How to Outline a Novel in Scrivener

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6 жыл бұрын

Want tips on how to outline a novel in Scrivener?
Scrivener is a plotter’s paradise. It offers so many tools to help you outline your novel.
The corkboard, outline mode, the inspector…
In this video I show you how I used Scrivener to outline several of my novels.
This video will give you ideas on how to stay organized, how to write your outline without going crazy, and how to make sure it helps you when you’re writing your draft.
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Пікірлер: 107

@AuthorLevelUp 6 жыл бұрын

For more tips on outlining, check out my popular 10 Ways to Outline a Novel Video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eM6ahb1inbDboI0.html

@BarbTodd 2 жыл бұрын

The outline video is FANTASTIC!

@kennyarone2762 7 ай бұрын

"I bought Scrivener a few years back, and I've been setting aside time to learn something new about it at least 2-3 times a week. You're the best at helping me learn Scrivener, and I find it easy to understand you. Just to let you know, I'm 84 years old. "

@Schokoversum Жыл бұрын

The "What if?" document at the beginning is amazing!!! The History of the World!! I am sitting here, nodding and saying "this is so amazing". Thank you so much for this video!

@truelifeandfiction 4 жыл бұрын

I'm viewing this video late but I love the statement that it is better to have an imperfect outline and an amazing story rather than a beautiful outline and no story. I will be remembering this.

@karengarrison4237 Жыл бұрын

Love the "WHAT IF" questions.

@sara_s_ 4 жыл бұрын

I really enjoyed doing the "what if?" exercise, and it was helpful too.

@shane5132 3 жыл бұрын

"Don't get married to everything you've written." That really helped me get past my faulty plotline.

@ApplesThatRead 5 жыл бұрын

Just wanted to say you did a really great job at planning your story and PRESENTING that info in a logical way! A lot of creatives struggle to do that and a lot of videos I've viewed didn't have this great of a utility.

@AuthorLevelUp 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much. :)

@theresastolk9620 5 жыл бұрын

Michael, I love the way you make Scrivener usable, and how you simplify the use of the tools available.Thank you, you are really great at this and I have learnt an enormous amount just by watching your videos.

@AuthorLevelUp 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you! :)

@pacellitorres8075 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much. As a non native speaker I always appreciate a clear message with a clear voice.

@kuttaperkka1463 5 жыл бұрын

Me too. Thank you Michael!

@Red_Proton 2 жыл бұрын

I love your process for world/character development and backstory. I do the same. It’s incredibly helpful; the story evolves and progresses organically on its own. It’s almost like I’m no longer writing the story but archiving a historical document.

@elizabethl9886 2 жыл бұрын

Several good tips here - thank you Michael. I especially liked the tip about adding the meta data. You used it for location. For me, with multiple viewpoints and timelines, I could add “time” here. Up to this point, I was unsure how to handle this aspect to structuring my novel in Scrivener.

@jolespin 4 ай бұрын

I just started writing my own book and this was SUPER helpful. Thank you so much. Just subscribed.

@laledavidson5248 3 жыл бұрын

I love the flexible writing advice that comes with these instructions. Very calming.

@paully12b 5 жыл бұрын

This guy is the MAN!

@fortyoneshades 4 жыл бұрын

He is indeed a man. Nice observation.

@derekdd5229 10 ай бұрын

Been using Scrivener for a few years but never used the corkboard option. Thanks for the walk through that was helpful.

@angiecostabr Жыл бұрын

I'm not usually the groupie type, but I find myself with a lot of other things to do and seriously thinking about postponing them, so I can check just one more video from Author Level Up.

@AuthorLevelUp Жыл бұрын

@stephaniebyard3958 2 жыл бұрын

Seeing the Acts & Plot Points together was super helpful! You also have a great presentation voice and steady way of presenting. Thank you for this!

@aliajohns3070 7 ай бұрын

I can listen to you for hours. Great communicator!

@IngramSnake Жыл бұрын

Thanks for your videos. They have motivated me to get my writing going.

@theblackessence802 5 жыл бұрын

This is so helpful. Thank you so much.

@vikramtheone 5 жыл бұрын

Fantastic tutorial. Thank you.

