Greetings, all. I’ve downloaded Scrivener in anticipation of a ghostwriting book project that will keep me busy for about four months, nearly full-time. I’ve written my own novels in Word and had several published, but I wonder if those of you who do paid book projects can share the process you use for completing a project when typically there are several stages of back-and-forth on editing. Come to think of it, the question really applies to anyone who has to go through revision with an editor.
Specifically, I see Scrivener as a marvelous tool for organization of text and as a research repository. I love that I needn’t worry about formatting until I’m ready to export. Assuming I export my draft as a Word doc and then polish that up with minor formatting changes to send off, what happens when revision requests come back? What you had in Scrivener is probably in bits and pieces that the program nicely stitched together for export. What you need to bring back to Scrivener is in one long document that no longer matches the neat (or loose) structure in Scrivener. At that point, do you simply continue the process in Word?
I’m trying to visualize a “best practice,” knowing, of course, that a best practice will vary with individual style and comfort level.
Still, I’d appreciate any strategies you’re willing to share.
Once compiled and exported, I don’t return to Scrivener.
Instead, I’ve used Pages for all back-and-forth with editors.
Turning on Track Changes and entering Comments keeps us straight on revisions.
You may do the same with Word.
Pages has the better Search feature, and its files are smaller.
I think generally people stay in MS Word once they’re in it (or like druid, in Pages, or Open Office or Neo Office - there are different views on this, though Pages has become more popular since its latest version can track changes, as druid says). One or two rare types have tried to persuade their editors to move to Scrivener, using annotations to track changes, with mixed success (in persuasion, not use of annotations) if I remember correctly.
Myself, I stay in MS Word, despite its attendant issues, partly because I have a PC as well as a Mac and like to edit my work there too.
Thanks to those of you who contributed replies – and for the link to a lengthier discussion of the topic. My gut told me to stick with Word, particularly since my editor works in a PC world and Word is, well, “the word.”
So: Draft in Scrivener. Everything afterward in Word. I suppose that’s just the nature of the beast beyond a certain point.
That’s kind of how I designed Scrivener, too… The idea being that it would help get a first, lengthy and structured draft together. Once it is compiled and exported to Word, Pages or whatever, it was never really intended that you would bring it back to Scrivener, as a dedicated word processor is going to be better at the final formatting, tweaking, tracking changes, and the back and forths with an editor.
Step 1. “Create and Organize in Scrivener”
Step 2. "Export Draft to "
Step 3. "Make revisions in until final draft is submitted.
Step 4. “PROFIT”
or
(1) SCR = CREATIVE PROCESS (Gather your thoughts and ideas and organize them and your writing)
(2) EXPORT DRAFT = MOVE TOWARDS REFINEMENT PROCESS (Word Processor)
(3) WORD PROCESSOR = POLISHING PROCESS (Revisions and final edits)
(4) BANK ACCOUNT = PROFIT PROCESS (Cha Ching!)
I took the plunge and bought the program. I figure I’ll have a week or maybe two before the project actually launches. I believe I’ll try to adopt the work flow you’re suggesting here. I just hope I don’t get too frustrated when the first thing I have to do is submit an outline and up to the first three chapters. After those are accepted as a way for the client to evaluate tone and style in context of their project, I’ll be doing the remainder of the draft for a full export.
Meanwhile, because I also anticipate doing some taped interviews for the project, I’m also looking into Transcriva for ease in transcribing audio, which got some nice reviews elsewhere in the forum.
I can see this forum will become my best friend in short order.
