Scrivener

Scrivener Tutorial Series

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If you didn’t already know, I post new videos every Friday on my new YouTube account: Marlena Frank, Author.

This week I started doing something I probably should have done a while ago, started a tutorial series on Scrivener. Now I’m not doing this series because I’m being paid to do it or anything, I just love the software so much that I want to share it with other authors! (This is something that you actually see quite often in Scrivener circles haha)

I’ve been working in IT for over 10 years, and I’ve been helping people figure out software for even longer than that. When you’re getting a degree in Computer Science, you tend to have people ask you how to do things with computers a lot. So I realized recently that I could share my love of Scrivener in a way that would help other people. I get to show off features and methods that I use and love, and then hopefully I get to hear how other people use those same features. Which is pretty darn amazing.

So here we have Part 1, giving a basic introduction to Scrivener and where to get it. I also briefly give an overview of the Binder and how I use it to store several books in my current book series.

I hope you enjoy it!


Curs and Semicolons

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Outline for Cloom’s Garden? Check.

  • I actually finished this on Saturday while waiting to get my car fixed. Three hours since I had to get new brakes put on. /sigh At least it was a productive three hours!

Start reviewing my final draft for Ghosts of Pikes Peak? Double check.

  • This draft is actually cleaner than I thought it would be. The opening especially I was nervous about, but after a little bit of cleanup it looks just fine. I’ll admit, I’m not used to going back to my work and actually approving of what I find. In fact I’m a little paranoid now that I missed something…

I had to give myself a few days off before I jumped into Ghosts. The writing styles are very different, and I wanted to approach my supernatural adventure tale with fresh eyes. I really do get a feel for how much bigger the world is in Cloom though. Looking at this piece now, it’s easy to see why I didn’t need an outline to get it finished.

By the way, I love the snapshot feature on Scrivener, which helps me keep the multiple draft versions straight. It only works on a per document level, so I have to remember to do it per scene, but it really does help if I ever need to roll anything back (or check out what I did on an old version!)

Some funny things I had to look up:

  • Semicolon rules. I was pretty sure I had this right, but dang it, I always second guess myself. Turns out I was right. If I hadn’t checked though, I would have remembered it wrong, right?
  • The definition of Cur. I always want to say it is spelled with two R’s. It just looks weird with one!

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Side Funny: Apparently it’s normal to call your new puppy a cur on a regular basis.

Not sure if I’ll have this done in time for Camp NaNo, but it’ll hopefully be close. Then I can devote some much-needed writing time to Cloom’s Garden. Woot!