Scrivener beta 4 (now available through the Beta Testing forum) has support for creating project templates, as well as for more easily formatting a manuscript from within Scrivener. I thought I had best post a couple of examples.
Beta 4 makes it very easy to format your text into standard manuscript format upon export. The only thing you have to do is create a title page at the top of your draft and make sure you have a few options turned on here and there. The best way of showing this is with an example project. The following project is set up so that it exports using standard novel formatting:
Also included in the .zip file is a PDF file which demonstrates the format. This PDF file was created right from within Scrivener - just by hitting “Print” inside the Export Draft sheet, going to Preview and saving the resulting PDF file. You could just as easily export it to RTF and open it up in Word, with headers, page numbers, title page and all. You can see from the .scriv project how easy it was to set up. Particularly cool, if I do say so myself, is the way that Scrivener can now convert italics to underlines upon export - so you can type the text in Scrivener as you would imagine will appear in print, but export it using the formal conventions.
Another very cool feature of beta 4 is templates. You can now very easily create a new project based on a project that you have set up the way you always want to begin new projects. To do this, you just set up a skeleton project with the binder structure, labels and status lists, keywords etc that you require, and then you use Save As Template… in the File menu. Templates (.scrtpl files) are saved in ~/Library/Application Support/Scrivener/Templates/.
You will need to extract it into the folder mentioned above (note that you may need to create a “Scrivener/Templates” folder within Application Support if it doesn’t already exist).
Using the formatting template, when I print and then preview it as a PDF, it doesn’t seem to change italics to underline, etc. like it’s supposed to.
I’d find that useful. What I would really find helpful would be some example project files. I realise that people may not want to share complete projects, but I would really like to see how people use all the features of Scrivener.
I have just jumped in and used it for writing for nanowrimo. I haven’t yet got to grips with ways of planning and brainstorming ideas in Scrivener. I’ve briefly toyed with the corkboard and outliner features, but haven’t really found a way of making them work for me. It would be good to see how others have done this. Just a thought…
Curious. Have you ensured that the checkbox is ticked for this in the Text Options section? And are you using the “Print” button inside the Export Draft sheet. If you just go to File > Print, this won’t do the trick, as that just prints off the current document. You can only do this by using the Export Draft sheet and clicking the “Print” button that is next to the “Export” button on that sheet…
Since you mentioned NaNo and the corkboard in the same post, I just thought I’d pop in a quick description of how I am currently using the corkboard to help my NaNo story out this year
Basically, I’m doing the writing in order start to finish, but I periodically brainstorm direction and new scenes. Scenes that I think of and write immediately, I don’t have much metadata for, but scenes that I brainstorm for “the future”, to be written in a couple of days, I put in a folder in the draft called “Future”, and only fill in the index card. (I have a folder for each day’s writing, for ease of daily wordcount and export.) Then I drag around the cards to reflect what order I think they’ll be written in. When it comes time to write it, I grab the index card out of the “Future” group and drop it where it belongs in my actual draft, then write the scene.
Basically I have been using the corkboard as my “to do list” for scenes. Actually, I use the status metadata, and mark some of them “to do” and some of them “possibility”, depending on whether it’s a definite item to include or an idea that I’m tossing around but haven’t decided on. (I then switch the status to “first draft” once I start writing the text of the scene.)
This of course assumes that the status stamps on the synopsis cards in corkboard view are turned on.
Thank you for that description of your writing process using the Corkboard. I’ve not really been using that part of Scriv and it’s nice to see how I might. It’s the kind of post I’d like to see more of, perhaps in that Usage Scenarios or Using Scrivener topic we’ve discussed elsewhere.
Another way you could keep track of daily tallies would be to use keywords. Just put “Day 1”, Day 2", and so forth. Make a keyword directory so they do not clutter up the HUD. Then when it comes time to count a day, you can just do a quick filter, select all, and Cmd-Opt-Shift-S to get Selection Statistics if you have a lot of annotations – or just Cmd-Opt-4 the group if you do not.
It is a little more work than what you are doing, but if you are starting to form a narrative and would like to write the pieces right into the Draft where they should be, it could be a useful “third axis.”
If you’re not writing things in order, that definitely sounds like the better way to track daily word counts. My method works best when the story is written front to back without stopping or jumping around, and isn’t really suited to people who prefer to write out of order.
You can share them on this forum or on the “Usage Scenarios” forum. If someone wants to start a thread in either forum, feel free. As I said somewhere else, I may include a little “Extras” folder on the final DMG with a few templates, so please make it clear whether you would be happy for your template to be included if you decide to share any.
Thanks and all the best,
Keith
Keith, any chance you could update the link in your first post to the example project using standard novel formatting? It doesn’t work for me. Or has the new version of Scrivener made everything earlier obsolete? I was just browsing Amber’s FAQs and followed her link over here. It’s a LONG way to Tipperary for me at this point, but when it comes time to export my various scenes and chapters, I’d love to know how to do it in standard novel mode.
Hi Molly,
This sure is an old post you have found… I suspect this information is long since out-of-date, and the FAQ needs updating.
However, for what you want to do, I think the Standard Manuscript Template comes as part of the installer now, probably in the “Extra” section. You might need to find your original DMG (or download it again) and install the Extras as well as the main program, if you haven’t done so already.
I am a complete idiot and belong back in the twentieth century.
I just found Keith’s latest post on “Manuscript Format Suggestions” over in the Feedback Forum, which answers all my questions in an up-to-the-minute fashion. Thanks, Keith.
I need to brush up on my research skills. OR I need another martini to shut me up for awhile.
Or has the new version of Scrivener made everything earlier obsolete? I was just browsing Amber’s FAQs and followed her link over here. It’s a LONG way to Tipperary for me at this point, but when it comes time to export my various scenes and chapters, I’d love to know how to do it in standard novel mode.
Wot y` like…here! And a shaker to go with it!!