Templates

[SophieK]

I’m completely new to using Scrivener 1.7.2 for Windows, and could sure use your help! I’ve bought Gwen’s book and have been unable to get a clear answer to what is (probably) a very easy solution. I’ve also looked on the forum.

I am writing a non-fiction book, which contains several chapters. Within each chapter, my writing style is such to open each chapter with a favorite quote. Next, I write a couple of paragraphs as a sort of “opening” to that chapter, which is then followed by sub-sections, all belonging to that chapter.

As it stands, the non-fiction template opens with the chapter name, then inserts a section title, then sub-section titles, and so on. I like the continuity of what this looks like once compiled, it just isn’t in the exact format that I am looking for. How do I format the way I want it (described above: (no title) opening quote, (no title) a couple of paragraphs, then section heading title with text underneath, another section heading with text underneath, etc., until the end of this chapter) and still retain the end result of this compilation, which is effectively all text together separated by sections under one chapter?

Also, with this non-fiction template, the TOC is labeling my copyright, preface, etc., as if they were EACH a new chapter, labeling in order as Chapter One, Chapter Two, even though they are separate text documents contained in my front matter folder. Once these “chapters” are all listed, my first (actual) chapter becomes Chapter Seven.

The other template options are even further away from my needs…

Any help is greatly appreciated!
Sophie

[MimeticMouton]

Hi Sophie, and welcome to the forum! It sounds like the non-fiction template is a good start, and you can just modify the compile settings a bit.

In Scrivener, folders can contain their own text as well as holding subdocuments (and documents can have subdocuments as well as their own text). If you’re using the General Non-Fiction project template, you can place your introductory text within the Chapter Subtitle folder to have it appear between the chapter title and the first section title.

Most likely when you first select the folder, it will load in the editor in a group view mode. To switch to viewing the folder’s text (or rather, where you’ll add the text), deselect the orange-highlighted group view mode button in the main toolbar or deselect the check-marked mode at the top of the View menu. The editor will then look just as it does when you load a document, ready for you to enter the text.

To include a quote at the beginning, I’d go ahead and add it straight in that document. If you want to give it unique paragraph formatting–e.g. align it centre rather than left, or single space it rather than double–format the quote as you want it to appear in the compiled document, then select it and apply Format > Formatting > Preserve Formatting. This way, when the rest of the document formatting is overridden during compile (allowing you to easily standardise it all throughout the project), the quote will retain the formatting you gave it in the editor. If it’s not using special formatting, then you don’t need to bother with the Preserve Formatting step.

The default compile settings for the non-fiction template don’t include folder text, so you’ll need to tweak that a bit. In File > Compile, click the blue arrow button to the right of the Format As menu button, then select Formatting from the expanded options.

The table at the top shows the different types of document–folder, document group, and single document–and their levels relative to the Draft folder (called Manuscript in the Non-Fiction template). An immediate child of the Draft is Level 1, its child is Level 2 and so on. In this case, the Chapter Subtitle folder in the template is a Level 1 folder, so in the table, check the “Text” box for the Folder Level 1 row. Click in the sample text that appears below to format it.

With the default template compile settings, single text documents such as the Forward and Title Page should only compile with their title but no title prefix (“Chapter One”). How are your front matter items structured in the binder? (You could post a screenshot of it, or just describe its hierarchy and document type.) It should be a simple fix in the compile settings, but without knowing what kind of documents you have I can’t offer anything specific. As an example though, if your preface document is a single text and an immediate child of the Front Matter folder, then in compile formatting you want to select the Level 1 single document row and then click the Section Layout button to remove the “Chapter <$t>” prefix.

[SophieK]

Thank you so very much for your kind response and assistance! It is most appreciated!

Hopefully, my attached response can be seen. If not, let me know and I’ll try another way.

[MimeticMouton]

Okay, I’ve attached a sample project that shows an example of how you could put this together. As I understand it, you want to have “Dog Owners”, “Dog Breeds”, and “Dog Shows” all as equal sections. None of them are a sub-section of one of the others, i.e. Dog Shows is not a subsection to Dog Breeds. Each should have its title appearing in the compiled document and the titles should all be formatted identically.

It makes most sense to me then to put each of them at the same level of the binder hierarchy, ie. each should be an immediate child of the For The Love of Dogs folder. This works with the existing compile settings to ensure each sections title will appear identically. If you want to change the formatting, you only have to change it in one place, the Level 2 single document row.

Meta-data you should use however you want. The label that exist are just there as examples; you can rename or delete any of them and create your own. If it’s helpful to you to mark chapters, do so; if not, get rid of that label and create one that is more meaningful to you. Personally I have no use for the “scene” and “chapter” labels in the Novel template, but how I change them depends on the project. Think about what’s going to be important to you to track as you’re working on this book. Each item can have one label, and the label’s colour can appear in the binder, on index cards, in outliner rows, and in the item’s document icon. What information can you best display that way? Some people use the labels as a way of indicating the status of the document–first draft, still in progress, not yet written, etc.–because the colors can be displayed in so many places.

To change the label (or status) settings, go to Project > Meta-Data Settings… Labels already in use will automatically update if you change their text or colour.

To view the example project and the PDF sample of how it appears, download the attached file, then right-click and choose “Extract All”. Once the project folder is extracted, you can open it as usual in Scrivener by double-clicking the project.scrivx file inside.
NonFicExample.zip (293 KB)

[SophieK]

Jennifer,

Bowing to you eleventy million times…Thank you again for your wonderful guidance, time, and patience! You are the “Cat’s” pajamas!