Welcome to Scrivener!

I decided to use some of my pittance of a tax return this year and purchase an organizational tool to help with my writing. Aside from having a serious lack of desk space to spread out all my research notes, galaxy maps, star charts, character profile sheets, and reference manuals, I find that I still struggle with some of the basic elements of writing.

I get lots of great ideas for stories. Getting the ideas is the easy part. My difficulty comes in trying to convert those tiny sparks of inspiration into full-fledged stories. I often struggle with moving from ideation and plot development into actual scene creation and producing a single cohesive story.

A couple of weeks ago I discovered “Scrivener”, a wonderful piece of writing software developed by the inventive and understanding folks at Literature and Latte (literatureandlatte.com). Not only do these guys understand software development, they understand the varying needs of writers.

To keep this short, I want to highlight just some of Scrivener’s features that I’ve found most interesting after using the tool for a week. I’m by no means an expert and I’m sure I’ll discover much more as I continue using the program.

Scrivener was designed with the writer in mind. When starting a new project, I can select from a number of provided templates. For example, suppose I want to start a new fiction project. Scrivener provides fiction templates for novels and short stories. Choosing any of these provides me with a basic structure already in standard manuscript submission format. And if I don’t like the standard formats, I can create my own customized formats and save them as templates to use later in other projects.

Scrivener’s working window gives me access to all my project files, located in one easy-to-find pane called the Binder. All my scenes, chapters, notes, research, character sheets, photos, pdf files, etc. are all stored in the Binder. If you have an electronic file saved somewhere on your computer or accessible on the web in almost any format, chances are you can import it into the Binder. Having all your files in one easily accessible location while you write means no more having to open up one reference file at a time, flipping back and forth between multiple windows on your computer to find what you need. Files from the Binder are easily “floated” over your open document for quick reference while you write. Scrivener’s basic templates also include simple character profile sheets so you can document everything you need to know about the people in your story.

When I begin a new story, I often use index cards to try and develop scene ideas and get a sense of the overall structure of my story. More often than not, the cards end up spread all over my bedroom floor. I write, cross out, scribble, tear up, arrange, and re-arrange all those cards endlessly until I’m happy. Then I number all the cards, just in case they break loose from their rubber band and go flying.

In Scrivener, I don’t have to worry about the cards getting away from me thanks to the Cork Board. With the Cork Board, I can create, change, add, delete, and move index cards all over the place without cluttering up my bedroom or risking their loss. All of the cards can be identified with a label (Concept, Chapter, Scene, etc.) and a Status (To Do, First Draft, Revision, Final Draft, etc.). The labels and statuses can also be customized to display whatever you need.

One of the coolest features I’ve found in Scrivener is the random Name Generator. Need help finding a male name? Female name? Foreign name? Hyphenated maiden-married name? Alliterated name? Simply use the Name Generator to make your characteristic selections, set the obscurity level, and move the slider to tell Scrivener how many names to generate, then push the Generate Names button and presto!

Personally, I’m easily distracted while I write and find it difficult to focus when it comes time to begin tallying up the word count. Scrivener’s Compose button lets me block out all the distractions on my computer and focus on getting my story written. I simply press the Compose button at the top of the screen and voila! No more distractions.

Everything on the compose screen is also fully customizable, from the background image to the size of the writing space itself, font sizes and paper colors, even the transparency and fade of the workspace. Since I write science fiction, I created a planetary theme for my Compose window using a wallpaper photo I found on the Internet.

In fact, everything about Scrivener is customizable, down to the color of thumbtacks you can select for your index cards (or you can remove thumbtacks altogether if you don’t want them). The essence of the program is to give writers access to all their tools and documents in one easily-accessible location. But the real beauty of Scrivener is the capability of working on your story in pieces, creating separate documents for each chapter, scene, etc. And when you’re finally done writing your drafts, the Compile feature lets you bring them all together into one cohesive manuscript, immediately formatted and ready for submission, including your name, address, title, byline, word count, and other necessary information.

Of course there’s a lot more to Scrivener than what I’ve shared here, but I didn’t really intend for this to be a pitch for Literature and Latte. I was just looking for a way to organize my work and get some help navigating my way through idea creation, plotting, scene generation, and finally writing my stories. I got a lot more than I expected from Scrivener.

The program can seem a little overwhelming at first with so many tools and ways of working. The great thing about Scrivener is there’s no right or wrong way to use it. Every tool is at your disposal and you can use it however you like, in whatever method best suits your writing style. And if you forget how to use any of the tools, there’s a helpful introductory tutorial that comes with the program. If you can’t find what you’re looking for in the intro, Literature and Latte has additional video tutorials and online user forums on their website.

Scrivener might not be for everyone and some will doubtless find other tools that work better for them. Personally, I needed a structured format for my writing and found that Scrivener does the job admirably. Aside from that, it’s so much fun and easy to use that it makes me want to dive in and write every day. And as far as I’m concerned, making it fun to write everyday is the best bonus I could have asked for.

