Scrivener Setup

November might seem like a long time away. But I thought August seemed like an eternity away when I finally got used to writing 2016 instead of 2015. I figured if I used some free time now to set up my Scrivener document, it would make everything a lot easier when I begin planning my characters, settings and plot points.

Tonight I began setting up each part of the book. I broke mine down into Beginning, Pre-Middle, Middle and Ending. Then I used Scrivener's notecards to make each story point Christine metnions over at Better Novel Project. I made my own icon and color coding system for easier identification in the folders on the left. You can also do this with other writing software and applications, but I found Scrivener very helpful for last year's NaNoWriMo and for other writing projects this year. It took me about an hour and a half to get everything added and I am not finished changing everything to "to do" and updating the icons and color coding for each card. The most time consuming part of the outline is done now, however.

Scrivener costs $40, but you can download a 30-day free trial. Last year Scrivener was a NaNoWriMo sponsor and there was a special trial that lasted longer than the typical 30 days. NaNoWriMo winners also received a coupon for 50 percent off the purchase price. It is totally worth full price though. I used the free trial through NaNo, won NaNo and then purchased it for half price in the month of December. As a writer it's the best money I have ever spent with the exception of my laptop.

Below is a screen capture of how the master plan looks when plugged into Scrivener. I am excited about using Scrivener for another National Novel Writing Project and am interested in how it will work with my new master plan experiment.