There are several ways to write your novels. For most of my life I went about using the Chapter with scenes method of writing. This was because I had a manual Typewriter, and I wrote on the paper. When the first word processors began to be available, I still used this style with them. It wasn’t until I could assemble a large document from small documents that I changed to a style of my own. I’ll talk about this style after the break
What i am proposing is not that you throw out the Chapter system at all. Rather I want you to think of your story as a collection of scenes, as if you were playing out the movie of your story in your head. Each scene can then be completely mapped out. You know who are in the scene, and the goal is for each character in that scene. You get all the pre-think done, and then do the writing. I find that my characters are better behaved.
You can use the corkboard layout to move the scenes around. When you have all the scenes written out, then you can go through the entire book and see how it feels from beginning to end. Then you can assemble the chapters. With the final thing being the compilation of your book’s manuscript.
I began a few years to realize just how much of acting there is in writing fiction. This scene technique has worked wonders with my own writing. When I have a complicated plot, this technique helps with keeping the plots straight.
Another benefit to this scene based system is that I can see where I am lacking in the book. A character may suddenly appear and I need a scene to introduce that character.
The reason that Scrivener works so well with this system is that I do not have to put scenes into chapters until much later. This allows me to work on the scenes that interest me first. Then in Scrivener I can move things around, put scenes into some chapters and then move them out again. No more shuffling of papers and notecards.
To use the Scenes method you must put all your writing into Text objects. Add the text object to the Manuscript section. Don’t put the scenes inside any folders, as that is putting the scene into a chapter. Keep adding text documents, one for each scene, tot he manuscript. When you are ready to chapterize, then add folders. Drag the scenes into the folder. Order the chapters correctly, and then you are ready to compile the manuscript.
Don’t get caught up in creating chapters and then the scenes. Try writing all of the scenes first. Then organize them into chapters. You might find that you are missing some scenes, and ths method allows you to see those missing scenes.
Related posts:
{ 1 trackback }