file folder, for example. I did like the way that Scrivener allows you to have all these folders listed like a directory, and how you don’t have to “open” each folder every time you want to use the file. You just click on the folder and then the text is displayed in the central editing window without any delay. So that was good. But I still didn’t entirely understand what made Scrivener so great.
Then came Adaptation. As I said, I’ve outlined this book several times for my publisher in narrative outlines that read like an expanded synopsis. This kind of outline helps the publisher get an idea of how the whole book will feel once it’s written. But for me as a writer, I get caught up in telling a story in the outline (using complete sentences, description, momentum), and it distracts me from the key elements of the plot (which can be more easily indicated with very short phrases like “Snow White bites apple”).
So to figure out where my plot was and wasn’t working, I needed to re-outline my book in a way that made sense to me. I started out by using an Excel spreadsheet and listing everything that happened in each chapter as briefly as possible. But I soon realized that in order to fix the problems, I’d have to move some of the scenes around in the book. I thought, gee, I wish I could write all this down on index cards and then move them around on a corkboard.
Seriously, I practically smacked myself on the forehead. Because that’s exactly what Scrivener is designed to do. It’s a virtual corkboard that enables you to storyboard your book the way a TV writer does. Each scene gets its own index card, and then it’s placed on the corkboard and can be easily moved around to situate it for maximum impact. The best part is, in Scrivener, those virtual index cards expand into the scenes themselves (text documents).
The Scrivener corkboard, storyboarded for "Snow White"
I knew that Scrivener had this capability before (it’s why I bought it, for crying out loud — the storyboarding idea really resonated with me), but it never fully clicked with me for some reason. Maybe because I hadn’t been writing a book that required me to manipulate the plot so carefully. There are several mysteries in Adaptation, and I had to make sure I was revealing clues in the right places.
So once I had my “duh!” moment, this is what I did. I went to my draft in Scrivener, and the first thing I did was take all the scenes out of the chapter folders so that they were just one long series of scenes.
As I said, each scene is connected to an index card. On the index card for each scene, I wrote a very short summary of what the scene did. Seriously, like five words: Snow White is born. Evil queen is jealous. Snow White runs away. If a scene didn’t do anything, I moved it to the end of the stack and ultimately I deleted them. (I had about five scenes in which the characters just talked to each other. No action. Bye-bye.)
Then I viewed all those index cards on the corkboard and started to move them around until I had them in the right order.
Sometimes I realized I needed a scene to bridge two scenes, so I’d insert a new index card (representing that needed scene) and write a brief summary of what that scene needed to be (“Snow White encounters queen in disguise”). Then I could add a watermark over the index card that said “To Do” so I’d remember that I needed to draft it from scratch. (Although I didn’t really ever forget, but the watermark is cool.)
Moving the cards around on the freeform corkboard
If I needed to split one previously written scene in two, Scrivener easily allowed me to do that by expanding the scene into the editing pane and splitting it. Then in the corkboard, I could rename the split scenes and even move them into different parts of the plot if I needed to.
Corkboard with new scene inserted in right place
This did mean that many scenes had to be revised heavily because they lost their transitions. You can’t just have random scenes everywhere; obviously the whole book has to tie together. So after I reorganized the scenes on the corkboard, I revised the book in order so that the scenes made sense read in that order.
It wasn’t until I had everything revised that I went back in and put them into chapter folders. Some chapters had only one scene; others had two or three. I also ultimately had to write a couple of new scenes at the end to tie some things together.
Finally, I compiled the whole document into a Word document. The compile feature is the one part of Scrivener I don’t entirely understand yet. Every time I compile (which really is only a couple of times a year), a lot of formatting is screwed up, and I have to spend a lot of time reformatting it in Word. I’m not sure what the deal is with it, but I suspect I might have to do more reading of the user guide, which I admit I avoid.
So, that’s how I approached revision this time around. I think that for my next book, which will be a sequel to Adaptation, I’m going to start with the corkboard from the beginning, writing everything in scenes. I will definitely storyboard the book using the corkboard before I begin writing it, but I’m sure that I’ll reorganize the book somewhat during revision. Things reveal themselves in the writing that you just can’t predict in the outline stage, and I really love the fact that Scrivener makes it very easy to adjust scenes and put them in the right place later on.
