Scrivener Collections Pt. 3: Getting at the Facets of Your Writing

Scrivener is a powerful writing tool. I write about it weekly with tips and usage ideas. To read more of my posts click the Scrivener tag or category at the end of the page.

Just as a gemstone must be cut, so it is with a writing project. There are a variety of ways to approach editing any book. Fortunately, Scrivener’s Collections allow you to organize the various stages of your editing and help you get to the final version of your writing project that is your diamond.

If you’ve been reading my Scrivener posts the last few weeks you’ll know I’ve been discussing the use of collections. For those who may have missed the other posts they are here & here. Today, I continue with collection usage and approaching my current edits for my second novel in The Bow of Hart Saga, An Arrow Against the Wind.

My first round of editing covers structure whereby I’m adding necessary chapters and scenes to the book. To that end, last week’s post covered creating a collection and schedule for this editing. While I’m certainly not finished with that round of editing, I’m going to discuss the next type of structural editing that I can schedule now using collections.

For those who are wondering, yes, multiple collections can be created for any number of reasons. So my next collection will cover style. The chapters and scenes will address different ones to those added last week as well as some saved searches I expect to use during this editing phase.

If you need instructions on creating collections, please refer to the last 2 Scrivener posts linked above in this post. From this point, I’ll assume if you’re reading you understand what I’m doing. In the following screen-shot, you’ll note that I’ve create a second collection named Structural Edit – Style as it appears in the list of collections.

As I mentioned earlier, the chapters and scenes for this collection are different since I switched to deep POV during the time I wrote this draft. So I’ve identified the chapters that need to be edited to deep POV style. Note the chapters are different between the two collections.

Similar to the first collection, I’ve edited the meta-data for Status and Labels and I’ve applied them in similar fashion to the first one. I’ve learned to edit for these changes previously, so I’ve created some searches based on these so I can use them in the chapters to I can quickly make basic changes before making more specific ones. This makes editing the chapter or scene in question much quicker.

Now when I’m ready to proceed to this phase of my structural editing, I’m ready with a schedule and expected searches. If I need anything new, I’ll be able to add the necessary elements to the collection.

Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. Interested in more of my writing? Just click one of the retailer banners on the sidebar to see more.

About the Author

P. H. Solomon lives in the greater Birmingham, AL area where he strongly dislikes yard work and sanding the deck rail. However, he performs these duties to maintain a nice home for his loved ones as well as the family’s German Shepherds. In his spare time, P. H. rides herd as a Computer Whisperer on large computers called servers (harmonica not required). Additionally, he enjoys reading, running, most sports and fantasy football. Having a degree in Anthropology, he also has a wide array of more “serious” interests in addition to working regularly to hone his writing. The Bow of Destiny is his first novel-length title with more soon to come.

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