Thank you, Andrea. You have helped me figure out how to use my Scrivener for outlining. I may get my novel rewritten this coming year after all! That's my goal for 2023. I want to publish it before I turn 67 in September. I hope I can do it.
Of course since your are a writing instructor it is no surprise that you are a great teacher. Not sure if you’re looking to do more instructional type videos on your channel in 2023 but this really feels like a zone of genius for you! Thanks again for sharing.
Aww thank you! I definitely have more educational/instructional videos planned for the year, it's just always a matter of filming them. The vlogs are easy because I film as I go, but these videos take more planning and set up. But I have so many ideas for videos!
I think most people criticising outlining don't realise that all outlining is discovery outlining - the discovery part of writing, coming up with the story, has just been moved, in part, to the front of noveling process. Your method is basically my zero draft (though I aim for 1,000-1,500 words per scene, not chapter). I do the same thing as you do where I copy and paste a bullet point list of scene outline to the actual manuscript when I'm about to write a scene, and I write above the list, removing list items as I go. It's really helpful for me, too! Thanks for sharing, this was a really interesting video!
Yes! I totally agree. It's nice to find someone who has a similar process. I'm basically writing a 20k word version of the whole book when I outline. But it still leaves so much room for discovering and changing things while I write. Thanks for watching!
I'm a "Discovery Writer" (I like that a lot better than the other term), but I think this will work great for me. The first thing I'm gonna do is get rid of all those folders with nested documents that I have in my Scrivener Binder. Your method and structure looks clean and simple, and I think it'll allow me to focus so much better with my binder being less complicated. Thanks so much.
Thanks for watching! I'm glad the video was helpful. I like Discovery Writer better than the other term too lol. :) I think this method works great for discovery writing because you can just do a shortened version and not develop it as much as I do. And yes, in Scrivener, I don't like using the folders and nested documents and splitting it up into a million scenes between all the folders. That's kind of what Scrivener's default is but I get rid of that as soon as I create a new project. This layout is much cleaner and easier to manage.
Oh gosh no, you're not weird at all for outlining! Lots of people outline. I think it's fairly evenly split, plotters versus discovery writers. So you're not alone! :)
Hi Andrea, in outlining, do you use the Save the Cat Beat Sheet or the Hero’s Journey? There are so many methods that it can become quite overwhelming. This is the first time that I can SEE with my own eyes how the outlining process works. Thank you so much for that. Although you write on Mac, it seems not that different from Windows. PS: Apart from subscribing, I have also gotten the first book of each of your series on Kindle and looking forward to reading them! Greetings from South Africa 🇿🇦📗📕
Oh wow, thank you! Glad to have you watching from South Africa and thank you for buying my books and subscribing! :) As for outlining, I don't use a specific plot structure. My plots probably resemble Save the Cat a little, I don't know because I haven't read that. But I know it's very popular with other writers and I feel like a lot of the books I read use that structure so I've probably internalized it and just add my own spin. And I really love this outlining method because it can be adapted no matter what structure you use and can definitely be done in whatever program you use on Windows. :)
@@AndreaJSeverson thank you so much for the hard work you are doing. I’m riveted to the screen. The only difference being that I use Scrivener for Windows. I also thought Save the Cat would work the best. Have an awesome day!🇿🇦
Yes, a little long but worth the time. I'm new to Scrivener, coming from a background of many Word files jumbled into folders. Your video gives me a clear starting point on how to use my new toy. Thanks.
Great video, the way I explain my detailed outlines to people is it is a coloring page and all I have to do is color in the lines. I have everything I need and I just need to fill in the fun bits.
Thank you so much Andrea for sharing this wonderful method of outlining. I've looked at other methods and found them far too involved (I'm more of a Pantser) but yours is just right. Keep up the good work 👍
Thank you so much for this concise video that helped me a lot seeing clearer into my different projects and also tame that wild beast called Scrivener !