@MikeBennettAuthor 4 жыл бұрын

Hi Michael. Thanks for making these Scrivener tutorials, they're really useful and have helped me get a handle on what is otherwise a fairly mind boggling program. However, when I was halfway through this video I saw you go into talk of "threaded cork board mode" and I thought: What??? What is that??? You only talk about it briefly, but to me this is a huge feature that I previously had no idea existed. I'm going to mess around with it now and see if I can get it to do something similar to what you illustrate in the video. But I think it would be great if you could make a few shorter videos focussing on specific features of Scrivener - like threaded cork board mode, for example. They would be really helpful for people like me, and really beneficial for you in terms of getting new subscribers (it was the Scrivener tutorials that brought me here and got me to subscribe). Anyway, thanks again. Best M

@ink2467 3 жыл бұрын

I was really shocked by this as well. It looked amazing. Turns out, it is not available on Windows, unless you install a 3.0 beta version I think. Pretty strange

@Crowka274 4 жыл бұрын

You sir, are indispensable.

@jazzyfiddler 4 жыл бұрын

This was SO helpful, thank you!!

@TheRealMrWolf 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for all these guides!

@rhonemeister 4 жыл бұрын

Very cool video, super helpful!!! Thanks.

@SubunitProductions 3 жыл бұрын

This was incredibly helpful! Just subscribed! Thanks so much.

@BrookeClonts 2 жыл бұрын

This is a lot of awesome content! thank you!

@rkiwi9485 Жыл бұрын

This was very helpful, thank you.

@thekingsofheart 2 жыл бұрын

This was really helpful to me. Thank you for your efforts!

@musicfiend98 Жыл бұрын

THANK YOU! I just got scrivener and I'm very confused. This was very helpful :)

@saralynn3322 3 жыл бұрын

I've just discovered this channel and you seem so kind! Very helpful information! Keep it up!

@chezshelly 3 жыл бұрын

This was a great video. I found seeing your process helpful. The game changer for me though was the thread feature. I can see so many uses for that. Thanks for your content. 😄

@BazColne 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your presentation.

@PurpleAliens11 Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for posting this. Very helpful

@michellekyle1880 Жыл бұрын

This is very helpful and informative. Thank you.

@blakesleep 2 жыл бұрын

Great video - Thanks!

@twylaferguson2393 3 жыл бұрын

This video was so helpful, and easy to understand. Thank you

@AuthorLevelUp 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching.

@warmflash 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the demonstration Michael. Thanks for your channel. It's great and so are you! xxxxxc

@AuthorLevelUp 3 жыл бұрын

Oh thank you!

@tommyservo9660 Жыл бұрын

Great video, Thank you.

@KellyLivett 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for this video. This is exactly the information I was looking for and I have been through so many other videos that didn't really have the information I needed. Awesome work!

@AuthorLevelUp 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much. Glad it helped you. :)

@Jonas_Fox 5 жыл бұрын

Starting to setup Scrivener for Windows now that v3 is in beta. I'm liking the outline feature. I was thinking it might be nice to use the threaded cork board to do something like JK Rowling's "Series Arcs" but I'll have to play with it to see how it goes. Thanks for the tips Micheal!

@TheWolffness 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you! That was helpful!

@Urbanshake 4 жыл бұрын

Great video. (I'm a discovery writer who's just starting to balance that with plotting). Thanks

@JayGeezw 3 жыл бұрын

This guy is brilliant.

@lunalovebad5867 6 жыл бұрын

Very helpful! I've been using Scrivener but basically it was just another Word to me, haha. Thank you!

@AuthorLevelUp 6 жыл бұрын

No problem, Luna. You wouldn’t happen to be related to a Luna Lovegood, would you? ;)

@FF-FAN9999 4 жыл бұрын

great stuff thank you

@DerekMurphycreativindie Жыл бұрын

Awesome!

@maidden 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@melvinhathorn4988 2 жыл бұрын

Well done! I wonder if you can use the heroes journey in outlining

@bigphilly7345 6 жыл бұрын

Another great video. I'd love to see a short video on how to compile a manuscript for submission. I still submit short stories for traditional markets and using Scrivener to compile into William Shunn's short story submission format would be helpful.

@AuthorLevelUp 6 жыл бұрын

Nice idea, Philip! I think I actually used to have my own Compile preset for that very thing, actually. I’ll see if I still have it.

