Just downloaded Scrivener last night and I love it.
I was wondering if anyone had gotten any experience using a Scrivener Project to try to write a novel series vice a single project.
I know I could handle each book in the series as a separate project and establish some links but ideally it would all be together in one place so I could take advantage of Scrivener’s many great features for the whole series. For example, when writing a chapter in Book 6, I might want to look at the chapter in Book 1 where a specific character was first introduced.
I want to try this using directories and subdirectories under the main draft folder and then try to save it as a useful template but, before getting started, thought it would be a good idea to find out how others have handled this so I don’t do something stupid.
Check out this case study on the L&L website: Using Scrivener to Manage Serial Novels: with Monica McCarty. She describes a “series Bible” project that contains all the research, character sheets, etc. and a clean copy of each book as she completes it, imported as “research” for the following books. Of course she’s also got dual monitors so she can devote a screen to each project.
A sort of reverse option is to have one master project containing all the research, sketches, etc. which is also where you write, but then when when you’ve finished a book, move out that book to its own separate project just for backup purposes, leaving just what you need in the original project–maybe a clean compiled draft imported back in, so you can search it and reference what you’ve already written without getting bogged down in earlier edits, notes, etc. that are no longer relevant. That keeps all your material together, but by moving out each individual book you’ll reduce the bulk of the thing (meaning faster backups and less stuff filling up your binder) and it will be more like working on an individual book than a series–but with all your research already conveniently at hand.
Thank you so very much for your well-crafted and extremely helpful response.
I really liked the link and will try some of her ideas.
With regard to the handling of the manuscripts and the supporting info, I love your idea of how to do the setup and movement of files, so I’m going to give it a try. That approach makes a lot of sense to me and I’m so glad you offered the idea before I wasted time making dumb mistakes and then had to try to figure a way to make it right.
Now I am so excited about the massive undertaking of getting ALL MY STUFF transferred over to Scrivener. I’ve waited twenty years for software that could meet my needs and I think I’ve finally got it. Heck, maybe now I’ll be so organized I can finally write something worthy of publication.
Thank you for sharing your experience and wisdom to help me take these first steps.