I would like to propose the option to convert an empty line into an hash mark, centered in the page (as done between text adjacent text documents) when compiling.
I have not been able to obtain it with ”Replacements" in the “Compile" window.
(I’ve already bored the too kind people at Scrivener here
[url]https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/text-separator-in-compile/18226/1])
I’ll try to explain why the user might need it, since maybe I am taking the wrong approach.
Snapshots work only for text documents and not folders. While editing it can happen that you need to delete a scene (=text document) and rearrange it somewhere else. And you kiss goodbye your snapshot.
And alternative is to merge all the scenes that fall under a folder. After the merging process a blank line is still present dividing the scenes. Good enough, since at this stage I don’t think I’ll be needing any more the detailed division provided by several text documents.
If I compile the manuscript I cannot use the hash mark divider for adjacent text documents, since I merged them. Either I need to go back and split again the scenes or I have to use “Replacements”.
A good manuscript format requires the use of an hash mark to divide the scenes, and it is best to center it.
A pdf format by Matt Carless illustrating this was available at the BBC website, but it had been removed, however I managed to find it again here, in case you are interested: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/10668429/NOVEL-MANUSCRIPT-FORMAT
Use replacements, as Keith suggested in the other thread, and then just run a find/replace in a word processor after compile to center them. You should be able to do that easily with the style options in the find/replace for most wps, and you can always go on to print a PDF from there if that’s what you want for your final format.
Keep scenes divided into separate text documents and use the File > Back Up > Back Up To… command to make a copy of the entire project when you’re about to begin structural revisions. Unlike the snapshots, which are saved with the individual documents, the backup will let you return to the former binder set up if you end up wanting to change things back. (Also if you end up deleting a scene unintentionally, you can drag it back into the current project from the backup, etc.) Other people like to just make a duplicate of the whole Draft folder and stash that somewhere in the same project binder as “Draft - Version 1” before beginning revision, which lets you have quick access to it while you’re working.
Change the separator used for merging documents in the “General” pane of Scrivener > Preferences. You can have a custom separator here just as in compile.
Thanks MM, for your advice!
I’ve read in older posts that the programmers thought about the possibility to take snapshots of the binder, but, as far as I understood, it was a rather intricate matter.
Anyway I hope that they’ll add the option to convert an empty line into a hash mark, it is like the hyphen that is compiled with two short lines, a sort of old fashioned manuscript thing.
Since this is of course a common scenario, there is already a mechanism in place that allows for this particular type of editing to be done using the “small pieces” philosophy. Simply switch the “Include in Compile” flag off, in the inspector for the scene and now it is “deleted” in the same way as if you had this whole segment in a single file, snapshotted it, and deleted a paragraph in the middle.
Yeah, it’s messy, in large part thanks to how flexible the software is. There are so many other ways to exert editorial influence on the structure of a project that it makes any kind of “milestone” system on content + structure exceedingly complicated—and frankly kind of pointless.
We already have a perfectly functional content + structure snapshot system. It’s called File/Back Up/Back Up To...