scrivener so far

one of the things that helped derail my NaNo plans this year is the purchase of the writing software Scrivener.
not that Scrivener ate my NaNo project or anything, but it was just so distracting to have a new toy to play with!

i spent 3 days diligently going through the tutorial (which Scrivener claimed would only take an hour. on what planet is that only an hour-long tutorial? ha!), and then i spent another few days plugging in a manuscript to take the software for a real test run.

and i thought i'd share my thoughts on Scrivener so far.

major pros:
- ability to compile everything you need into a single source - outline, actual text, character notes, research (including photos and web links!), etc... all available at the click of a mouse without scrolling or toggling through different Word documents.
- easy export. it takes less than 5 seconds to convert your Scrivener binder and all its contents into a properly-formatted Word or PDF or any other kind of document for easy reading and sharing with others.
- user interface. most of the basic-functions are self-explanatory, and there are at least 2 or 3 ways to do everything you want to do (select from a menu, click an icon, keyboard shortcuts, etc...) so you can make the program work the way YOU like to work.
- easy recovery of deleted material. (you can move an entire scene to a trash bin or take a "snap shot" of it before you start tinkering. both things can be brought back in an instant.)

minor quibbles:
- importing is not as simple as exporting. if you have a partial manuscript in Word or any other format, you can pull it into Scriv easily enough, but then you have to manually break it all up to create your binder. this is a simple but time-consuming process.
- saving is not so simple. the first time i reopened Scriv after a save, all of the work i'd done appeared to be ERASED except for the last chapter i'd been working on. this is because if you simply open the Scrivener program to start working, it will take you to a sub-document which shows only your work since the last save. you have to actually locate the primary program file in your folders in order to open the complete project. (full disclosure: this could absolutely be the fault of my own computer-challenged brain, but i thought it was worth mentioning after i found a few dozen online forum threads with questions from panicked authors about how Scrivener ate their work!)

who would benefit from Scrivener:
i can see how this program would work for both plotters and pantsers, but i'm still figuring out if it's the best software for a plantser like me. (click here for my definition of plantser.)

- the use for plotters is clear. Scrivener can get you organized like nothing i've ever seen. you can divide and subdivide that manuscript into as many pieces as your little plotting heart desires. you can color code your chapters by characters, setting or anything else you can think of.

- it doesn't look like a system for pantsers, but i see potential. people who like to write by the seat of their pants can jump in and start typing away. then, at the end of a scene, they can use Scrivener to attach notes (virtual index cards) to the scene to remind them what's in it. in a way, this is Scrivener outlining and organizing for you as you go along.

- but will Scrivener work for a plantser? hmm. only time will tell.
at first, i relished creating my Scrivener "binder" - a feature that allows you to break your novel down into chapters and scenes much the same way Windows folders work. it's all very tidy and will keep me from scrolling through hundreds of pages to "find that one scene where character X says that one thing" (my current, inefficient method of locating scenes in Word.)
once i started actually writing, i discovered a problem.
after every scene - or sometimes in the middle of a scene - i would stop writing to make notes on my Scrivener index cards.

example:
writingwritingwriting.. oh! character Y is in this scene?!.. stop writing. open index card. make note about character. make sure it's color-coded. study outline to make sure it works with all the other scenes this character is in. spot continuity issue. rework outline to fix.
time spent writing: 10 minutes.
time spent updating Scrivener to make sure the outline stays organized: 25 minutes.

this is not Scrivener's fault but my own. i just need to figure out how to make it work for me so that i don't spend more time plotting/organizing than actually writing!

any Scrivener aficionados out there want to share a few tips with a newbie like me?

organized chaos

NaNoWriMo starts in one week, and i have to admit - i didn't sign up until today.

there's been a lot of revising this year - rewriting Billy D and going through the editorial process with Butter. i haven't written anything new in so long, i wasn't sure i was ready to dive head first into another rough draft. so i was considering skipping NaNo, to give myself a break.
but then i thought - a break from WHAT? - a break from my favorite part of writing? from the pure freedom of rough-draft creativity? i don't need a break. writing a new manuscript IS my break - from editing!

so i'm going for it again this year, but now i only have a week to prepare. and preparation is key.

