Monday, May 28, 2012

Scrivener--Now I Understand!

Scrivener is amazing! I know you've heard that from a lot of writers. Add me to the list. I've blogged about it before--Scrivener! By Golly!--but that was before I really got the hang of some of the best bells and whistles. I first got the program in November 2011, but a dead computer in February delayed me. It's only now that I've had time to experiment and learn what it can do.

Like:


There's nothing like finding the perfect face for a character. Especially if--like me--you aren't very visually oriented.

Here's another one--a photo of a young Samantha beside the first time she appears in the story:



Or this one:



I drew this map after visiting Cartersville, Georgia. It's so close to Cherry Hill, I had to draw the map of it for the files. Without Scrivener, it would just be another piece of paper floating around my study. And who needs that! ; )

So, you can see, I'm enjoying myself even if my forward progress is a bit slow. ; )

How about you? Do you use Scrivener? What's you favorite tool?




13 comments:

  1. OMG Zan! This is amazing! Really need to dedicate some time to this! Thanks for an awesome post!

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    1. Thanks, Arnel! It took a lot of time and a bit of trial and error, but it's worth it. The screen shots were a hard thing, too. Thank goodness for the Forum and all the amazing techies over there. ; )

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  2. Wow, Zan, you're using lots of features I haven't even gotten close to yet. I really want to use the reference feature for the biography and historical stories, but haven't figured it out yet.

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    1. Erika,
      I just started new doc under References and added things I had all over my Document's folder. I haven't tried links to websites yet. ; )

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  3. Dominic,
    You've got a great idea there! Now to finish that book and get it published... ; )

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  4. I love scrivener but I mostly use the word processor. I like that I can put notes next to scenes, or have a split screen and have two scenes up at a time so I can coordinate between them.

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    1. Sara,
      Split screen is what I used to put Samantha's image by scene one. I've also used it to easily copy bits from one document to another. It's really useful, isn't it?

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  5. Great post, Zan Marie.
    Count me as another big fan of Scrivener :)!

    I love the Scrivener links option, where you can link documents to documents.
    Since I write non-fiction, I use that all the time.

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    Replies
    1. Good to know, Sarah. I know I'm just scratching the surface so far.

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  6. Love that notebook screen shot - I definitely need to do that with all my scribbles and jottings. I love everything about Scrivener!

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    1. You should have seen me...er...heard me the day I figured that out! ; ) John got a good show of enthusiasm. I think I'm just now getting the hang of how to really use Scrivener.

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  7. I'm still not totally convinced, but I love that screen shot. Hmmm...you may yet get me on it.

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    1. I wasn't convinced for a long time either. I should post a screen shot of the clipboard. I can move scenes at will, anywhere, and they change place in the overall document. It's amazing!

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