newbie to Scrivener trialling the Windows version for NaNo. A question about setting up folders. I have been through the Tutorial and seem to recall a passing reference to the fact that you can create folders at the root folder level in the binder, ie at the Draft and Research level, is that correct?
The reason I am asking, is that I want initially, to create three root folders for my WIP text files. One for the material I have already created that belongs to one story arc, one for new material that will be the second story arc of the novel (and the one I am writing for NaNo) and a third for outtakes, material that I have removed from one or the other of the story arcs, because it doesn’t seem to fit the story line, but which I might add back in, at some point and re-edit to fit. Eventually I will merge both story arcs, but I want to keep them separate initially (especially while NaNo is on and material from that arc only will count towards NaNo). Or should I do this by creating them as separate projects?
My recommendation would be to keep all of the work for one complete story in one project. It’s just easier to manipulate and play with and so on that way. Once you get to multiple projects, you’re going to be juggling quite a bit, and have a lot of duplicated information, I imagine.
However, in the end, you should use Scrivener the way that works best for you. Try it out one way, and if it feels too constrained, or you don’t like how much you have to move stuff around, or so on, change it up.
To answer your question: yes, you can create new folders at the root level (to be siblings of Draft &c). You might need to create the folder in Draft first, and then drag it down to below Trash.
The debate on whether or not to split up your “project” into separate projects is something that really does come down to taste and practicality. For some people, it’s a matter of scale. There is just too much going on in a project and the sheer size of it becomes unwieldy so they split it up. For others, they just like working in more than one binder and Scrivener’s drag and drop between Binders doesn’t punish you for this. Personally, I like the Scrivener Project = Real-word Project metaphor.
Another way of creating root folders is to make sure you have nothing selected in the Binder. Just click anywhere on the background, and then add a new folder—it should be created at the very top of the binder.
thanks for your replies. Great. Scrivener seems to be very flexible. I am trying it out because so many of my writing buddies in the Compuserve books and Writers forum have been singing its praises. It certainly looks like it will be a fantastic program.
