Writing a Novel with Scrivener [Kindle Edition]

David Hewson (Author)

Book Description

The writing and story development program Scrivener is taking the world by storm. Here the bestselling author David Hewson, creator of the successful Nic Costa series, offers a personal, highly-focussed guide to using this powerful application to create a novel, now newly-updated to cover the brand new release version for Windows.
Hewson, a Scrivener user for years who's written five of his popular novels in the app, takes users through the basic processes of structuring a full-length novel, writing and developing the story, then delivering it either as a manuscript for an agent or publisher or as an ebook direct to Kindle or iBook.
Alongside the practical advice, he offers a working novelist's insight into the process of writing popular fiction. And this book is, of course, created entirely within Scrivener itself, from development through to publication on Kindle, a process followed in detail in the book. Please read the reviews to see what users think of this unique book, produced entirely from within Scrivener itself.

PRAISE FOR DAVID HEWSON'S NOVELS

The Fallen Angel, book nine in the Costa series

The Washington Post says, ‘…perhaps his finest novel. It’s hard to see how the author could have made his dark tale more fascinating, entertaining and yet entirely serious than he has.’

The New York Times, ‘Mr. Hewson’s crime novel, the ninth in a series, is like a satisfying “Law & Order” episode set in modern-day Rome… the ending is the rich tiramisu we’ve waited for.’

Bookreporter, ‘I cannot imagine anyone picking up a book authored by David Hewson and not falling in love with the subject matter within the first 50 pages or so. The Fallen Angel, his latest and arguably best work, continues the practice while upping his own ante by a notch or three.’

Jeffery Deaver...
Hewson is a daunting talent — a writer who is a master stylist.

Steve Berry...
David Hewson is one of the finest thriller writers working today. A born stylist.

Lee Child...
(Dante's Numbers)...is easily the best yet in a really terrific series.

Peter James...
Hewson is one of our finest crime writers. Absorbing, intelligent, and with a staggeringly vivid sense of place.

Product Details

• File Size: 2211 KB
• Print Length: 127 pages
• Publisher: David Hewson; 3 edition (July 28, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004ZG7BMU
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,933 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #4 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Education & Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Editing
  • #13 in Books > Education & Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Editing

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 74 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Whirlwind Tour of Scrivener for Novelists May 25, 2011

By Katrina J. Ostrander

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Anyone who wants to jump-start their Scrivener skills to get past the software and start writing their novel-utilizing the program to its full potential to plan, write, revise, and even publish-should consider getting this book.

First of all, don't expect this to be "the missing manual." The author is clear in his introduction that there is a lot more to Scrivener than what he manages to cover-for instance, tools for researchers and screenwriters-but he's just covering what the novelist needs to know, after all. Another caveat to mention is that the book is aimed primarily at Mac, Scrivener 2.0 users, so us Windows kiddies will need to translate some of the commands*, improvise, and resign ourselves to the fact that it is still in Beta, and though it's come a long way, it still has a ways to go before it's ready for prime time. (*But we're PC people, so we don't need to be spoon-fed everything anyway.)

He quickly goes over the basic parts of the program, the Binder, the Editor, and Inspector, covering just as much ground in four or so "pages" (a loose term, given the fluidity of Kindle displays) than what takes the tutorial over a thousand words. I don't need the Header and Footer described at length. I've used word processors before, after all. And there's the manual for everything I want elaboration on.

Next Hewson talks about the Corkboard and Outliner views in terms of their usefulness to novelists, again touching on them just enough to make the writer familiar without having to list every single capability available. As a Windows user, I noticed that the Unplaced Scenes folder he talks about doesn't yet appear in the Beta, but I've gone ahead and added my own folder by the name. It doesn't have the cute little thought cloud icon next to it, but it'll still serve the purpose of a general reservoir of ideas, and a springboard for those times when I'm hitting against a blockage of some sort.

In the next section he shows you how to minimize distractions and maximize ease of access to other parts at the same time. Want to reference another document? Would you like split-screen or a pop-up window? How about a hyperlink inserted right into the text? Hop back to the last document you viewed? Hewson covers it all, and quickly.

