The best Scrivener tip ever (maybe)

I get asked a lot about Scrivener these days and the question is no longer ‘What?’ More and more Mac-based writers are using this extraordinary piece of $40 software for their work. I’ve now got three books under my belt with it and I couldn’t imagine working with anything else

So let me offer up the Holy Grail. The Scrivener tip to end all tips. The one so good you’ll wonder you didn’t think of it yourself. The magical Unassigned Scenes folder.

You know what’s happening when you’re working on a book. It’s a mess of ideas, possibilities, doubts and dangers. There are standard techniques for dealing with this nightmare. Scrivener contains a good few itself. You can set up folders for research and locations,  documents for potential titles and timelines, index cards and outlines.

But you know what I think the biggest peril any author faces mid-book? It’s not losing stuff. It’s losing sight of it. How many times do you have a great idea, write it down somewhere and never pick it up again? Too many. We process our creative thoughts very badly. They’re often unsuited to formal so-called brain-storming processes. At least they are for me. Nothing wrong with that, either. We’re creating works of fiction here, not business plans.

Here’s a very common scenario. You’re partway through the book and you come up with an idea for a scene. A great idea. One you don’t want to lose. But it’s not the next scene in the book. In fact you really don’t know where such a scene is going to fit at all. The only thing you do know is it sounds a great idea and could, at some stage, move the story along. So what do you do? All too often you bury it in the project notes. and maybe pick it up later, when that bright spark of inspiration comes too late to affect the book.

Here’s my solution to this perennial problem. Create a folder in Scrivener called something like Unassigned Scenes. When you get these ‘that would be cool’ scene ideas jot them down there with some brief detail. From time to time you’ll find yourself straying there to see what’s on the ‘could do one day’ list. And somewhere along the way you’ll think — OK, now I know where to go.

What’s happening here? Something quite subtle. Narratives consist of bridges between the ‘islands’ that make up the string of events in your story. If you keep those potential islands stored in that one folder they will, when they bounce back into your head, at some stage prompt the construction of the bridge that makes them work. You’ve got something to write when you might otherwise be banging your head against the wall.

At least that’s the way this simple little folder works for me. I hope it does something for you too.

Comments

[Brad Bosshart]

Wow! Thanks for the tip! I just bought Scrivener for the Mac and have been itching to use it. Now, I have the tip BEFORE I start writing. And, I just started a "Novel ideas" Word doc today. I have an old, used Tungsten W that I carry on my belt. It doesn't work as a phone, but the keys and backlit screen are great for cramped bus rides into Pittsburgh, and I don't have to read my horrid handwriting!