Even those writers who claim to hate outlines are outlining, just calling it something else. Even if the heavens open up and drop a book into your consciousnesses entire, you're still going to have to break it down and organize it and that is, well, outlining. I think the outline feels so left-brain and so it's scorned, and yet even if you use a timeline or index cards or a scratchbook, or even reference points in our head, there is some form of the tool.
I love this video! I have Scrivener and I tend to get lost on how to use it. Your method seems the easiest for me as I'm a discovery writer. 😊I'm going to use this for my second book.
I hated doing outlines in school so I decided that I was a pantser. Out of school for about a decade now. I’m a plotter. I’m such a plotter. Outlining is a lot more fun than common core made it.
I'm so sorry for taking so long to reply! I feel like school does such a horrible job of teaching outlines. I teach writing at a university and most of my students hate outlines because of how they learned them in high school. I always try to get them to understand there are so many ways to outline and most of them are way more fun than they think. Glad you realized that you're a plotter. Being a pantser/discovery writer is fine, if that's what someone actually is. But trying to be a pantser when you're really a plotter is so hard.
I don't really outline my series. Since they're all interconnected stand alones, I just have a few sentences of description for each book in the series. :)
Thank you so much for this video ❤ I’m just a daydreamer who’s finally putting my dreams and stories on paper and this has been so helpful with understanding the process more and what could set me up for success when I start writing. Do you have any tips for when you face the struggle of finding motivation to write on those bad writing days?
I'm so glad this video was helpful! I love that you're starting to write. I think when it comes to motivation, remember that writing should be fun. So if you're really not in the mood to write, don't force it. But I still try to sit down and write for at least 10 minutes. Sometimes I feel better than I expect and write for longer, other times I realize it really isn't going to work that day. But every day I at least try. :)
I'm pretty sure I show that in both my other Scrivener videos, if my explanation here isn't clear enough. But basically, on the top menu go to "Project" in the top menu bar and then click "Show Project Targets" (if you're on a Mac you can also press Shift+Command+T, not sure what the hotkeys on a PC are). This then pulls up a separate box where you can set your target goal and if you click "Options" in that box you can select a deadline and other things. My other videos go into more detail on that feature. When you're writing, you can leave that box open while you write to see your progress in the writing session or it will display in the box at the center top of the window. Hope this helps!
@@AndreaJSeverson I think I was able to follow your instructions. However, the days of the week are “grayed out” and not letting me select which days I intend to write. Have I clicked on a wrong option? I feel that without selecting the writing days, the daily required word count to meet my deadline will be inaccurate. Any help is appreciated. I am writing on a MacBook Air.
Yes, once I have the manuscript outlined in all the sections I create in scrivener, I compile the outline and save that document (so I always have a copy of my original outline) and then I write over the outline as I write the first draft. Thanks for watching!
I have scenes in my books but I don't use individual sections of Scrivener for each scene. A chapter will just have all the scenes put together. But when I'm outlining, I'll do about a paragraph description in each chapter section for each scene, so when I come back to start writing, I know which part of my outline is for a different scene in each chapter. Hope that makes sense?
@ this Video was really helpful, I started a new scrivener doc with your settings and will start moving everything I already wrote for the new document by chapters. Because I wrote everything in scenes (only) and now I have difficulty knowing how to divide them into chapters… I already understood why it is better to write by chapters 😅 but you have more than one scene in the chapters right? How do you divide them so the reader knows it is a new scene? I am using the * symbol. How do you do it? Not sure if just a * is enough 🙈 I find your way of doing this because only by scenes was making me crazy 😂 it was too much
I use three *** in a row on a separate line to indicate scene breaks. I can have 1-4 scenes in a chapter depending on length. I try not to let a chapter get too long and try to keep them between 3000-5000 words. Every now and then there will be a chapter that just has one long scene. Scenes that don't have a strong, "omg what happens next" kind of ending work well as being part of a chapter but if there's a scene that has that feeling of "I have to know what happens next" I like those to be the end of a chapter, so the reader feels compelled to start the next chapter right away. It doesn't always work out that way, but I try to work it out like that every 3-4 chapters. Also, when you're writing, don't stress too much about scenes versus chapters. That's something you can refine when you start editing.