Of course, I don’t think that Scrivener will work for everyone. If you have a pretty linear plot without a lot of mysteries, I can see that it might be unnecessary and actually seem like overkill. But if you’re writing something that’s fairly plot-heavy, like I was, it could be a godsend. And that doesn’t even get into how convenient it is to have a whole section of the Scrivener file devoted entirely to research notes.2
Have you used Scrivener? What do you think of it?
I love Scrivener, and I use it to write all the time. I just use Word for school-related things, though. And I confess to the same thing — I avoid reading the user manual and consequently the formatting gets messed with when I compile, too! I don’t really mind it, though.
A comment on your point about Scrivener possibly being overkill. I don’t agree. The “no distractions” full screen mode (renamed to Compose in the current version to avoid confusion with Lion’s full screen mode) is a blessing regardless of what you’re writing.
Granted, there are other applications out there with that particular features (and some with _only_ that feature), but with Scrivener you also get a ton of other stuff that you can use if/when you discover the need. And, frankly, if you can afford a computer to write with, Scrivener is not an expense worth mentioning.
Best of luck with your new book.
This post is exactly why I am writing my memoir using only scenes. Brilliant, isn’t it? And the best thing is, if you don’t like to write that way… well, then, it will mold itself to your current preference. Scrivener rocks!
Very informative, thanks. I’ve been thinking of testing out the beta version for PCs – after reading of your enthusiasm for it, I’m def going to give it a try. Been going through some convoluted plot issues recently in Book 2.
I recently discovered Scrivener and have been working with the trial version for a couple of weeks. Thanks for sharing your workflow, because it gives me a better idea of how I can use it in practice. The outlining process using the index cards is something I’m particularly looking forward to using. Between your post and my limited experience using it, I’m pretty sure my trial version will soon become a paid version. Thanks for the post!
I love Scrivener! I got it a while back, and it allowed me to clear up a bunch of stray files and notes and photos into one place! And the notecards as organizational tool–brilliant! Love it. Best money I ever spent.
I use Scrivener (the PC beta version) to keep everything organized, so it’s all in one place, vs. being scattered throughout files upon files upon files. I’m a pretty linear writer, but I do a lot of freewriting, brainstorming, prewriting, worldbuilding, and the like, so it’s very helpful to be able to keep it all together for reference!
Scrivener was the impetus for me to switch to a Mac (last November) and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve never been more productive and that elusive first novel is almost at the end of the first draft stage. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
Even if you only compile a couple of times a year, it’s worth reading the tutorials that show how it’s done. It sounds like you’re trying to format your work as you’re typing it into Scrivener, which isn’t the best way to do it; formatting is carried out during the compile stage, but you need to fiddle with the settings (font, margins, spacings) to get the desired result.
I love the full-screen mode. Pages (the Mac word processing program) does the same thing. If I’m just writing an essay or a short story, I’ll just use Pages to access that feature.
Re: “overkill” I wasn’t talking about the price — Scrivener isn’t that much!
I think the break from writing in chapters was the hardest for me! That’s what I’ve always done. But the scene thing makes so much more sense.
I have heard that it doesn’t work quite as smoothly on a PC, but I’m not sure. Good luck!
You’re welcome!
Yes I love the fact that the file can include everything related to the work in progress all in one place.
No, I’m not formatting in Scrivener. The software makers responded to my tweet about this post and suggested that I compile into RTF instead of .docx format, which might be part of the problem.
Can you configure pages away from a white background in full screen mode though? All that white feels like it’s trying to burn my eyes out of my skull. I have Scrivener configured to switch to green text on black background when entering full screen.
I was thinking about features when I commented on overkill. As long as the features aren’t in the way, and I don’t think they are in Scriveners case, it doesn’t really matter if there are more than you’ll ever want to use. As long as the features you do wish to use are worth the price, of course.
