Hi, I’ve been tearing my hair out trying to get Scrivener to compile the structure of my novel correctly.
My current folders structure is this:
[FOLDER] with title that I want to included in the compile
----[FOLDER] with summary description of the chapter that I don’t want to show up in the compile. I just want a number assigned.
----------[DOCUMENT] the actual prose itself.
I tried various approaches in the compile with the heading, sub-heading, and section, but it always comes out wrong.
What I want is very very simple. I just want:
Part I: The title of the part as typed for the folder’s title.
------Chapter One
-----------The prose
------Chapter Two
-----------The prose
Part II: The title of the part as typed for the folder’s title.
------Chapter Three
-----------The prose
------Chapter Four
-----------The prose
Can someone please show me exactly how to get this structure in my compile? I’ve spent too many hours using both trial and error AND researching the web but still can’t get it right.
Your summary description folder seems to break the default Compile Formats. They should be set to exclude from compilation.
Don’t use the Formatting by Structure feature.
Set the Section Formats for the Part, Chapter, and Scene.
Double-Click the best working Compile Format, and Save-and-Edit to create a Custom Format.
Create Section Layouts for all Section Types.
In the Separators pane, make sure the pagination and separation of scenes is set up correctly.
Close the Compile Format Designer.
Assign the Section Layouts to the correct Section Types.
Test Compile to see if everything is alright.
Rinse and Repeat.
2 Likes
Antoni is right, what is not clear is do you want the “scenes” prose to have a title for each section under a chapter or just a chapter with text?
I will assume The prose is a scene without a title. But if chapter number with text, then check the text box in the Chapter number Section Layout to include the text.
Here is one possible way. (suggest use a compile collection. A group of documents that include every element in your novel, but a small sample allows quick tweaking. (Include a Part, 1-2 chapters and several prose sections to see if compile comes out right)
Now look at the Compile settings will combine into one pic for brevity
2 Likes
Thanks for the help! I don’t know if I could have figured it out on my own.
After an hour of trial and error, I finally got it the way I wanted, like this:
2 Likes