here is how i get organized for the mad-dash chaos that is National Novel Writing Month:

step 1 - story idea.
dude, ya gotta have an idea. otherwise that blank page can kick your butt on day one. for me, that idea has to be fully formed, which means:
step 2 - outline.
it's not cheating! you can outline your whole book - just don't count those words in your November tally. in fact, i go beyond outlining and fully recommend:
step 3 - write a first chapter.
again, i don't count it when i'm adding up the November sprint. chances are, your novel will be longer than 50,000 words - so it doesn't hurt to have a few thousand written ahead of time and a few thousand still to write afterward.
step 4 - make adjustments.
you have an outline and a first chapter. if you're not feeling it, you may want to switch gears. the point of the outline and the first chapter, for me, are to get me revved up for NaNo - to make myself WANT to write the next page so bad i practically can't wait for the madness to start. if you're not feeling that urge, you may want to look at your chapter and your outline and see if this is really something you want to spend 30 days of your life with. if not - go back to step 1 and start again. (if i were clever with PhotoShop, i would build you a little flow chart here, but i am so not talented in that way.)
step 5 - clear your schedule.
clean your house; get your doctor's appointments out of the way; finish up whatever other projects you are working on. these things, if left undone, will become distractions, at best, or give you a guilty conscience, at worst. i know i personally struggle with NaNo if i have a long "to do" list hanging over my head in November.
step 6 - do. not. write.
if at all possible, give yourself a few days or a few weeks to rest your brain and recharge the creative batteries. spend quality time with important people (in case you accidentally ignore them while immersed in NaNo), and do something FUN (there will be very little time for fun in November).
step 7 - strap on a good attitude.
despite what i said about the fun, that's actually what NaNo is all about. it's permission to have FUN writing. have fun staying indoors, unwashed and anti-social. have fun sitting on your butt for hours on end. have fun meeting new friends at local write-in events. however you "NaNo" - make sure you have fun while you're doing it.

personally, i plan to have fun writing something out of my comfort zone. it may end up getting tossed, if it doesn't feel like "me" in the end, but i will still get a kick out of trying.

oh, and part of my fun is in the preparation this year. i have a "research outing" planned for this week that should give me some GREAT inspiration. if i get permission from my outing "hosts," i promise to blog all about it.

RTW: the battle of Plots vs. Pants

i haven't done YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesday in awhile. i also haven't blogged about plotting vs. pantsing for awhile, so it works out well that this week's RTW prompt is:

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

i always say, proudly, i am a plotter.
but perhaps i've been lying... to myself.

loosely defined, a plotter is a writer who has an outline with clear points/events in the story planned out ahead of time. a pantser is a writer who just sits down and starts typing, letting the story travel where it may.

i always figured i fell into the first category because i do, indeed, plot story points ahead of time and usually have an ending in mind.

but i don't outline like this:

Chap. 1
- MC meets love interest
- establish MC desire for adventure
Chap. 2
- meteor slams into earth
- MC faced with choice to rescue family or new love
Chap 3
- MC chooses family but is conflicted and sets out on mission to go back for his love... (AHA! Plot!)
Chap 4
- obstacle to finding his love
Chap 5
- more obstacles, subplot, etc.....

instead, i outline like this:

chapter1 - MC meets love on beach, says line about adventure and "y'know, like armageddon" that will come back to bite him. chapter2 - meteor hits earth - fast montage of scenes: grocery store mom, dad at bank, more?, zoom in to MC with girl - where at when meteor hits? park? then what happens? chapter3?4? mid-book scene: sees girl across the street, but blocked by soldiers and can't call out or will be shot on the spot. "her eyes reach mine, but they don't lock. and in an instant i see - they are not hers. instead of warm brown, these eyes are the ice blue of the taken." note - who are the taken? establish early on? chap 4 or 5? decide.

so really? is that an outline? or is that just me pantsing in short-hand?

maybe we can come up with a category for those of us who fall somewhere in between - PLANTSERS?

word count wednesday 1

happy first week of NaNoWriMo!

at least, i hope your week is happy. mine is fairly miserable, as i've started NaNo with a nasty cold. all of my words are alternately fueled by fever and cold meds. although, being home sick has its upside - like plenty of time to write. that's why my word count is already....

5,568 words!

i know some folks out there have already blown that word count out of the water, but that's pretty great for me - especially considering all of those words are from Monday. (yesterday's elections required me to work 13 hours). but i'm back on the couch with my tissues and my laptop today, so hopefully i can bang out another few thousand words and stay ahead of the game.

observations from week one:

- for me, writing fast = writing sloppy.
(lots of little typos and missing or misspelled words)

- i must break the "don't look back" rule.
i just can't confidently move forward on a book unless i look back at yesterday's chapters and at least do a cursory edit.