Re: Pages, yes there’s a fader that allows you to go from seeing the whole desktop in the background to complete black. I always have it on complete black. I really like Pages too, actually. It has a lot of neat ready-made templates that work really well. Honestly, I just try to avoid using Word!
Yes! I totally love Scrivener and this is the first time I’ve used the index cards fully (I didn’t know there was a mode where you could move them around out of rows and columns like that — cool!). I also tend to have a folder under my main “work/draft” folder where I dump old scenes, scraps of paragraphs I might want to insert later, etc. And I used the notepad on the side to keep a tally of my daily goals and lists of notes I don’t want to forget. Every time I use Scrivener I find a new feature that I don’t know how I lived without!
And yes, there’s a way to set it to compile in the format you want. When you go to compile there are compilation options to the left of that pop-up window you can run through to set how you want it to export (one of them just says “compile as I have it formatted”). For some reason the spell check in Scrivener isn’t working for me 100% and so I still have to tweak formatting and run spell check after compiling.
Thanks for a great post on how to use Scrivener!
I’ve been using the beta for PC to write two novels now and while its a little buggy, it works great most of the time. I just always make sure I compile my progress every time I turn off my laptop, so that I have all the words I wrote if something goes wrong.
I know you can fade the desktop, but I could never find an option to turn the actual page to anything but white. Admittedly, I didn’t look all that hard.
Word is indeed the devil’s work.
I’ve toyed with Scrivener before, and I think I must be one of those rare writers that it just doesn’t work for. :/
Granted, this may be because the program is designed to be something where you work on your project in it from start to finish, and I was trying to use it to revise a full manuscript originally written in Word. Or maybe it’s just because I don’t think that way and would much rather reorganize my thoughts with physical drafts – binders and sticky-notes and such – than a digital copy.
One way or another, it just didn’t work for me. Sometimes it kinda makes me feel out-of-the-loop, like I’m the only person who didn’t quite get the point. ^.^; Ah well. To each their own.
It may be that it’s not right for you, but it may be that you haven’t grasped its full potential yet. I took a wonderful class from Gwen Hernandez (http://gwenhernandez.wordpress.com/) and learned I was only aware of about a third of what Scrivener could do for me. Importing and splitting a full WIP is a bit tedious but once done the scope of the program, from tracking changes to compiling, is phenomenal. I now use it for all my writing, to store essays in progress, book reviews, my journal, and the Big WIP. Check out her class. 25 lessons for $25 bucks. Can’t beat that.
Ah, I think I didn’t understand what you meant. You want to write on black background. Yeah, I don’t know if Pages can do that.
The fact that when I “delete” a scene, Scrivener just moves it into the “Deleted” folder has been a LIFESAVER. I should really create a work/draft folder so I can more proactively keep track of those things. I know what you mean about finding new things about it every time you use it!
I think Scrivener does require you to shift quite far in terms of how you think about writing. For some people that may be easier than for others. Like I said, I used it mostly as a glorified file directory for almost two years. To actually use it the way it’s supposed to be used, you’d have to unpack your entire manuscript, splitting it up into scenes, and that might just be too weird at first.
I get the need to be on paper, too. I’ve always revised on paper (though I draft on a computer). This was the first time I actually stopped using the printed-out manuscript entirely and went only with Scrivener. It was really strange!
Brilliant! Thanks for the post.
I just started using Scrivener for the first time (the Windows Beta version–not ready to commit to a Mac yet!) to revise my second novel, and I’ve been learning some of these same lessons myself. I started off using the corkboard, but haven’t been paying much attention to it as I wrote new scenes, moved them around, or cut them. I think the program might be most useful to me when I have a project that starts and ends in Scrivener, from writing through all the revisions.
I also had to struggle with the formatting on Compile, mostly because it was doing weird things with my chapter folder titles, so if you figure out how to get it to work, please let me know!
I started using Scrivener in December, and I love it, too! Such a boon to writers of all kinds–those who get distracted, those who love outlines, and those who love major folders of inspiration, research, and creation.
Woah….mind’s a little blown. I tried one of those “writer’s software” programs last year and spent more hours trying to figure it out than actually writing. I’m still not sold, but this post broke it down in a way that I’m actually drawn to!