@bigphilly7345 6 жыл бұрын

Author Level Up that would be awesome. Thanks

@johnnyragadoo2414 3 жыл бұрын

Good thoughts. Have you seen the locked outline mode in Scrivener? That lets you put the outline in one side of the edit window and the other side shows the document for the outline you click on. My favorite setup, which I kept as saved workspace, was to show the topic and the synopsis in the outline. That gave me a traditional outline the navigated the documents.

@DLeRoux 5 жыл бұрын

Hi Michael. Outstanding videos on Scrivner. Truly are helping me! Do you by any chance have a template of your 3 act, 7 point outline for download at all? Perhaps a video going over it in detail would be an awesome addition. Much love from South Africa!

@AuthorLevelUp 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much. No, I do not have a template available, but it something I may work on here in the near future.

@CJEdmunds 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for this tip. Very helpful and makes me appreciate, apart from being awed, scrivener all the more. I used to have the trial version of the software but never gotten around to fully use it. This time with my WIP, looks like I'd be more willing to give this a try.

@stevegreen6391 2 жыл бұрын

These videos are providing super helpful as someone who's just starting to use Scrivener Michael, thank you. Further down the line, as a project gains a title, can you rename the project? Is it as simple as just renaming the.scriv file?

@AuthorLevelUp 2 жыл бұрын

Yes, you can rename the file. Super easy.

@violenttriangles 3 жыл бұрын

Damn you have amazing teaching cadence

@tonydyer2919 6 жыл бұрын

?I must admit that I agree with THE HOUSE OF RAM that it was jarring to have you talk about outlining after your Writing into the Dark video. What is your true position?

@AuthorLevelUp 6 жыл бұрын

Tony, I do not outline anymore. Thanks for the comment, I’ll address this in a future video.

@thalatsa_8222 3 жыл бұрын

매우 간결하고 몹시 친절하다

@LeonAllanDavis 4 жыл бұрын

Personally, I don't like doing notes and outlines on a computer. I do the text only. I use notebooks to outline short stories and novels. Old school. When I'm doing an outline, the narrative evolves. Changes. I put the date on each page. I usually begin with the ending. That way, I'm writing towards a destination. But that could change. I go back and cross stuff out...rewrite...insert pages. I use cheap copy paper in cheap 3-ring binders. I have stacks of these things with stories in various stages of completion. Doing all this on a computer is just too slow and awkward and looking for a file can be a real PITA. It's too easy to forget what you've written. Or what you want to write. Putting pen to paper is the only way to go...

@TNTX2010 2 жыл бұрын

I've read articles and blogs and watched videos on how to create an outline and I've created my first outline, but I really don't know how to turn that into a novel. I ended up with my own process for outlining that worked. It's a large and expansive outline, far more than I expected. I know I'm missing some part of the process. How can, or should, someone go about turning a detailed outline into a novel? Thanks

@kimkfrancis7415 4 жыл бұрын

I have looked all over the internet and the Scrivener manual to learn how to create two columns of text in my book, with no success. Can you help?

@aNa-oo1xb 4 жыл бұрын

I use scrivener on iPad and there is a “t” up in the display and i have no ideia what’s for. Could somebody please tell me?

@mercster 3 жыл бұрын

What I want to write is a semi-autobiographical Bildungsroman that then ventures into existential philosophy. I appreciate in this video how you're using the software, but... I need it to be non-linear. Episodes will be either tent-posts or color commentary/filler that provides context. Here you're presenting a fairly linear fiction story. Do you have any advice for me? I know how to outline very well... but I want to use Scrivener (if possible) to treat the text in a sort of object-oriented way. I want to be able to manipulate an outline, using it as the skeletal structure that I copy and move content in and out of, in different areas. Can you give me any tips there? I don't know if Scrivener is capable of this sort of organizational method. Thanks a lot.

@mercster 3 жыл бұрын

I reckon what I'm saying is... I don't need to organize characters. I need to organize scenes over a lifetime, but in a non-linear fashion. I need to be able to construct a collection of experiences (some spanning a few hours... others spanning a few years) and somehow organize this... I am good with software, so I am hoping Scrivener will allow me to do this in some spatial/visual way. Maybe I'm asking too much. 😏 But if anyone can answer this, you can. Thanks again.