- my outline is a jail cell.
it's a lot easier to write fast and furious if i'm not bound by my outline. when i hit a scene i don't feel inspired to write or don't know how to transition into, i slow down. i may be in danger of veering off the outline just to keep pushing forward.

it remains to be seen whether NaNo will work for BILLY D. the way it worked for BUTTER, and i may end up having to rewrite the whole thing from scratch. (yikes! i hope not!) but i just don't know if NaNo is right for every book... just as it's not right for every writer.
Phoebe North wrote this great post on her blog: "NaNo No More." (link! click it!) she makes some good points about NaNo and why it might not help you accomplish what you really want to accomplish. (and she writes from experience, having done NaNo several times, both "winning" and "losing.")

if you're still committed to making NaNo work for you, check out the NaNo word sprints on twitter. (link! click it and follow!)

don't forget to share your word count in the comments, and tell me your own week one observations!

things are not always what they seem

stick with me. this post really is about writing.

so, about ten years ago, i took a whirlwind trip to Europe and was most excited to see Venice, Italy. it's the closest city to where my ancestors came from, and really - who can't fall in love from afar when they see pictures of a place like that?

but arriving in Venezia shattered my enthusiasm.
we got off the train late at night, and the first impressions to assault our senses were neon lights and a foul smell. that arrival was followed by more disappointment the next day. the maps we were using to get around were completely worthless. (i mean, i literally thought someone was playing a prank on us. there were streets on the map that didn't exist and streets in real life that didn't exist on the map.) that night, we were physically chased down the street by people grasping for our purses or pockets and were frightened to see police shouldering some extreme looking guns.

by the end of that day - and i will never forget this moment - i was sitting at a sidewalk table outside a pizzeria waiting for my parents to place an order and feeling like i might cry. i felt frightened by the heavily armed officers coming down one side of the street and the filthy homeless man shuffling up the other side. i was squinting my eyes, trying to block out the garish carnival lights that had lit up the streets with neon everywhere we'd been.

and that's when i heard it.
the most beautiful operatic voice i'd ever heard - a tenor and pitch perfect - singing something sweet and slow that echoed all the way down the stone street. i opened my eyes to look for the source of the sound, and the first thing i noticed is that the lights around me were not actually neon. in fact, there were few lights on this street at all. the only illumination came from the reflection of twinkling lights bouncing off the water across from me.
that water lapped over a set of stairs that descended mysteriously from the street right down under the surface - a path that once led somewhere no longer accessable - a history now buried under water.

the singing continued, grew stronger, taking advantage of the perfect acoustics on this street. i studied each passerby, but no one appeared to be singing. i checked the officers. no music there, but i did hear their laughter now, their friendly greetings to others on the road - including me.
i looked back to my magical stairs that disappeared into the water and saw the homeless man stop to rest there on those steps. and that's when i realized... he was the tenor.
the most beautiful sound i'd ever heard was coming from a man who sheltered, ugly, american me had automatically been afraid of. watching him effortlessly make music that filled every space around me, in a setting that i now saw as romantic, not garish at all, i suddenly felt my whole perspective shifting.
the story i'd been telling myself about this street wasn't the true story at all. i just wouldn't allow myself to step back and see the beauty that was really there, because i was already in the wrong mindset and trying to impose my negativity on everything.

after that, we tossed our maps in the trash and embraced Venice for what it is - a place to get lost in - because everywhere you go in that city feels like a secret discovery, and there is no ugly, really. there is only different lighting and different colorful characters to make every corner feel unique and special.
it is - and probably always will be - my most favorite city in the world.

nothing will ever compare to that revelation there outside the pizzeria, but i occassionally have similar breakthroughs that remind me of that moment. breakthroughs in which i realize i've been trying to mold the facts into my predisposed notions instead of letting the facts shape my ideas.
i had one of these moments last night with my WIP.