Most useful, perhaps, out of the entire book, was the section on Keywords. It would have taken me a while to figure out the applications otherwise, but he suggests using these customizable tags to track POV or Time to ensure continuity-a huge issue for complex novels with multiple narrators and time streams, like the one I'm writing. Meanwhile, the official tutorial makes only a passing reference to the Search/Keywords capability, while elaborating on things obvious to any intermediate computer user.

Essential to any discussion of writing are backups: that is to say, those pesky little things that allow you to not lose your project-and your mind. Did you know that Scrivener can automatically schedule backups of your work? Did you ever think to incorporate Dropbox, so that you'd have an automatic web backup without the hassle of syncs? Yeah, pretty useful, that. If it means saving your work from a hard-drive failure or virus attack, then that $6 just saved you hours and hours of work. Which can be fair valuable, when you're writing for publication.

Once you've written a first draft, it's time to get down to the real work-revision. Writing a Novel with Scrivener compares the advantages of re-reading on your iPad, eReader, or good ol' paper, and discusses the options you have for commenting on each. Moreover, it talks about ways your initial readers and critters can comment, whether it be through Word or another program, and warns against some common pitfalls of formatting and syncing them together. After you know what you need to rewrite, this book shows you how to save multiple versions of your draft quickly, and how to compare each revision (using colors, or not), so you can track what's changed and even go back to a prior "snapshot" if need be.

Finally, Hewson provides a step-by-step guide not only to compiling your manuscript for agents and editors, but to publishing as a Kindle .mobi or .epub file! Though I'm not there yet, I may use it for future projects if I go the self-publishing route.

I'll admit, if it were the standard price of a book about writing, I wouldn't have gotten it. But it's considerably cheaper than the Writer's Digest books you'll find at your Barnes & Noble. A $6 asking price is quite reasonable given the breadth, deapth, and practicality of the tips he provides. If you're a novelist and you've ever thought about jumping on the Scrivener bandwagon, but didn't know where to start, this book will take you through the same steps as the tutorial, only faster, and give you a lot more to use besides.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent overview with a couple of good pointers May 22, 2011

By JRP

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

David Hewson, known for his excellent mystery series, gives his take on Scrivener in an easy-to-read e-book. Decent basic overview of the main features of the software, with a few nuggets mined from his own writing process. Bit too heavy with e-pub information, but solid sections on syncing and backing up your work using some of the popular cloud services such as Dropbox. Much of the information is available in the Scrivener 2.0 manual and from video tutorials online, but Hewson's book tries to bring the important bits together for the novelist. If you're looking to glean a new or better writing process here though, you'll be left wanting more from the book.

43 of 48 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Serious Tool for Serious Writers May 7, 2011

By Rick Grant

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I very much like the way David Hewson approaches both the Scrivener program and the technique of writing. There is no messing around in his book; it is a no nonsense guide to making Scrivener work the way you want it to and it is a no nonsense guide to the act of writing.

Throughout this slim volume Mr Hewson points out the aspects of Scrivener that are of use to a novelist, from his point of view, and he is not shy about telling the reader that some of the software's features are of little use to them. But he uncovers hidden gems in the program and details how they can help the writer beyond measure.

Now, I am not a fiction writer. I am a journalist by training and inclination yet I took a very great deal away from Mr Hewson's perspective on writing software and writing and I have no hesitation in recommending the book for non-fiction writers. The sections on how to build reference and source material links to sections of the manuscript and how to organize background material was worth the cost of the book to me.

But I would warn the dilettante writer, the one that has spent years dickering with a manuscript and never finishing it, the one that has never sold to a mainstream market, the one that hallucinates about bestseller riches, that this book is not for them.

Scrivener will not cure your mythical writer's block (there is no such thing for a professional), it will not make the writing easier or faster, but with Mr Hewson's book your writing will become more efficient and you will be able to think more clearly about what it is that you are trying to say.

Highly recommended. And so is Scrivener.

Rick Grant
Calgary