The Revision Process

I recently read a book titled "Stein on Writing" by editor/author/instructor Sol Stein. A section of his book is dedicated to helping writers revise their drafts in the most efficient and effective manner. For those who've completed their first draft and find themselves in revision mode, I thought this would be a timely lesson to share.

When I first began writing, I figured I'd be finished with my story as soon as I typed the words "The End" in my first draft. I didn't know much about the revision process and thought my first draft would be my final submission after making a few minor spelling and grammar changes. Wow was I ever wrong!

I've come to think that the process of story-writing is much more like baking a cake. Writing that first draft is like gathering all the necessary ingredients together and setting them out on the kitchen counter to see what you have to work with and discover what you might still be missing. It isn't until the draft is written and the ingredients are all together that you whip out your revising cups and tablespoons and begin measuring in the flour, sugar, eggs, and spices until it tastes just right. Several revisions later, you're preheating the oven and spreading the frosting for everyone to enjoy!

According to Sol Stein, the best way to revise is to start with the big problems first. Then you work on the medium problems, small problems, and finally the tiny changes such as grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Tackle these areas in succession to make your revision process as quick and effective as possible:

1. Determine what represents the sense of wonder, enlightenment, or excitement in your story and make sure that level of enthusiasm is maintained throughout the story. Too many stories start out exciting and then just fizzle out.
2. Is the main character exciting enough to hold the reader's interest throughout the story? What motivates the main character and drives her to act and change throughout the story?
3. Do you really like your antagonist? You should! Your antagonist should be just as motivated to accomplish her goals as your protagonist and just as driven to succeed. Is your antagonist truly bad, or does she just behave badly? Villains who are truly evil are much more enjoyable than cardboard cut-outs who just cause trouble for the heck of it. What endearing or charming qualities does your villain possess that would allow the reader to care about them?
4. Don't neglect your minor characters. They need to be credible and believable with their own motivations to act.
5. Is the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist credible and strong enough to sustain the reader's attention throughout the story?
6. What is your most memorable scene? What makes it work so well? How can less memorable scenes be strengthened to this level?
7. What is your least memorable scene? Does it move the story forward? Would the story be stronger without it? Consider rewriting it or cut it out completely.
8. What are the three most important actions in your story? Are they motivated in a believable way? Remember that "coincidence" in a story is not a credible reason for any action to occur. Review all other actions and either strengthen, rewrite, or cut them if they're not absolutely necessary to moving the story forward.
9. Place yourself in the reader's seat and read the first page of your story. Are you compelled to keep reading? If not, you have work to do.
10. Make sure there's something visual on every single page of your story. Never give the reader an excuse to remember they're reading a story. Help them visualize and become involved in the story.
11. After fixing all the above, you're now ready for general revisions:

• Tighten the manuscript by cutting every word, sentence, paragraph and scene that does not contribute to the story. Be ruthless with your word choice and make every word work.
• Vary your sentence lengths to avoid a monotonous voice.
• Make sure the pacing matches your story arc.
• Fix point of view errors.
• Make sure the tension continues to mount throughout the story and the stakes are continually raised for the protagonist.
• Get rid of all but the most essential adjectives and adverbs.
• Eliminate all cliches and rewrite for originality.
• Vary and clarify all dialogue tags.
• Look for precise word choices and meanings.
• Add variety to your dialogue. Can exposition be replaced by dialogue? Is the dialogue confrontational enough? Does it actually move the story forward or is it just banter?
• Last but not least, correct all spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors.

By correcting the biggest problems first and working through your manuscript with the checklist above, your revision process will be much more focused, productive, and efficient.

By following this process, I've also learned to quiet my inner editor while I furiously write that first heated draft because I already know it won't be - and shouldn't be - perfect. I now know that writing my draft is just a way to sort through all the cupboards, drawers, and pantries looking for ideas and ingredients for a feast I can worry about baking and garnishing later for my readers.

Using Alpha and Beta Readers

It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes almost that many people to shape a story into a best selling work of art. If you open the front pages of any novel, you’re bound to see a list of people to whom the author feels indebted for their assistance in getting his book published. Spouses, parents, children, editors, and agents are among those typically mentioned.

I’d like to discuss two groups of people who probably don’t normally get recognized, but without whom a story would probably never even make it into the hands of the editors and agents in the first place. These are the Alpha and the Beta readers -- those insightful, sensitive individuals who so generously give up their evenings and weekends to read through your manuscript, then lovingly rip your story to shreds! (And just when you thought you were handing them your next best seller...)

“Oh, the pain!” you cry, clutching your heart when you see all that red ink scribbled in the margins and crammed in between the lines. And yet, at the same time, you can’t help but appreciate their feedback, knowing deep down that what they’ve told you is honest and true and probably for your own good, or at least the good of the story.

The problem is this: we can never truly review our own work with a high degree of objectivity. We’re simply too close to our stories, too close to our characters, too close to the settings and all the action. There’s nothing wrong with being so close, but it does severely limit our ability to see all the individual trees through the forest.

