Hi Folks. Firstly, I have finished my book in Scrivener 3 and been doing test compiles to MS Word Windows. So far so good, steep learning but worked well. I had structured with Chapter followed by scenes (short stories, Chapter - Scenes etc
Now compliing, I have my Chapter title page where I place an image beneath and start all scenes on a new page, scenes follow on a new page until next chapter and repeat.
But, when I compile, I get the Chapter Tilte on sometimes an even page instead of odd.
In Word, I have been adding a Page break to shunt the Chapter Title page.
BUT - How should I deal with the stort story scenes? Is it OK to start them on the Verso, back of the title page or should they be on the next Recto?
I guess I could push the Chapter Tile higher on the page and have the image then follow with the Scene on the same page, but it looks busy.
Any suggestions are MOST welcome.
I’d suggest reading this thread your post has been merged into, from the top. It describes how you would most efficiently transition from drafting in Scrivener into design and polish using Word or LibreOffice. The process described is extremely efficient, once built, we’re talking a few seconds after compiling. Think of the compiler more as a tool to get the content tagged the way it should be, rather than trying to use it as a design tool (something that inevitably leads to frustration as it only has a small fraction of the capabilities of other tools in these regards).
Hi Folks. My post was merged into this thread of always having illustrations on the right hand side.
That was NOT my question!
I m trying to find the most esthetic and recognised way to format the run of pages. I have already understood how to include images, I do not Use Scrivener for that, I am finalising suff in WORD.
I want to know what is a typical run of pages in a print book where I want a Title page as sepatate on the Recto side (Yes it has an image), but my content is a number of scenes with headings.
So my run in Word - Chapter Title (Title 1/3 down page with image beneath) exactly as I want it.
I push it to Recto with a blank page if needed, I have 8 Chapter Title Pages.
Each Chapter has a number of scene stories that I was to follow on a NEW PAGE.
THIS is my Question-…
1 Is it OK to put the scenes on the VERSO of the Chapter Title
OR
2 Should I add a NEW blank page to push the Scene to the Recto side.
The blank page may be jarring, but to have the text start on a new page seems better. There is not enough room on the Chapter Title page to start the Scene texts!
Thanks and sorry if I did not explain properly previously.
Sorry for the confusion, I moved it back to its own thread. It was listed as being a Windows-specific piece of feedback on compiling, but it seems in fact you are looking for general book design advice that doesn’t even really have to do with how to use Scrivener in particular?
For anyone looking for how to manage page flow efficiently, here is a link to the thread with advice on that (whether it is illustrations, poem, epigraphs, titles or scenes one is placing recto or verso is somewhat immaterial as all of this is done the same way, mechanically speaking).
In a more general sense, beyond Scrivener, I would not go about manually inserting page breaks to force it because that involves a lot of unnecessary manual labour, both to set it up, and whenever edits might push pagination around and potentially push things from one side of the book to another. To compare, using the technique I described in the linked thread, if I want parts on their own with a blank page to the left, and chapters always on the right, for example, it takes me about 10 seconds to get to that result after compiling from Scrivener. The layout is ideally then based on the stylesheet of the template the compiled content is being imported into.
Is it OK to put the scenes on the VERSO of the Chapter Title
There are no right or wrong answers to that, and sometimes the best way to figure it out is to go through your bookshelf and see how various publishers handle it, and choose from such examples which look you prefer. Some books don’t even cut to a new page for the next chapter, it’s just one long uninterrupted text! Nothing wrong with that either, so long as navigating to chapters is not too important.
Myself, I would only use a “full spread” layout like you describe for Parts, and let chapter verso pages have whatever content from the previous chapter remains. It saves paper, and not many people are going to care that the chapter heading page has content on the other side of the book. The main reason to force recto layout for chapter breaks is to make flipping through the text more efficient. You only need to let one side of the book “fan” with your thumb to find chapter 21 or whatever. Thus what is hidden on the underside of the pages you are fanning isn’t relevant to that purpose, and becomes an aesthetic choice.
Should I add a NEW blank page to push the Scene to the Recto side.
So considering that, I would call that an aesthetic choice as well, unless it is important that readers be able to quickly flip through the paper and locate scenes.
Thank you for the advice. I took your suggestion and went through my bookshelf - amazing!.
It was helpful. After a lot of checking and some fiddling in Word I found that with only the first Chapter on the Recto, I am going to leave all others with the scene following as they appear, behind the Chapter Title page. It looks OK and sooo amny books do the same. I moved the image above the chapter title as well and changed it to a wider but shorter image. Thank you for the input, very helpful.