Shocking to me that none of these programs will do the chapter numbering for you. And you decide to delete a chapter, good news, you can go change all the other numbers BY HAND! What year is this 2024? Feels like this features should have been implemented in 1984.
Yeah, that would be a nice feature. But on the other hand, as more and more products are incorporating AI into their software, I'm glad Scrivener is still pretty "old school".
Thank you, Andrea. You have helped me figure out how to use my Scrivener for outlining. I may get my novel rewritten this coming year after all! That's my goal for 2023. I want to publish it before I turn 67 in September. I hope I can do it.
You can do it! Just work on it a little each day. Small steps lead to big progress. :) Thanks for watching Linda.
Best advice for a new Scrivener user, Thanks!!
Glad it was helpful!
Of course since your are a writing instructor it is no surprise that you are a great teacher. Not sure if you’re looking to do more instructional type videos on your channel in 2023 but this really feels like a zone of genius for you! Thanks again for sharing.
Aww thank you! I definitely have more educational/instructional videos planned for the year, it's just always a matter of filming them. The vlogs are easy because I film as I go, but these videos take more planning and set up. But I have so many ideas for videos!
I think most people criticising outlining don't realise that all outlining is discovery outlining - the discovery part of writing, coming up with the story, has just been moved, in part, to the front of noveling process. Your method is basically my zero draft (though I aim for 1,000-1,500 words per scene, not chapter). I do the same thing as you do where I copy and paste a bullet point list of scene outline to the actual manuscript when I'm about to write a scene, and I write above the list, removing list items as I go. It's really helpful for me, too!
Thanks for sharing, this was a really interesting video!
Yes! I totally agree. It's nice to find someone who has a similar process. I'm basically writing a 20k word version of the whole book when I outline. But it still leaves so much room for discovering and changing things while I write. Thanks for watching!
I'm a "Discovery Writer" (I like that a lot better than the other term), but I think this will work great for me. The first thing I'm gonna do is get rid of all those folders with nested documents that I have in my Scrivener Binder. Your method and structure looks clean and simple, and I think it'll allow me to focus so much better with my binder being less complicated. Thanks so much.
Thanks for watching! I'm glad the video was helpful. I like Discovery Writer better than the other term too lol. :) I think this method works great for discovery writing because you can just do a shortened version and not develop it as much as I do. And yes, in Scrivener, I don't like using the folders and nested documents and splitting it up into a million scenes between all the folders. That's kind of what Scrivener's default is but I get rid of that as soon as I create a new project. This layout is much cleaner and easier to manage.
I always thought I was weird for doing outline via discovery writing. 😅 Thank you!
Oh gosh no, you're not weird at all for outlining! Lots of people outline. I think it's fairly evenly split, plotters versus discovery writers. So you're not alone! :)
This was so helpful and approachable. Thank you!
Thank you Brittany! I'm glad it was helpful. :)
Hi Andrea, in outlining, do you use the Save the Cat Beat Sheet or the Hero’s Journey? There are so many methods that it can become quite overwhelming. This is the first time that I can SEE with my own eyes how the outlining process works. Thank you so much for that. Although you write on Mac, it seems not that different from Windows.
PS: Apart from subscribing, I have also gotten the first book of each of your series on Kindle and looking forward to reading them!
Greetings from South Africa 🇿🇦📗📕
Oh wow, thank you! Glad to have you watching from South Africa and thank you for buying my books and subscribing! :) As for outlining, I don't use a specific plot structure. My plots probably resemble Save the Cat a little, I don't know because I haven't read that. But I know it's very popular with other writers and I feel like a lot of the books I read use that structure so I've probably internalized it and just add my own spin. And I really love this outlining method because it can be adapted no matter what structure you use and can definitely be done in whatever program you use on Windows. :)
@@AndreaJSeverson thank you so much for the hard work you are doing. I’m riveted to the screen. The only difference being that I use Scrivener for Windows. I also thought Save the Cat would work the best. Have an awesome day!🇿🇦
Yes, a little long but worth the time. I'm new to Scrivener, coming from a background of many Word files jumbled into folders. Your video gives me a clear starting point on how to use my new toy. Thanks.
