ruined by evil ppl 
ruined by evil ppl
As a scratchpad to keep track of things I need to read/do for a particular project. More flexible than a simple To Do list because I can visually cluster related items together.
As a visual outline for a work in progress. Like Scrivener’s corkboard, but more flexible, and without the connection between “notes” and Binder documents that exists in Scrivener.
I’ve attached an example of each. Note that I make very little use of connectors, colors, or other Scapple “enhancements.” That’s deliberate: the boards are tools, not goals in themselves, so I don’t do much tweaking beyond moving stuff around. (That’s also why I like Scapple, rather than “real” mind map software.)
Katherine
Reliability scratchpad.scap (14.5 KB)
SynapsesToSystems.scap (34.3 KB)
For me, the single most useful features of Scrivener are the Split, Merge, and Move functions.
Katherine
what do they help you with tho?
Helpful doing what? Write a film script? Write a short story? Write a dissertation? Handle research? Keeping track of characters and locations? Self-publish a novel?
What is it you want to do? What can’t you figure out how to do?
To expand on matsgz’s questions: If you can articulate what you’re trying to keep track of, we can advise you with regards to what features are the best fit. An example would be: “I have trouble keeping up with minor characters and where they appear in my story, sub-plot progression, and the locations visited or mentioned in my story. When I edit, I want to keep track of the various stages of revision (where each chapter is in that process). What Scrivener features would you recommend for each of these issues, and how would you implement those features?”
I would second Katherine’s points above. Scrivener shines when organizing large complex documents, and those functions are at the heart of those capabilities.
someone mentions the most helpful use is:
sectioning
- separate sections/pieces of info
ok great! that’s a great example
im sure this has been asked many times already, so is there a forum link to examples? or somewhere on the web?
like how? what examples? how do you they help you exactly?
yea that’s great, that’s why i had downloaded scapple a long time ago
but why do you want to visually group things tho?
like how does that help you?
For me, the most helpful capability of Scrivener is also perhaps its most fundamental: “chunking”*. “Chunking” in this context (it has a somewhat similar meaning in the context of psychological theory) I understand to be the capability of easily and straightforwardly enabling the splitting of written long-form pieces into smaller pieces, so that the pieces can be re-combined in new ways that create clearer, more dramatic, more interesting or otherwise better experiences for the reader. There are numerous features of Scrivener which support this process; kewms above has listed a few.
Before Scrivener, I used scissors and staples, glue or sticky tape to “chunk” up typescripts and re-combine the bits in attempts to make them better. Now I use Scrivener. As far as I’m concerned, “chunking” is Scrivener’s primary USP.
*I think I read the word “chunking” first used in this context by the journalist James Fallows (whose work I admire) of The Atlantic magazine. But my memory could be mistaken.
This blog post is a good example of using keywords to track characters. It’s equally effective at tracking the presence of anything else that might move around (like the murder weapon in a ‘cozy’ mystery).
pigfender.com/index.php/2013 … -keywords/
I’ve experimented with custom metadata for sub-plots. Create one custom metadata field per subplot that you’re trying to track (romance and friendship sub-plots are prime examples of dynamic story threads). In each field, summarize how that subplot progresses in any given chapter/scene. Leave it blank if it’s not featured at all. In version 3 of Scrivener, you can add individual custom metadata fields to the outline view, so you can get a nice overview.
The “status” (built-in metadata) is good for keeping up the the stage of edits for each document, so you can tell what’s left to work on.
The “label” built-in metadata field is good for tracking which location is featured in the scene/chapter. Or you can use more keywords.
Labels can alternately be used to track multiple PoVs if you prefer. Color coding from View->Use Label Color In menu makes the decision on what to use Labels for a bit of a conundrum… which thing is the most important to make that visible?.
How you use each feature is not set in stone however. There are often several ways to accomplish the same task, using a different feature. So your best bet is to start googling "Using Scrivener Keywords to " and see what pops up, or come to the forums with “I’m trying to to X… how do you folks do it?”
Scapple helps me group (Chunk) my thoughts, brainstorm, and free write pieces that will then go into the Scriv. Project I’m using. It also helps with seeing relationships between ideas.
Because that’s the way my brain works, basically.
This is kind of a “how long is a piece of string” question. If clustering works with your mental process, Scapple will feel somewhat intuitive. If not, it won’t.
Katherine
do you have any specific examples of what you mean, it’s very vague, could you it put it on the scrapple post –
I get the impression that the questions in the two threads by this person are not about how to use Scrivener or Scapple to help him/her write the next Great [insert Nationality here] Novel, but rather to trawl for ideas for an app s/he plans to develop or is in the process of developing.
As such, no input from me!
EDIT: I wrote that before I saw that the OP has basically spammed the forum with another lot of vague questions etc. Trawling! I remain even more suspicious.
You keep asking for examples in lots of threads. What are you after, what is it you want? If you want ideas about how to use Scrivener, buy a book! Or watch a bunch of tutorial videos!
Or tell us shat it is you are trying to do. Your questions and trawling for information is what is really vague…
I don’t. To me he/she sounds more like a rather young users, thinking there is a ”best way” to do things in life. A belief most of us more elderly users have long since let go of. Life just IS.