Prologues NOT Printing as Chapters

[larykirk]

Hi,

I have read everything I can find in the forums about compiling with the first entry being the prologue and subsequent entries being chapter 1, chapter 2, etc. Most of what I found is 5–10 years old but I still cannot figure out how to make it work.

For anyone with using a prologue, this is probably a common problem and there is probably a simple solution, but I sure haven’t found it or figured it out.

I thought it would be straightforward and I could print my final manuscript today, but maybe not.

I would appreciate any help.

Best Regards,

Lary.

[Vincent_Vincent]

Hi.

Your prologue sections go in the Front Matter folder.

Make sure the Front Matter folder is outside of the draft folder.

In the binder, in your Front Matter folder, assign your documents to a section type other than the one that gives you your chapter numbering.
Create a new one if needed.

Compiler:

Assign the section type you are now using to a section Layout

Double-click your compile format and tweak the corresponding layout if needed.

Make sure you don’t modify one that is already used and to your taste.
Create a new one if needed, and go back to the Section type → Section layout assignation step. (Two screenshots up.)

(This post tells you where and what to look for. It is just off the top of my head. – And these are Windows Version’s screenshots.)

[RuthS]

Hello Lary. Do you want the prologue to use the same page numbers as the chapters, but its own heading rather than “Chapter 1: Prologue”? Or, do you not want the prologue to have the same page numbering as the chapters?

If you do not want page numbering to continue from the prologue to the chapters, then Vincent_Vincent’s tips should work.

But, if you do want your prologue to have page numbering that continues into the chapters, you’ll keep it in the Draft/Manuscript root folder. However, you’ll go to Project > Project Settings > Section Types and create a new section type specifically for “Prologue.”

Then, you can assign that section type to it either in the Inspector pane or in the main File > Compile panel.

In the “Assign Section Layouts” area of the main compile panel, you can give that section layout the example formatting, including a heading and page break if desired.

Then, the prologue should have the correct page numbering but not affect the numbering of your chapter headings.

[larykirk]

Thank you so much for your help, Vincent, but I am truly lost in trying to understand these compiled formats. I think I have it so screwed up now that I can’t even print it out to provide to my beta readers.

If you know of a consultant I can talk to you via Zoom, that would be a big plus because I think I need somebody to walk me through it. Some of the controls and features that you identify don’t seem to be accessible, and the section types identified in the binder don’t appear in the compile window.

If you have any ideas, I’d be interested to pursue them.

Thanks again for your effort, Lary

[larykirk]

Thank you so much for your help, Ruth, but I am truly lost in trying to understand these compiled formats. I think I have it so screwed up now that I can’t even print it out to provide to my beta readers. I know Vince has tried to help as well, but I replied to him in the same manner.

If you know of a consultant I can talk to you via Zoom, that would be a big plus because I think I need somebody to walk me through it. Some of the controls and features that you identify don’t seem to be accessible, and the section types identified in the binder don’t appear in the compile window.

If you have any ideas, I’d be interested to pursue them.

Thanks again for your effort, Larry.

[RuthS]

Hi Larry. To start, are you working with Scrivener 3? I’m assuming so, but since you said that the items you’re seeing don’t align with my screenshot or Vincent’s, I’d like to confirm that.

Assuming you are using Scrivener 3, you might want to check out our 4-part series titled “Getting Your Work Out” on the Mac tutorial videos page.

Seeing the compile process demonstrated might be helpful. Watching all four videos takes about 26 minutes.

The compile process can take a bit of practice, so my recommendation is to start by compiling the Tutorial. That would allow you to test out different compile formats, output file types, and settings without using your own data.

I find that users are often afraid they’ll “break” their own project, which makes experimenting with the compile tools uncomfortable. And, for users up against a deadline, needing to get the compile just right but under pressure compounds the problem.

The Tutorial can be easily reset to factory defaults, so you can add or delete documents, test out using styles, custom metadata, keywords, and so on.

I’d start with just using the default compile format and using an output file type of RTF, Word, or PDF. Then, try out the different manuscript compile formats to those same output file types and compare the output files.

That can show you how the settings for each format change the formatting without any of the changes being made in the main editor.

The Tutorial also has some documents about the compile process. And, Chapters 23 and 24 in the Scrivener manual go into detail on the settings and customization process. You can access both from Scrivener’s Help menu.

Once you’ve tested the tutorial with a few options, you might then review what Vincent and I both shared to see if our suggestions make more sense.

I’m a fan of compiling regularly throughout the writing and revision process. That way, users can become more familiar with the process without a deadline looming. And, it’s easier to find formatting issues and correct them earlier if compiling often is a part of the process.

[Kevitec57]

Essentially, a Prologue (and Epilogue) is a Chapter without and number and should therefore be excluded from the chapter (with numbering) assignment. With that in mind…

In Compile
In Compile > Edit Format … Compile Format Designer screen, create a new Section Layout similar to Chapter Heading but give it a Layout Name like Prologue Heading.
Under the Title Options tab, Title Prefix pane, insert the word Prologue, instead of Chapter and (obviously) don’t include a chapter number placeholder.
In the Formatting tab, immediately to the left, you’ll see Prologue and Section Title, similar to what you see in your Chapter Heading layout, except with the tweaks.
Then Assign Section Layouts (from the Compile Overview screen–the first screen of Compile) similar to the way you would to a Chapter Heading.

In the Editor
Using the General Metadata tab of the Inspector, you’d assign the titled prologue second level folder (see second paragraph under Comments below) to Prologue Heading, instead of to Chapter Heading.

Comments
When your work compiles, chapter numbering will kick in from the first chapter using the Chapter Heading assignment.
You can do the same thing for an Epilogue at the end of your book as you did for the Prologue.
And your book’s page numbering will then start from the Prologue and sequential page numbers will end after the last line of the Epilogue.

If you work in Parts or Acts, then your hierarchy in the Binder would be: Prologue folder, the prologue’s title folder, any number of scene files, Part 1 folder, first chapter’s title folder, any number of scenes … etc.
Using this approach, the Prologue folder, Part 1 to X folders and Epilogue folder would be organised at the same level, giving you a consistent viewing experience structure throughout your novel.