Using Scrivener for Windows recently, I used the Scrivenings mode. There is a bug where page-down and page-up do not work like you’d expect them to in a word processor. The arrow keys work fine, and that was my workaround. Find/replace was complicated to figure out, so I’ll explain. In Scrivenings mode, if your cursor is in a text […]
Scrivenings Mode ~ A Few Tips Read More »
Recently I brainstormed a new novel specifically using GMC (goal, motivation, and conflict). I won’t go over GMC here because Debra Dixon’s GMC book is simply perfect. I will clarify a few key points though that helped when I plotted my latest novel: Goal: should be very obvious to the reader Motivation: must be larger
Goal, Motivation, and Conflict Read More »
Donald Maass states in his Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook that “A turning point in a story is the point at which things change.” Susan May Warren refers to this change in her Deep and Wide craft book as a series of disappointments (actually, each D gets more dire: disappointment, disaster, destruction, devastation.) So, turning
Crafting Turning Points or Disasters Read More »
There are three main views within Scrivener that relate to planning and story organization: One view is the Manuscript View. In the Binder it represents the overall book/part/chapter/scene organization your work follows. By creating a parent/child structure the binder really gives you a nice high level outline view of your work. More on the structure
Three Views Within Scrivener Read More »
Scrivener has so many tools you can use to organize your writing life! Here are just a few that tripped me up when I first began using Scrivener: On the right hand side is the “inspector window”. It is only visible if you click on the encircled “i” in the upper right corner of the
Basic Scrivener Information for the Windows Platform Read More »
Sometimes, I have no idea where to start a scene. Don’t let that stop you from writing the scene! Don’t forget the seat-in-the-chair rule 🙂 I usually put a comment at the beginning of the scene, giving myself ideas about where to start. Then I plunge into the scene ~ just write. By the time
Where to Start a Scene? Read More »
Emotions are the key to connecting the reader with your story. Ask yourself why the character feels this way. Then expand all description you already have. To go deeper, ask yourself how does your character FEEL about what just happened? Now go back and remove all words that convey emotion by telling (like
Layer Emotion into Scenes Read More »
How do you immerse the reader into your scene? Make them feel they are there with the character? By adding the right amount of descriptions, emotions, and inner thoughts to your already solid scene. Edit your scene. Highlight all descriptive phrases and sentences in a color. Highlight all emotions in another color. Inner thoughts get
Immerse the reader into the scene Read More »
Remember when you started writing and you used exclamation points all over the place? Then one day a wiser writer explained that exclamation points should be used minimally, very minimally. Same thing with a few other symbols, like ellipses, semicolon, colon and emdash. (Note, The Chicago Manual of Sytle is the prevalent reference, but not
Don’t overuse symbols in your novel Read More »
Many are more experienced that I, so here is a quick tip that I used recently when making final editing revisions on a manuscript. One of the last things to do in editing is to highlight weasel words, passive voice (was/were), general weak verbs, tighten your prose words, and general words that you tend to
Final revision editing Read More »