The Motivational Editor

Helping Writers Go from Unpublished to Published

Scrivener tutorials

Scrivener’s Distraction-free Writing Options

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Distractions. Today’s culture has plenty of them, and they seem to have caused an epidemic of short attention spans.

When writing, the easiest way to be distraction free is to close down the programs that distract you. That means close your email program, any social media pages open on your browser, and possibly even your browser. It also means shutting the bedroom/office door to keep out the pets and the family (if at all possible).

But you can only do so much to minimize the distractions of your writing program. You can hide rulers and menu bars. [Read more…] about Scrivener’s Distraction-free Writing Options

Scrivener for Windows 9 quick tech tips for working faster

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Scrivener for Windows 9 Quick Tech TipsMany writers prefer to have a distraction-free screen as they write. For Scrivener users that means working with the binder and inspector closed. But when you need to do specific tasks that can often mean reopening either.

Today, I’d like to show you some Scrivener shortcuts that will help you avoid that.  [Read more…] about Scrivener for Windows 9 quick tech tips for working faster

How to Format Small Caps in MS Word and Scrivener

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You’re quoting the Bible in your book and many of the verses use LORD in small caps. But you don’t know how to get those little capitals so you type LORD in your manuscript.

Or maybe you missed the fact completely that Lord was in all caps. I see that often in the nonfiction manuscripts I edit.

If you fail to use all caps, you are misquoting the verse. Lord and LORD represent different Hebrew words.

If you’ve made this mistake, don’t worry. Creating them is simple, both in MS Word and in Scrivener (but not on the web!). [Read more…] about How to Format Small Caps in MS Word and Scrivener

Two Ways for Tracking Important Elements of Your Story

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You’re writing your story in multiple point of view. How do you keep track of how many scenes you have in each POV?

Your story has a specific time frame. How do you track your scenes to ensure you follow that timeline?

Maybe your story takes place in 5 different cities. How can you ensure you’re in the right place?

Today, I’m going to look at 2 ways for tracking important elements of your story and how you can see them at a glance. [Read more…] about Two Ways for Tracking Important Elements of Your Story

Customizing the Scrivener Toolbar

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Making Scrivener work for you—rather than the other way around—can start with customizing your toolbars. Scrivener offers a lot of tools to make things easy. As you discover them, you’ll want the ones you use most, on your toolbar for easy access.

Customizing the Scrivener Toolbar

 

Last time we were talking about snapshots and I promised to tell you how to add that icon to your toolbar. So let’s get started.

[Read more…] about Customizing the Scrivener Toolbar

How to Use Snapshot in Scrivener

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Using Scrivener Snapshots

In my pre-Scrivener days of writing, I used MS Word. It got the job done, but when it was time to revise I got paranoid.

  • What if I didn’t like all the changes I had just made?
  • What if I liked most of them, but not all?
  • What if deleted an entire scene, then two days later realize I needed that scene after all?

So I learned work arounds… [Read more…] about How to Use Snapshot in Scrivener

How to Split and Merge Documents in Scrivener

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Scenes are the building blocks of your story. So let’s take a quick look at the definition of a scene.

Jack M. Bickham, in his book Scene & Structure, defines scene this way:

It’s a segment of story action, written moment-by-moment, without summary, presented onstage in the story “now.”

James Scott Bells says in Plot & Structure:

Much of the time a scene takes place in a single location, and almost always is played out in real time.

A scene has a goal, conflict, and a climax in miniature, [Read more…] about How to Split and Merge Documents in Scrivener

How to find overused words in your manuscript

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Every writer has words she or he uses too often. I call them crutch words. Words like “well, smiled, laughed, however, tears, cried” etc., in addition to adverb usage.

These words aren’t easily spotted when you revise simply because you’re looking at other things like character and plot development.

So today I’m going to show you how to find those words whether you use MS Word or Scrivener. [Read more…] about How to find overused words in your manuscript