Organization
How I keep It all Together
One thing I used to struggle with when I first started writing was how to keep track of everything. Character names, identities, traits and a host of other random info quickly became overwhelming. Ditto for storylines, scene transitions, and a host of other essential information. I needed a system to track things. I tried a few note-taking apps, spreadsheets, and even a database. They all had good and bad points. The main thing being roadblocks to access them, I had to go out of the writing environment, launch the app, and then hope I remembered what info I was looking for. If only I could find an app that allowed me to write and refer to notes seamlessly without leaving the writing environment. It turned out that such an app existed, and I found it by pure accident. But more on that later. For now, let me break down the three areas I needed to keep in the forefront.
One | Character Stats
Even while writing my first novel, not knowing anything about the process, I identified the need for a standard character sheet. It would be something I could refer to as needed and would hold all the pertinent data applicable to all characters. But going beyond the basics, I also wanted to document things like temperament, education level, city and/or country of origin, and social leanings, to name a few. Why? Because I envisioned reusing characters in multiple novels. Having as much information as possible in one location would save tons of time as opposed to having to go back through each book and dig out the info.
Two | Storylines
Sometimes, I wanted to repeat storylines across novels. I know! It seems sort of counter-productive and maybe even asking for trouble, but I had reasons in the past to do so and as long as I kept things true to the original, I made it work. But it required a thorough understanding of the original context. So having detailed information about the subject readily available was crucial.
Three | Environmental Settings
When I think of using a character in multiple novels, it is important to remember the setting of the original work. For instance, I couldn’t have a character born and raised in one city/country in the first novel, and then have that same character born and raised some place else in the next. Again, having that information readily available was crucial.
Once I refined the type of data I needed easy access to, the next phase was finding software that would allow me to keep this information at my fingertips. As mentioned above, I tried a few different apps, but they all required me to go outside the writing environment, causing me to lose my concentration. And then, one day during my search for the perfect app, I came across Scrivener by Literature & Latte, and it tuned out to be the mother of all game changers.
If you’ve read any of my other posts, you’ve, no doubt, come across me raving about this app. It truly is an amazing piece of writing environment brilliance. The question has never been, “What can it do for me?” But, “What does this sucker not do?” It was the perfect writing environment. It not only provided a decent editor, but addressed all three of the areas I needed help with, all contained within the same app. I never needed to leave the writing environment, allowing me to stay focused on my project.
So what did this little gem offer that none of the others did? Everything.
Customizable character sheets? Check.
It allowed me to do exactly what I wanted with the character sheets, and I could cater it to each novel I worked on all within the space created for the novel I was working on
Visualizing Story Lines? Check.
Scrivener allowed me to look at storylines from multiple views.
Outline - helped me plan and rearrange ideas on the fly
The Binder - allowed me to create folders representing chapters and documents within those folders representing scenes.
Corkboard - it gave me a virtual corkboard to view and rearrange scenes in a corkboard setting when I wanted/needed to.
Timelines - I could create timelines to keep track of data like I mentioned above.
Templates - Allowed me to create the character settings as mentioned earlier to keep track of all the pertinent character info that I could easily refer to if I used a character in another novel.
Environmental Settings? Check.
I could create templates to hold any random info I could think of to make life easier for to reference at will.
Scene settings - yes, that creepy wooded area in book one. Documented. The chase scene from two books ago. Got it. The functionality seemed endless.
Unique character settings - yep, the lady that had rainbow colored hair from a previous novel. I could easily lookup who that was. That creepy guy who had a thing for falling asleep on train tracks. Got him.
Templates allowed me to let my imagination run wild while giving me the ability to quickly and easily refer to a character, scene, or any other random information I needed. They allowed me to do this regardless of what book I was working on. Everything, every book, is contained within the Scrivener environment.
Sounds like the perfect setup, right? Were there any downsides? Well, unfortunately, yes, but none were deal-breakers. There were two areas that came with a bit of a learning curve. Scrivener, for all its wonderfulness, is a behemoth of a program. As a writer, you’d be hard-pressed to find something it did not address to make your writing life more manageable. But with such functionality comes a few gotchas.
One | The Compile Process
The way Scrivener works to get your raw data into a completed manuscript is through its compile process. It is an involved process that takes all your folders, or chapters, and merges all the documents, or scenes, within it. There are multiple settings to tweak to get the completed document looking the way you want it. It’s a little “old school” by today’s standards, but it works. The good news is that once you get it tweaked to your liking, you technically never have to touch it again.
Two | Page Formatting
As much as I love this program. And as perfect as I think it is, the page formatting options seem like a bit of an afterthought. Don’t get me wrong. It’ll get the job done, but it’s probably the least elegant thing about the program, while also the most annoying. I took the default options in my first two novels. The results were so basic as to look amateurish. After that, I searched for other programs that better handled the page layout and formatting. See previous blog posts for examples of what I found.
The Recap
Scrivener has been around for almost 18 years. I’ve been using it for most of that time. While I no longer use it for writing novels, I use it daily as a container for shorter works, such as blog posts, novel synopses, blurbs, and first drafts of short stories. I also use it for miscellaneous website and newsletter updates. I find it invaluable as a container for all the random information I gather related to a multitude of ongoing projects.
Scrivener from Literature and Latte: Check it out here.
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