I'm incapable of short videos, but I'm glad this was helpful and you stuck with it.
thanks. I really enjoy watch your videos . one thing I hope could you make a list for how use scrivener . there are many lists but not for it.
Thanks for watching! I'll try to create a playlist for all of my Scrivener videos.
@@AndreaJSeverson thanks so much! Dear author. :)
Great video, the way I explain my detailed outlines to people is it is a coloring page and all I have to do is color in the lines. I have everything I need and I just need to fill in the fun bits.
That's a great way of describing outlines!
Thank you so much Andrea for sharing this wonderful method of outlining. I've looked at other methods and found them far too involved (I'm more of a Pantser) but yours is just right. Keep up the good work 👍
Thank you! I'm so glad it was helpful. I love this method because it's so flexible, so it can be useful for plotters and pantsers. :)
My favorite outlining video. Love your method and will use it for my book! Thanks!
Thank you! I'm so glad it was helpful! I love this method and it's worked so well for me. Good luck with your book!
Thank you so much for this concise video that helped me a lot seeing clearer into my different projects and also tame that wild beast called Scrivener !
Thanks for watching!
Even those writers who claim to hate outlines are outlining, just calling it something else. Even if the heavens open up and drop a book into your consciousnesses entire, you're still going to have to break it down and organize it and that is, well, outlining. I think the outline feels so left-brain and so it's scorned, and yet even if you use a timeline or index cards or a scratchbook, or even reference points in our head, there is some form of the tool.
Yeah, I totally agree. I think there's more outlining in discovery writing than discovery writers want to admit lol. Thanks for watching!
I love the term discovery writer!! I’m not a plotter but didn’t really identify with “pantser” so this feels so much better!
I've never liked the term pantser lol. Discovery writer is way better. :)
I love this video! I have Scrivener and I tend to get lost on how to use it. Your method seems the easiest for me as I'm a discovery writer. 😊I'm going to use this for my second book.
Thanks for watching! I'm glad it was helpful. I think this would be a great method for discovery writers. Good luck with your second book!
This video is jam-packed with great ideas! Thank you!
You're so welcome! Thanks for watching! I'm so glad it was helpful. :)
Thank you so much for making this. Very helpful.
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
Thank you that was really well presented. Your effort is much appreciated! Thanks for the creative ideas.
Thank you so much! I'm glad it was helpful. :)
Very interesting and somewhat similar to how I outline. I really enjoyed this video. I love seeing other writers' processes.
I love seeing other writers' processes too. I'm glad you enjoyed this video! :)
So helpful! Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Thanks Andrea, really useful. X
Thanks for watching Emma! Glad it was helpful. :)
Scrivner Viking !!! Very powerful workflow ! Thanks... ~Liked, Subd
Thanks for watching!
Thanks, Very helpful
Thanks for watching! I’m glad it helped.
I hated doing outlines in school so I decided that I was a pantser. Out of school for about a decade now. I’m a plotter. I’m such a plotter. Outlining is a lot more fun than common core made it.
I'm so sorry for taking so long to reply! I feel like school does such a horrible job of teaching outlines. I teach writing at a university and most of my students hate outlines because of how they learned them in high school. I always try to get them to understand there are so many ways to outline and most of them are way more fun than they think. Glad you realized that you're a plotter. Being a pantser/discovery writer is fine, if that's what someone actually is. But trying to be a pantser when you're really a plotter is so hard.
really enjoy your videos thank you
Thanks for watching Erik!
Please can you show us a detailed version of how you do your series outline??
