Over the last two years, I did a series of posts about how I brainstormed and outlined my WIP. Meanwhile, I’ve been working on a second draft for said WIP and I thought it might be nice to show you how I set up my Scrivener file for writing these drafts! You can find the first post in this new series here.
In this second post, I will be talking about how I organize my manuscript in Scrivener!
Starting a New Project
Whenever you start a new project in Scrivener, you have the option of using one of the many project templates that come with the software. I always select the so-called “novel format” and set up my binder so that it contains the following elements:
- My manuscript folder
- My story’s character profiles
- A folder with the descriptions of my story’s most important settings
- A folder for all things Story World
- My notes folder
- My research folder
- My trash folder (which is standard for all Scrivener files)
As I mentioned in my previous post, the Scrivener “binder” is one of the reasons I love Scrivener, since the sidebar allows me to organize all my WIP materials in one place and according to my personal preferences. This helps me keep my momentum while drafting and revising; I don’t have to leave my Scrivener file to look up a specific detail about a character or a place. Instead, I can quickly navigate to the designated folder and find what I’m looking for, then dive straight back into my manuscript.
Manuscript folder
I use my manuscript folder as a tool to organize my story structure while drafting/revising. I create a sub-folder for every beat in my “Save the Cat” beat sheet. Each beat represents a certain plot point in my story and must happen at a certain percentage of the total word count (roughly).
Then, depending on whether a beat consists of one or multiple scenes, I add one or more chapters to each sub-folder. For multi-scene beats, I don’t know how many chapters I will need until I’ve completed multiple drafts. So, as I set up my manuscript folder, I make a guesstimate of the number of chapters I’ll need and then I adjust once I start drafting. I usually try to end up with 40 chapters: my word count sweet spot for a YA fantasy novel is approx. 95,000 words. My chapters usually end up between 2,000 and 3,000 words.
Scrivener helps me keep track of my beats: do I have all the beats, and do I have them in the right place in the story based on my word count? Should I move them forward or backward?
Synopsis
For each beat, I will add a synopsis of one or two sentences. Once I know what happens in a chapter, I will also add a chapter synopsis. Throughout drafting, the synopses serve as my guides within the beats and chapters, so I can keep track of what needs to happen, and I know what I’m working towards as I draft. Of course, the synopses can change once I start drafting/revising.
Notes
Right below the synopsis field, Scrivener offers a “notes” field. As I set up my Scrivener file, I use this field to write down the important elements of my story beats. For example, for the “opening image” I will add that this beat is the introduction to the story world, establishes the main character, and includes the first them the story’s theme is stated.
Once I start revising, I will use the notes field to add any revision notes I may have.
Labels
All chapters in Scrivener come with colored labels. For my current WIP, I customized these labels to reflect the fact that my story has five points of view: I gave each label a character’s name and assigned them a color that fits their personality. Then, each chapter receives a label based on the point of view in which it must be written.
This way, I always have a visual marker that reminds me which POV I’m writing—this prevents me from drifting between POVs.
I can also use the labels to sort through my chapters, and to get a bird’s eye view of the different POVs: are they divided across my chapters in an equal manner, or is one POV dominating the others? Am I consistently switching between POVs, or do I stick with one POV for too many chapters?
Status
At the bottom of my Scrivener file is a “status” indicator with which I can track each chapter’s progress: first draft, second draft, etc. Scrivener has predefined status indicators, but you can also customize them to your preferences. I usually start with “draft 0” and then move to a “structural revision” and “draft 2”.
I hope you found this helpful! In my next post, I will be writing about my use of the Scrivener’s character profiles! Stay tuned 😉