Now that we’ve decided whether or not we have time to do Nano, learned that we have to plan our NaNoWriMo novel, and learned elementary things about story structure, it’s time we started the actual building of the project. I’m going to give you the information for SmartEdit Writer, WriteWay, and Scrivener. I won’t be giving it for Liquid Story Binder because (to be honest), I only had the demo, time ran out, and… I can’t remember how! Today you get how to do this in Scrivener. Tomorrow, SmartEdit Writer, and the day after is WriteWay.
Scrivener
If you don’t own Scrivener, WAIT to do this step until November 1! You only have 30 days with the demo. Jump to the synopsis section.
- Download and install Scrivener on November 1 as early in the day as you have time.
- Start a new project, and give it the name of your stellar first NANO novel, whatever it may be. Frankenstein’s Revenge, A Tale of Two Gilligans’, what have you.
- Here’s where knowing shortcuts really pays off. CTRL+SHIFT+N creates a chapter. CTRL+N creates a new scene. Using fast keys, I can create and set up a new novel project in about 3 minutes.
- CTRL+SHIFT+N 3 times. Name them ACT 1, ACT 2, ACT 3.
- Select ACT 1.
- CTRL+SHIFT+N seven (7) times. Name them Chapter 1, 2, etc. If you’re doing the demo, leave it at that. You don’t have time for poking and polishing. Scrivener is free for you only until November 30.
- Select ACT 2. CTRL+SHIFT+N fourteen (14) times.
- Select ACT 3. CTRL+SHIFT+N seven (7) times. All of your acts and chapters are now done. You just need scenes. You’ll create 3 scenes per chapter.
- Select Chapter 1. CTRL+N three (3) times.
- Repeat for each chapter.
- Toggle the “I” icon. That’s your inspector. You’re going to need it.
- Synopsis Section… This section can either be done by mouse click on every scene, down arrow (fast keys ALT+SHIFT+down arrow), or by going to the cork board. Welcome to Scrivener. There’s at least two ways (often more) to do everything. And whichever way you prefer is the right way.
- Choose a scene. Either type the scene synopsis into the synopsis section in the inspector or into the note card on the cork board!
- Choose Act 1. Enter the note – “12,500”. That’s how many words you need in act 1 and 3. Enter the same note in act 3.
- Choose act 2. Enter the note “25,000”. That’s how many words you need in act 2.
- Choose every chapter and enter the note “1785”. That’s how many words on average you need a chapter.
- Choose every scene and add “585” at the end of EVERY synopsis. That’s how many words on average you need per scene.
- UPDATE 10-16-19 I forgot this point! This is a key to everything I do in Scrivener to keep on track! The bottom right hand corner in every scene in Scrivener shows a archery target. CLICK ON THAT. It will prompt you for a “target for this document”. Enter 585 and make sure “Words” is selected (hint – you can set that for characters and plot out all your Tweets in there also). You will now get a progress indicator!
- Project notes. I’d type in all 60 plot points in your novel. Don’t have 60 plot points? We’re going to go over why and how in a few days! These will all go here. For now, type them in Evernote. Once you have Scrivener, you’re going to enter one plot point per scene. You have 84 scenes, 60 plot points. 30 plot points go in Act 2,15 in act 1 and 15 in act 3. Some scenes will not have a plot point. Don’t worry. As you write, you’ll drop plot points and add others.
- You are now ready to write your NaNoWriMo project! Your last step is to go to Project>project targets or just type in CTRL+, and it pops open automatically. Remember that – while you’re in full screen mode (F11), you’ll want to have the project targets window open.
- Type in 50,000 as your project target. Words per day is 1667.
Start writing November 1!
Conclusion
This was no doubt a VERY boring blog post to read. Very pithy, how to instructions, etc. Follow these instructions and you’ll be all set to start November 1. DO NOT CHEAT and start writing now! You’re now ready to start Nano, and finish your novel!
And the good news is, once you’ve done it – you’ll look forward to this EVERY YEAR!