I don't really outline my series. Since they're all interconnected stand alones, I just have a few sentences of description for each book in the series. :)
Thank you so much for this video ❤ I’m just a daydreamer who’s finally putting my dreams and stories on paper and this has been so helpful with understanding the process more and what could set me up for success when I start writing. Do you have any tips for when you face the struggle of finding motivation to write on those bad writing days?
I'm so glad this video was helpful! I love that you're starting to write. I think when it comes to motivation, remember that writing should be fun. So if you're really not in the mood to write, don't force it. But I still try to sit down and write for at least 10 minutes. Sometimes I feel better than I expect and write for longer, other times I realize it really isn't going to work that day. But every day I at least try. :)
I love this method!!!
Yay! I hope it helps if you try it!
In Scrivener, how can I set a total page count goal for the entire book, and then where/how do I see that as I progress each day?
I'm pretty sure I show that in both my other Scrivener videos, if my explanation here isn't clear enough. But basically, on the top menu go to "Project" in the top menu bar and then click "Show Project Targets" (if you're on a Mac you can also press Shift+Command+T, not sure what the hotkeys on a PC are). This then pulls up a separate box where you can set your target goal and if you click "Options" in that box you can select a deadline and other things. My other videos go into more detail on that feature. When you're writing, you can leave that box open while you write to see your progress in the writing session or it will display in the box at the center top of the window. Hope this helps!
@@AndreaJSeverson I think I was able to follow your instructions. However, the days of the week are “grayed out” and not letting me select which days I intend to write. Have I clicked on a wrong option? I feel that without selecting the writing days, the daily required word count to meet my deadline will be inaccurate. Any help is appreciated. I am writing on a MacBook Air.
Thank you for this
Thanks for watching!
Is the manuscript the same as your rough draft?
Yes, once I have the manuscript outlined in all the sections I create in scrivener, I compile the outline and save that document (so I always have a copy of my original outline) and then I write over the outline as I write the first draft. Thanks for watching!
Do you use scenes?
I have scenes in my books but I don't use individual sections of Scrivener for each scene. A chapter will just have all the scenes put together. But when I'm outlining, I'll do about a paragraph description in each chapter section for each scene, so when I come back to start writing, I know which part of my outline is for a different scene in each chapter. Hope that makes sense?
@ this Video was really helpful, I started a new scrivener doc with your settings and will start moving everything I already wrote for the new document by chapters. Because I wrote everything in scenes (only) and now I have difficulty knowing how to divide them into chapters… I already understood why it is better to write by chapters 😅 but you have more than one scene in the chapters right? How do you divide them so the reader knows it is a new scene? I am using the * symbol. How do you do it? Not sure if just a * is enough 🙈 I find your way of doing this because only by scenes was making me crazy 😂 it was too much
I use three *** in a row on a separate line to indicate scene breaks. I can have 1-4 scenes in a chapter depending on length. I try not to let a chapter get too long and try to keep them between 3000-5000 words. Every now and then there will be a chapter that just has one long scene. Scenes that don't have a strong, "omg what happens next" kind of ending work well as being part of a chapter but if there's a scene that has that feeling of "I have to know what happens next" I like those to be the end of a chapter, so the reader feels compelled to start the next chapter right away. It doesn't always work out that way, but I try to work it out like that every 3-4 chapters. Also, when you're writing, don't stress too much about scenes versus chapters. That's something you can refine when you start editing.
@@AndreaJSeverson Thanks! a video about this would also be great :D
I love discovery writing and don't like the word pantser very much. I like a more simple way of doing things and organizing.
Discovery writer is a much better term than pantser. :) Thanks for watching!
very clon to how i do is but get 1k but I notecat
Thanks for watching! :)
Shocking to me that none of these programs will do the chapter numbering for you. And you decide to delete a chapter, good news, you can go change all the other numbers BY HAND! What year is this 2024? Feels like this features should have been implemented in 1984.
Yeah, that would be a nice feature. But on the other hand, as more and more products are incorporating AI into their software, I'm glad Scrivener is still pretty "old school".
@@AndreaJSeverson That's not a feature that needs AI, it just needs a line or two of regular 'old fashioned' code.