@waaagh3203 5 жыл бұрын

Good video bro. My biggest complaint: I have two thumbs but KZfaq will only let me give you one thumb up :(

@huntresseleven8825 4 жыл бұрын

How much space do you need on a laptop to run Scrivener? Will 8GB/128SSD be enough?

@AuthorLevelUp 4 жыл бұрын

That’s More than enough.

@LouiseQuoVadis 5 жыл бұрын

In this video are you using a MAC? Where is the pre-production column you are using?

@thisisadebrown 5 жыл бұрын

So you put the series/trilogy in the same scrivener file? If so, that is interesting ...

@AuthorLevelUp 5 жыл бұрын

Yes, I have been doing it for years and it’s more convenient.

@thisisadebrown 5 жыл бұрын

@@AuthorLevelUp that's so simple and so genius for cross referral, having everything in one place, and reminding oneself... It's amazing how the simple things are so obvious, that you've never seen somebody else do it... I just noticed that I didn't ever hear you mention it before that was all

@2BlackQQeyes 3 жыл бұрын

Dear Michael, Any chance you know whether Scrivener can get backed up on iCloud?

@AuthorLevelUp 3 жыл бұрын

No, I don't believe so.

@2BlackQQeyes 3 жыл бұрын

@@AuthorLevelUp then, drop box or Maybe Google drive can save your WIP?

@AuthorLevelUp 3 жыл бұрын

Dropbox

@fortyoneshades 4 жыл бұрын

What is "Scouting" in your Pre-Production? Setting and location building?

@johnniepegues305 Жыл бұрын

Hello what suggestions could you offer for a writer who write longhand but does not type I have some completed work that I'm going to submit for Chicken Soup for the Soul I'm two chapters away from completing nonfiction book I have enough poetry for a book and I have other projects that I would like to write I love writing short stories particles and things of that sort I used to write with a group of Chicago and they would publish the work cordially I still enjoy riding only hair writer's block twice in my life 2001 with my mother passed on it right for a year and then recently my brother passed last year try anything significant this is MS.JOHNNIE thank you

@authorannebraun1693 2 жыл бұрын

Hi Michael; I have sent a message through your website hoping that you would have some time for a chat. Would love to avail myself of some of your expertise and experience in your author journey. In the meantime, have a very Happy Thanksgiving! :)

@landonhagan450 5 жыл бұрын

Xandifer Tyrone Crenshaw. Badass name.

@AuthorLevelUp 5 жыл бұрын

@cesarTeixeiratex 6 жыл бұрын

Hi Mike! Do you know ywritter software?

@AuthorLevelUp 6 жыл бұрын

Hi Cesar, yes-I have heard of it, but I’ve never used it since I have a Mac.

@i-want-fries1931 5 жыл бұрын

cool video but why are you on the left side and not in the middle? its weirdly bothering me idk

@theladyangelaIIIpodcastchannel Жыл бұрын

Hello. The serious problem I have encountered with Scrivener is that when I extract the Novel, it comes out with the Manuscript. I DON'T want that. I only need the pdf NOVEL. That's it! Another mayor factor is that the page number DONNOT appear. Plus, their is not Table of Content or Index. There is NO author pen names at the top of the page story, as per page!. Is very boring. I don't care what all the features it has, if in the end it lacks everything a structured Novel contents should have. I feel that Scrivener was created for screenplays ONLY! Also, the page format for a novel or book sizes 6 x9" inches is not even set up by Scrivener itself. It comes with a standard PX. Which means that it does not allow to reach the 6 x9" inches that most books are set for.

@gkstr11 5 жыл бұрын

I like your content, but you only really started explaining scrivener features at the eleventh minute. Everything before that was a showcase for your book, documentation that is scrivener irrelevant. But after the eleventh minute, you were amazing!!!

@johnniepegues305 Жыл бұрын

Do known writers help unknown writers✏️

@adrianinha19 6 жыл бұрын

I think it's strange you make a video about outlining when you said you don't it an a previous video, it takes away consistency and a bit of credibility. I appreciate the tips thou, since I do outline and I do find them helpful.

@AuthorLevelUp 6 жыл бұрын

I don’t outline anymore but I did it for a long time. I still think people can find a video like this useful, as I recognize that not everyone is a panster.

@loreaoli 4 жыл бұрын

So confused, in your book 'be a writing machine," you eschew outlining completely (which I disagree with). Now as I listen to your video you are outlining like a machine :)