Insecure Writers!
It is Insecure Writer’s Support Group time, and I’m at a loss about what insecurity to post about. Which, I suppose, is a good thing.
I’m in this calm place where I can write without hope and without despair (The phrase is borrowed from writer friend Zafar Anjum, my sentiments echo his). I’m okay to just write and become better, let consequences take care of themselves. No expectations, no shortcuts, no anguish.
What I’m struggling with instead is Scrivener. Blog friend Corinne Flynn was one of the first people to recommend it, and I’ve got myself a trial version. But I haven’t taken her advice, which was to patiently sit through the tutorial — so I’m struggling with the simplest of tasks, like compiling documents. About ready to give up.
Anyone else have a (good or bad) Scrivener story to share? Words of advice for a Scrivener noob?
I just started using scrivener myself. Watch the tutorials. You’ll be lost if you don’t. I just put a short story up on kindle with it and it did a great job converting the file. I’ve been so happy so far.
Good luck Damyanti, you’re a braver woman than I am. I haven’t tried it….yet
Xx
I absolutely love Scrivener! I actually wrote my IWSG post on it last month. (http://alsgeekbanter.blogspot.ca/2012/09/why-i-like-scrivener.html) My advice is to take your friend’s advice and go through the tutorial. I actually found it really interesting and learned everything about the functions from there. I don’t know if I would have been able to figure everything out without going through it.
It is a great program, but not easy. You have to do the tutorial. And then you will constantly look up issues as you continue to use it. I don’t even use it to its full potential. Keep at it.
Sorry, I haven’t tried that one yet. But sounds like your head’s in the right place for writing.
Like you, I’d probably jump in without watching tutorials and get completely lost. I have heard great things about Scrivener though so I imagine its worth working through. I hope to get myself organised and try it myself one day.
I can only repeat what everyone has said, watch the tutorial. I tried to figure it out on my own, but had to give in and do the tutorial. Since I learned to use it, I don’t want to organize my stories with anything else.
I really like Scrivener but I hate video tutorials…call me old school, I guess. I ordered the Scrivener for Dummies book from Amazon. I have stored a ton of research, character photos and notes, future book notes and 34 chapters of my current mystery WIP as well as my three chapter in romance WIP.
I used the Manuscript template to get started and I have compiled to text (single chapters for critiquing), to .mobi for a friend to read sample book and both .rft & .pdf for hubby to read my chapters up to date.
The biggest hint I was given to play with the levels to get it to list the chapters the way you want. My notes are on my other laptop, but once I played with it and tried compile to different formats, it made sense.
I love that program! But, I did watch the tutorials. I think they really help.
who perseveres wins, keep the faith and believe in yourself and you’re a great writer
You totally need to watch the tutorials. I started using Scrivener earlier this year, and when it came time to rearrange the order o some chapters, and some scenes within chapters, and then to add new scenes, it made the whole thing such a breeze. What would have taken probably hours of copying, pasting, cutting, and cross-checking in a Word document took literally ten minutes in Scrivener.
Scrivener is brilliant. Make sure you start with folders which will become chapters. Make sure you set your margins. Once you get through the compile feature step by step, you will find the program perfectly formats your document.
I’ve never tried Scrivener, but it certainly looks like a pretty useful tool for writing. I tend to do things the old fashioned way. Well, I do use Word instead of pen and paper, but that’s about as advanced as I get.
Booohooohoo. Thanks everyone. I need to go read the tutorials. There seem to be no shortcuts to Scrivener, and the payoff of sitting through hours of Tutorial seems worth the effort. Noted, sigh.
Yes. DO THE TUTORIAL! It is quite pleasant, and will unveil the ease of use. you will wonder that you couldn’t figure it all out before. I only use half the features – I love the ability to put my research in the file – like photos, pdf’s, even web links. There are character portfolios, etc. It’s great. Do the tutorial. Really.
Compiling is the only part of Scrivener that I’ve found to be a pain. The thing to remember is that Scrivener separates formatting from content—this is actually an advantage, when you have disparate outputs such as Word and eBook formats. I’ve used a lot of other writing tools that work like this, and Scrivener is easier than most to deal with.
Go through the manual, try different things until you’re happy with the output, then save the settings. You’ll get there.
I haven’t tried Scrivener yet but I plan to check it out. Thanks for the advice on litreactor too. I will check it out
I get it, Larry, Bettie. I NEED to do that tutorial — always knew Corinne was right
. Heather, you won’t be disappointed in litreactor.
I’ve been using it since the early beta versions of Windows (several years.) I highly recommend it. I apologize that I don’t have time to do a huge write-up and tut for you, but if you email me at the email address that I put on this reply (you should be able to see it since you admin the blog) I’d be more than happy to help you out with any questions you have, and even walk you through some things through screen sharing.
If for some reason you can’t see the email address, please, definitely let me know in a reply (or pop over to my website and fill out my contact form; I promise I’m not trying to promote; just a way to get in touch with me) and I will definitely find a way to get in touch with you!
Michelle Dear
eBookSwag Co-Founder and Owner
Thanks for posting this and everyone for commenting – I’ve been thinking about purchasing it for a couple of years – but I would have tried to work it out myself … now I know… watch the tutorials!
I just took an online course in Scrivener from Gwen Hernandez (the author of Scrivener for Dummies). It was GREAT! I highly recommend it for anyone interested in getting the most out of that software. Well worth my $30. (http://www.gwenhernandez.com/)
I have been collecting differnet story ideas on the corkboard. Recently I expanded a note by clicking on “scene” at the top of the corkboard and wrote a longer entry. But now when I go back to ‘corkboard’ view, I cannot see all the notes I have collected over the past months (just a blank corkboard). Can anyone help with getting back to the original corkboard view with all my notes?
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