PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

NaNoWriMo

@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO

bawritersfromgood).Apple’sstyle
guie (pcpro.link/ 326 applestyle) also
hasa chapteron“writinginclusively”.
nelastresource that canhelp
wit a (very)specificchallengeis
Reedsy’scharacternamegenerator.
At cpro.link/ 326 reedsy, you’ll
ingeneratorsforallmannerof
intrnational,medievalandfantasy
na es(andmore)thatcanhelpbring
yor characterstolife.Youcould
alsuseittocome up withyourown
pename.

Stayingthecourse
WithTwitter,FacebookandthePC
Propodcastto distractyou,it’seasy

GetstartedwithScrivener

1

Createyourdocument

LaunchScrivenerandclickBlankinthesidebar.WiththeBlank

documentselected,clickCreate,thengiveyournewprojectaname.You

canchangethislater;it’sjustthefilenameunderwhichit’ssaved.Whenthe

fileopens,you’llseetwodistinctareas:thesidebarontheleft,inwhichyou

organisescenesandchapters,andthemainwritingpane.Therearetext

formattingcontrolsacrossthetop,asinaregularwordprocessor,butdon’t

worrytoomuchaboutthem,asyouwanttokeepyourtextfairlysimple.

3

Organiseyourwork

Oneofthebenefitsofusinga dedicatednovel-writingapplication

ratherthana wordprocessoristheabilitytoreworkthestructureofyour

bookasitdevelops.Youcanclickanddragscenesdirectlyinthesidebaror,

byclickingthecorkboardbutton(twototherightofthetitlepaneonthe

toolbar),viewthemasindexcards.Totheleft,you’llfindtheScrivenings

view,whichshowsallyourscenesina continuousstream,allowingyouto

readthemthroughinorder,whichisusefulwhenyou’reediting.

2

Structureyourcontent

Ifyoualreadyknowhowyourbookisgoingtoflow,createanew

chapterbyclickingthethreedotsatthebottomofthesidebar.Hoverover

Addinthemenu,andpickFolderfromthesub-menu.CallthisChapterOne.

Clickthefolder,thenclickthe“+”atthebottomofthesidebartocreateyour

firstscene.Youdon’thavetoorganiseyourworklikethis;youcouldjustas

easilywriteeverythinginasingle,longdocument.However,bybreaking

everythingdownyoucanskipbackandforthbetweenscenes.

4

Compileyournovel

Whenyou’vefinishedyournovel,youcanprintit,exportitinan

alternativeformat(suchasWord)orcompileitasanebook.Press

Ctrl+Shift+E(forCompile),thenselect“Epub3 ebook”fromtheCompileFor

menu.SelectthesectionsyouwanttoincludeintheCompilepane(far

right),thenclicktheMetadatabuttonandfillinthedetailsunderwhichyour

bookwillbeindexedbybookstoresandereaders.Attheveryleast,include

thetitlenameandyourauthorname.ClickCompiletocompletetheprocess.

tomiss your dailywordquotaunless

youhavesomeonelookingoveryour

shoulder.Ohwrite (ohwrite.co) can

actasthatvirtualsomeone;teamup

witha fellowNaNoWriMowriterand

youcancreatea privatewritingroom.

Asyou each beaver away, you’llbe

ableto trackeachother’s word count;

it’sup to youwhether youraceeach

otherorsetpersonaltargets. If you

don’thaveanyreal-life writing

friends to workagainst,youcanjoin

globalroomswithotherrandom

users.Onlyyourwordcountis

shared,notyour actualwords,so

youdon’tneedtoworry aboutthe

quality of whatyou’re puttingout.

Intheearlystages,theimportant

thingisgettinga roughfirstdraft

downonpaperorscreen.

Finally, checkouttheofficial

NaNoWriMositeatnanowrimo.org.

Thisiswhereyoucantrackyour

writingprogress,findwritingbuddies

soyoucanmotivateeachother,join

writinggroupsandmore.Youdon’t

havetosignupbeforestartingwork

onyour50,000-wordopus,butif

youdon’twanttoworkin isolation,

andwouldrathernotrevealyour

efforts to real-life friendsand family

untilyou’resurethey’rereadable,

thisisa greatplaceto findsome

motivationandsupport.