- i wrote an outline. i know where i'm going. so how can i possibly be this lost?
- ah! because i'm going the wrong way. i am following a map that doesn't accurately reflect the streets around me. i am trying to force a path that doesn't exist and failing to see the opportunities right in front of me.

so i deviated from the outline. i deviated in a way that changed the whole nut of the story. i deviated in a way that allowed my characters to breath and gave them something to do. and i heard that opera singer's voice in my head and knew i was really seeing my story properly for the first time.

and then, of course, because i am still OCD me - i rewrote the entire outline. ;)

learn as you go

my dad (AKA the blogging police) pointed out i've been slacking here.

perhaps that's because i'm in a bit of a "path-to-publishing" lull. the agent search is over; the submission nail-biting has yet to begin. i just don't have a lot of insight to share during this brief limbo stage.

instead, i've been studying and learning. and by that - i mean writing.
i learn something new with every book, and i thought i'd share a few of those lessons here.

Sammy Vegas
the first real novel i ever attempted to write taught me:

• without an outline, my stories amble off course and never get finished.
• writing a book is time-consuming and requires some sacrifices to find that time.
• most important, it taught me: maybe i don't suck at this, and maybe i kind of love it... a lot.

Losers (Rebel, Bully, Geek, Pariah)
the first novel i ever finished taught me:

• a good hook/concept is nothing without a well-planned plot.
• third person with multiple MCs is not the right format for me.
• most important, it taught me: i can get to "The End," and even then the book might not be good enough... and that's actually okay, because i have this other idea...

Butter
the first novel i ever queried taught me:

• how to edit - really edit. cut scenes, re-order chapters, insert new story elements and completely rewrite multiple chapters from scratch... all after i thought i was "done."
• what kind of stories i want to write and what i really want to say.
• most important, it taught me: finishing a book is really just the beginning. and with any luck, this one's not done yet.

Billy D. & the Bully (working title)
the book i'm writing right now taught me:

• not every book gets written at the same pace; not every book is built via the same process (for me anyway).
• writing is the best distraction from all that "path-to-publishing" neurosis.
• most of all, it taught me: ....well, i don't know the "most of all" yet. i'll let ya know when i'm all done. ;)

one of the many things my agent and i talked about before signing was how every book you write is important. maybe it's not the book you query; maybe it's not the book that sells; but you had to write it for a reason. sometimes you just don't know what that reason is until you're done.

what about you? what have you learned from your own writing?

outlining: order or chaos?

sorry for the blog silence. all time at the laptop this week has been spent tinkering with the page design - not that you can tell, but hey, when you don't know what you're doing with html code, even something as simple as putting a border around the whole damn thing takes hours.

so today i want to talk about outlining. it seems in writing circles, there are two camps: outliners (those of us who plan ahead) and pantsers (those who fly by the seat of their pants and just let the story unfold).

not being a pantser myself, i can only assume they all start in much the same way - with a blank page and an idea in mind.

but i suspect we outliners divide into many sub-categories, from supremely organized to pure chaos. with my hyper organization and tendency toward list-making, one might guess that i'm a rigid outliner with centered, underlined chapter headings followed by neatly ordered bullets dictating moment-by-moment what will happen in a scene when i arrive at it.

but, in fact, my outlines are a mess - big red blobs of text broken up by bits of dialog.

i outline right inside my manuscript too, so i can easily scroll down and see where i'm supposed to be or jump ahead and throw a note into a later scene. once a scene is written into the manuscript, it is deleted from the outline. as the manuscript gets longer, the outline gets shorter, until i reach the end, and the outline disappears altogether.
sadly, this means i do not have any examples saved of the chaos that is my outlining process. instead, i've created a mock-up here:

scene at park. walker shows up late. ben already there. pile of weapons. walker goggles. ben shows off item by item (think of crazy weapon items). ben says no guns. walker: "what is this, west side story?" - "well, we are gonna rumble." - d,t,l all arrive. ???--insert scene: eat first? something to relax??? - if leave park, get back to park and end chap just as bullies start to arrive.

only picture that little paragraph as ten times longer with no breaks or spaces. it's all very stream-of-consciousness. i resist the urge to write entire upcoming scenes because i've found in the past when i get to those scenes, even if they no longer work for the story, i try to force them into the manuscript.

at the end of my big messy outline, i'll add bits off dialog that i want my characters to say but can't yet see where they fit into the story. if they don't make it into the book, they go in a special file on my laptop called "orphans" - where i keep lines i've never used but want to someday.

so that's my outlining process. it's messy, but it works for me.

i showed you mine; now you show me yours. how do you outline? i'm curious to see how many different methods there are.