Hi! I’m a newish user and 1st time writer in NaNoWriMo and I’m having real fun outlining my novel in Scrivener in preparation for November. Thanks so much - it’s a fantastic tool!
I’m using the labels feature in the outliner/cork board with different colours for each of my 6 main characters.
What I’d really like to be able to do is to re-order all the the cards in the manuscript in label order, so that I can see each characters journey through the novel, enabling me to judge the flow of these individual stories as the novel progresses.
Please could anyone advise how this can be done.
Sorry if it’s a dumb Newbie question, but all advice welcome.
Best wishes (and good luck to fellow NaNoWriMoers!)
My hint is to do a copy of the Draft folder to the Research folder from time to time, and use the copy inside the Research folder to play with the character’s outline. Each time you do major restructuring to your story, just delete the copy, and make a new one.
Definitely not a dumb question, as the way to do this is not obvious. The Binder cannot be temporarily sorted at all. It’s a fixed representation of your book, not an arbitrary list of things. But, there is a way to do what you want.
Using the project search tool (in the toolbar) click the magnifying glass and select “Draft Only”. It might say manuscript only, or whatever you have titled your Draft item in the Binder.
Select the search criteria “Label”
Search operator should be “any word”
Now search for something that will return every single item as results. ‘a e i o u’, if you are writing in English, should do the trick.
You’ll get search results in the spot where the Binder ordinarily is, just click the label column header to sort.
Save this search, again using the magnifying glass.
You’ll have to select the sort column every time you double-click on that saved search you just made, but that’s the fastest way to do what you want.
Another thing you could do is just make six saved searches, one for each of the characters (this is, I would imagine, what most people do). If you prefer a grand overview, the above method is probably best.