The long-awaited new version of Scrivener (for Mac and iOS) was released a few weeks ago, and we’ve got a newly updated book to match! Take Control of Scrivener 3 by best-selling author Kirk McElhearn walks you through setting up, organizing, writing, formatting, revising, and compiling a Scrivener project, whether you’re working on a Mac or in iOS.
Scrivener is a powerful tool for managing long-form writing projects–such as novels and screenplays–and Take Control of Scrivener 3 gives you all the details you need to know to harness its potential. With Scrivener, you can start writing at any point in your work (end, middle, beginning), then easily move scenes, sections, and chapters until it’s exactly as you want. It also allows you store items such as research material, character sketches, and setting information in the same project file as your writing.
Using this extensive guide, you’ll be able to:
- Meet Scrivener: Learn about the Scrivener philosophy and its basic layout.
- Start your project: Pick a template and add existing materials to your project.
- Brainstorm and organize: Discover three different ways to work with your material using the Binder, Corkboard, and Outliner.
- Set up your writing environment and avoid distractions: Choose default fonts and colors, opt for Script Mode if you’re writing a script or screenplay, and simplify your workspace by hiding interface elements or by using Composition Mode or Apple’s Full Screen Mode.
- Make the most of key features: Learn how to: work with styles; use annotations and comments; add footnotes and endnotes; view more than one file at once; use collections to view selected items from the Binder; store bookmarks and project notes; and share and synchronize your project with others.
- Go further with Scrivener: Get the details on special features like Scrivenings View (write in sections, but view as a single document) and Snapshots (allows you to make and view periodic backups of your text).
- Revise and edit your work: Learn how to find and replace text, and work with revisions.
- Use Scrivener in iOS: Sync your projects to iOS and work on an iPhone or iPad.
- Print and export (“compile” in Scrivenerese): Understand the process of preparing your project to be printed, and what’s involved in compiling it so that it can be exported in a different format.
Kirk also highlights the many changes to Scrivener since the last version, including updates to the interface, styles, outlining and metadata capabilities, and improved searching and writing features. In addition, he explains brand-new features in Scrivener 3, including Bookmarks (lets you store references to other sections of your project), Linguistic Focus (highlights specific elements such as dialog, adverbs, or adjectives), Section types (such as Chapter Text and Scene), and Copyholders (allows you to view three or four documents at once).
Get Take Control of Scrivener 3 now, and if you don’t have the latest version of the app, get Scrivener 3.