Don't forget the poets!

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
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I just began using Scrivener and feel a bit like a religious convert. My life is suddenly so much easier when it comes to organizing my works in progress, my collections and even my published work records. I would have almost thought you had poets in mind when designing the software, but see that you left us off the advert “who uses it?”. Well, I do, now. And I am a poet.

Don’t miss a big market out there! Long texts - yes, of course, but those index cards and the “edit scrivenings” function make it ideal for poets working on a collection.

A preset template for poets would be a big help to show poets some possibilities for organizing their work. I had over 50 doc files on my computer that are now organized in 3 scriv files - and I can even store the pdfs of cover art and published manuscripts in my PublishedWork.scriv file.

I use snapshots and no longer have to keep track separate files for separate versions of a single poem.

I use labels to mark formalist work, free verse, animated poems, performance work etc. . . Status: draft, finished, submitted, published etc. In the research section of the binder, I have a table with publications that I can update.

My computers (because I use both a stationary and portable) have never been more synchronized or organized.

Scrivener makes backing up my work extraordinarily easy- I just drag the 3 scriv files onto a memory stick and I have all my new individual poems, a collection-in-progress , and a record of all my publish works safely stored or synced.

I also discovered that when I have a poem published and am going to move it from the poems.scriv file to the PublishedWork.scriv - all I have to do is drag and drop it from one to the other! (I giggled when I discovered this :smiley: ).

Of course I will be letting my colleagues know about Scrivener, but you should reach out to the poets…

Thank you!
Ren

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Hi Ren,

Many thanks for the kind words - I’m glad Scrivener is proving helpful for your poetry. Actually I am trying to remedy the situation - here’s a small screenshot from the new template browser that will be in Scrivener 2.0:

The trouble is I have no idea what to put into a poetry template! If you are interested in giving me some suggestions via e-mail about what might go into such a template, or even putting together a template yourself that I could modify for use with 2.0, then I’d be happy to bung you a free update when the time comes.

Thanks and all the best,
Keith

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I would love to help if I can.
I am working on my PHD in poetry right now, which includes research for a theoretical essay and a collection, so I will be using it extensively these next months.
I can probably have some thoughts together by mid February?

(I am just finishing an operetta - I considered using Scrivener, but switched to Final Draft because of the automatic formatting only… )

Which email address?

ren

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Great, thanks! contact AT literatureandlatte DOT com is fine. And mid-Feb or later is fine - 2.0 won’t be ready until May or June time, so I haven’t even started on the templates yet.

Thanks again,
Keith

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renkath:

Since you’re regularly copying your .scriv files to memory sticks, may I suggest a sure-fire way of never being out of sync?

Store your master files on the memory stick, and edit them there.

But wait! There’s more. After every session, use scrivener’s “Backup to…” feature (under File… I think) to create a local backup to the machine you’re working on, under Documents/Scrivener Backups, for instance.

That way, you don’t have to always remember to copy your files to or from the memory stick, but there are always multiple copies that have the date they were created in the file name, so if you ever have to work from a backup file, you’ll be able to easily identify which is the most recent.

Writing directly on USB-connected media (like memory sticks or external hard drives) is just as reliable as doing it on your computer’s internal hard drive, so this adjustment won’t put your work in jeopardy. Note that you should never edit a scrivener project from a disk that’s attached over the network/internet, such as iDisk storage. That would be bad news.

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Actually this is not true. Take a look at the sticky thread about USB and removable storage. The synopsis: USB is not suitable for live editing of scriv files.

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To reinforce this… ALL software that makes use of packages should not be live edited on USB drives for the reasons listed in that thread. This is NOT something unique to Scrivener.

Apollo16

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Thanks to you all - for the tip and the warning, too. :mrgreen:

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Just so you know, Scrivener has a Scriptwriting mode which does automatic formatting in a variety of styles. And you can compile your draft into Final Draft file format when you are ready to take your project to FD.

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Yes, thank you. I mean auto-finishing of text like character names, etc. Scrivener doesn’t do that, does it?

:confused:

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Yes, it does! You can add any words you want in the auto-complete list via Edit > Edit Auto-Complete List. Then, after you start typing a word, hit either cmd-period or opt-Escape to bring up the list of words for completion. The words you added to the auto-complete list that match will be at the top of the list, dictionary words after.
Hope that helps!
All the best,
Keith

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Thanks! It helps. … Still learning. :unamused: