Camp Nano Prep

[singedsun]

As I mentioned recently, I'm finally in a place to pick back up my novel from November in order to continue where I'd left off and add some more words in April during Camp Nano. I ended November with ~52k and in April I'm hoping to add about 20k. I've been taking my novel and notes out of Google Docs and putting it into Scrivener in order to put together the outline and figure out what I'm missing.

I've done some organizing of the first five or so chapters and I've already identified a few scenes I need to add in. I've also capture a lot of notes about tone and setting that I can use in April to help get me started on filling in those scenes.

Some of the author Youtubers I watch have been doing extra livestreams right now, which have been helpful background noise while getting organized. I also follow one of them on Patreon and she's had some Patreon livestreams which helped me find a Camp group to join for April. I'm kind of new to doing Camp, even though I've done about 10 Nanowrimos. But in November working on this book in particular, I discovered how much I really enjoy having other writers writing nearby. And writing sprints with groups is incredibly helpful for me too.

Anyway, as part of this process of getting my notes extracted from my novel and organizing the chapters, I finally put together my playlist for this novel. I thought I'd share it in case anyone is interested.

As I've said before, it's a little depressing -- this whole book is a little depressing. But it's got a religious and supernatural bent to it, think The Exorcist. I also chose kind of low-key, low-energy songs for this, because that's kind of the vibe I got into when writing. I'd never heard Matt Maeson music before working on this novel, and found that Grave Digger was such a good theme song for this WHOLE book.

I am struggling slightly with Scrivener. I've used it before but never the way I am for this novel, so it's taking a bit of work, so I'm glad I've started early. If anyone else uses Scrivener for novel writing and has tips/tricks, I'm definitely open to learning more.

Comments

[nyctanthes]

I'm by no means a particularly sophisticated Scrivener user. So you might be doing all this already! But for longer pieces, each chapter gets its own folder, and each scene/set piece is a separate text file. I tend to write initial drafts long/in one piece. Then I chop the text into smaller pieces, because it makes it easier to rearrange the order, if necessary. As well as see what's missing (i.e., when it's not all in one file I don't get so caught up in the plot that I miss where additional details are needed for POV, character, worldbuilding, etc. I can really dig into a scene. The nice thing about Scrivener is that the files are so much more connected than in Word, so it's easier to edit this way.)

I use the notes file on the right hand side a lot. I feel like it's a good way to gently kill your darlings (they're not deleted! they're just sleeping over there where I can see them!) or to cannibalize text from my other works without dumping it straight in and dealing with detailed edits when it's not time for that. It's also a way to take research from the research folder and highlight it when the time comes.

I get rid of most of the templates. I use the research file to organize links by category (most common for me: time, place, occupational details). I research as I go, rather than do it up front, so that's helpful for me. I also have separate folders for images I find on Tumblr, as well as quotes from books that I'm reading.

I'm sure there are ways to link things together more as well, but I tend to keep a lot in my head, so don't bother.

[senmut]

In my original writing, the 'each chapter gets its own folder' is so true. But I do use the templates... my world spans from ~1700 to past present day, so I find those character templates helpful.

Likewise, the research folder has a timeline doc and a spot I jot down the name/basic interaction of minor characters.

Good luck!

[nyctanthes]

One thing I just wondered is whether there's a way to use Scrivener to keep track of what is, for me, one of the most annoying aspects of writing: the who sat where when. Keeping track of bodies in space, whether it's snowy outside or sunny, all the little things that I put in and then...d'oh! She never put down that dish she was washing! In TV/movies it's continuity, and I suppose the same word can be used in writing.

I have so much more sympathy for showrunners now.

[senmut]

I empathize. We were just discussing in my Discord about having to sometimes physically choreograph things to be able to keep track of a fight, or other activity. The who is where and when gets even more fun...

[singedsun]

I would think the comment area would be a good place for these? Or a new tab in the project area? I've seen people use basic excel spreadsheets for that too. I wonder if in the script template there's something different that helps keep track of shot continuity like that.

[singedsun]

Do you have a timeline template that you use or have you just created your own?

I know there's a program called... Aeon Timeline I've seen people using for keeping track/plotting of timelines specifically.

[senmut]

We were using Preceden, but I've switched that kind of thing over to World Anvil. It makes it pretty easy to make events and tie them to a timeline that cross-references other articles like people and places.

[impala_chick]

Is Scrivener a subscription service, or do you buy the software? The more I write in google docs, the more I realize it would be great to be able to break things up by chapter so that I can rearrange. Also, I think I want to do Camp Nano this year and continue with the novel I started in November. I agree that writing sprints with groups helps keep me motivated.

[singedsun]

It's software that you buy a license for. And usually if you take part in Nanowrimo or Camp Nano, you can get a discount off the software - which is how I got it. When I work in Google Docs, I use headers and the outline format, so I can move around quick in big docs. But having something like even the free Microsoft OneNote program where I can break things out into separate sections is a big help. Scrivener has a lot of bits to it, so it takes some getting used to.

[impala_chick]

Oh, got it.

Google docs has headers?? Clearly I'm not utilizing it effectively. *skips off to find youtube tutorials*

[singedsun]

YES! Okay so this is what I do. At the start of each new chapter, I use the styles (under format where it says Normal Text, if you change the drop down to use Header 1, it like autocreates that as an outline point. And then under view there's an Outline format you can turn on and off. If you have it on, you get an outline set up on the left side of the screen where you can see all the chapter headers you've made with the Heading styles. It's pretty useful.

[impala_chick]

Oh excellent, thanks so much! This is a game changer! I've been using separate docs to spread things out this whole time.

[singedsun]

Glad it helps!

[lassarina]

I use scrivener a ton for all manner of projects. What sort of tips are you looking for? Organization, outlining, editing, character and setting dossiers, drafting...???

[singedsun]

Oh man. This is my first time at attempting a manuscript in Scrivener. But ultimately just help with anything that feels like it's useful. I don't yet know what all the bits and bobs do and I want to make it useful for me so I keep using it, you know? I don't think I'll ever draft in it... writing stream of consciousness in Google Docs is just so second nature at this point.

Oh, like are there templates like downloadable templates for other stuff? I'm very curious how people outline in it, that's for sure. Organization is also good though. I'm kind of following the standard formula in the manuscript template, but I'm open to more useful options.

[lassarina]

A few years ago for getyourwordsout I did a post on how I used Scrivener to write Every Light Casts A Shadow, which hits on several of the major features and how I use them at a very high level.

There are definitely downloadable templates - Jami Gold has several for download in a variety of formats that include Scrivener templates, and while hers are the ones that came first to mind, she's not the only one.

Broadly speaking the way I outline in Scrivener is I write scene summaries on index cards (that will turn into scene documents) and then drag them around until they're in an order I like, adding them to collections to note which plot arc(s) they belong to. Then I make my character and setting documents, and if I'm really feeling fancy I add in an Aeon Timeline document to keep track of where everything's happening in time (although I haven't done anything that complex yet, I have a few stories in mind that will require it if I want to pull them off.) I also use the snapshot feature really extensively when I'm editing, in case I muck something up and delete something I needed to keep.

I think one of the big problems with Scrivener is that, kind of like bullet journaling, it is exactly what you want it to be and that flexibility is kind of its undoing. I came in from having used Liquid Story Binder, which is almost the opposite - it has way too many tools, many of which are extremely similar, and so I had an idea of a lot of tools I wanted to use and I just created them for myself in Scrivener and went from there, but if you're coming from basically a Microsoft Word/Google Docs setup, it's like "but....?????"

[singedsun]

This is a great help! Thank you. I'm going to trawl through links for templates too.

[lassarina]

I can screencap and Discord (or screenshare?) some of my projects too, if that would be helpful. I vary how much I use the tools based on the project. Some things get way more detail than others and I tend to use the tools much more in the editing stages than in drafting.