Most of the time for me, writing is simply a process of trying to make my fingers type fast enough to keep up with all the action going on inside my head. I see every color. I smell every drop of rain. I feel every wound that’s inflicted and every throat that gets strangled. I taste every morsel of crumbling moldy bread. I hear every laugh and every scream.

I do my best to capture all these experiences and arrange them on the page in exactly the right order using exactly the right words so my readers get to see and smell and feel and taste and hear exactly the same things. But it’s never exactly the same.

After all, it’s my imagination and I’m the one creating it and shaping it and trying to make it all fit together neatly. But what seems so clear to me can often appear vague or ambiguous to anyone who hasn’t shared my experience. Maybe I meant to say one thing, but ended up saying something completely different. Or I might have neglected to include that one tiny detail or snippet of information the reader needs to make an important connection later on.

As hard as we try to get everything just right, its simply impossible for us to keep track of it all and nail every thing every time in every scene. During our first pass edits and proof-reading sessions, we can easily overlook minor flaws and pale descriptions because we’ve already lived it and our memories automatically fill in all the blanks for us.

Not so for our poor first-time readers, who have no such experiences to help them out. That’s why Alpha and Beta readers are a writer’s best resource for finding areas in the story that aren’t working exactly the way we intended. Let’s take a quick look at each type of reader and see how their unique roles can help a writer tell the best story possible.

Alpha Readers
Alpha readers are the triage doctors and nurses, the general practitioners whose patience and experience allow them to take our mangled bleeding manuscript and fairly quickly assess which areas are probably still okay, which ones might need to be cauterized to staunch further loss and, most importantly, which parts may have to be amputated to save the whole body.

What are some of the skills and characteristics that a good Alpha reader needs to possess? For starters, they have to be good communicators with strong interpersonal abilities. The primary role of an Alpha reader is to deliver bad news to the writer in such a way that the writer feels happy to hear it. Not that the Alpha reader has to sugar-coat the bad news or tip-toe around the eggshells of a writer’s personal insecurities -- heck, any good writer should have developed a thick skin by now after all those rejection letters. But it does require a certain amount of tact and skill when discussing a story critique.

Alpha readers also need to possess a good understanding of basic story telling concepts like plotting, tension, character arcs, pacing, point of view, dialogue, and conflict. When Alpha readers receive a manuscript, their job is to look for the big holes and flaws in the story:

1. Which parts of the story seem too rushed? Too slow?
2. Are there areas in the story that seem cliche or that otherwise lack originality?
3. Are the characters and settings intriguing and imaginative?
4. Does the tension seem to rise towards an inevitable climax?
5. Does the ending seem natural and satisfying?
6. Does the narrative elicit appropriate emotional reactions and levels of involvement?
7. Are there parts of the story where the reader is pushed away and reminded that there are better ways of spending her time?
8. Are there any inconsistencies that need to be addressed? (The detective drives a blue Ford Torino in the opening scene that inexplicably turns red in the next.)
9. Does the dialogue between two minor characters serve a purpose, or is it just two people arguing for no apparent reason?
10. Are there too many clues that give away the ending too soon? Are there not enough clues, making the ending feel contrived or requiring a resolution via deus ex machina?

As you can see, good Alpha readers need to be grounded in a broad range of basic story telling concepts. Because of this, and also because of their experience in giving and receiving critical feedback, the best Alpha readers tend to be other writers.

Once the author has had a chance to correct any glaring issues identified by his Alpha readers, he’ll make another round of changes and send the manuscript off to the next group -- the Beta readers. If Alpha readers are the general triage unit, then Beta readers are the specialized cardiac and neuro surgeons.

Beta Readers
Good Beta readers enjoy reading. A lot. In fact, if given the choice, Beta readers would probably choose reading over just about any other activity. Beta readers also tend to be a highly sensitive and emotional group and may even seem to be on the verge of developing OCD tendencies towards the proper use of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. These are the people who will review your manuscript and, with a great air of triumph, point out every typo they found that your twelve gig duo core word processor overlooked. Beta readers will let you know:

1. That you accidentally used the word ‘allude’ when you meant to write ‘elude’.
2. That you use too much passive and not enough active voice.
3. That you have a bad habit of slipping into the past perfect tense.
4. That  you probably meant to write ‘category’  when you typed ‘cat orgy’.
5. That you’re confusing the colon with the semi-colon.
6. How irritating it is that you dangle your participles so much.

When Beta readers return your manuscript, you’ll read through their critique notes, then slap yourself upside the head for the number of times you read that same passage and missed something that glaringly obvious.

But that’s why Alpha and Beta readers are so essential to a writer. Since they’ve never seen your story before, since they’re not emotionally bound to the characters and the settings and the plot, they can spot problems you didn’t even know were there. So the next time you write out your special acknowledgements section, remember to give a shout out to all those brave pre-readers who helped bring your story to life and raise it to be the very best you could make it.