The Joys of Scrivener

Last week I started playing around with Scrivener. For those of you who don't know, Scrivener is a word processing program "designed for authors." While there is a definite learning curve, I think it might be a great program. I'll have to continue playing around with it and learn it before I can say for sure.

Here are some things I already love about the program:

• The index cards - these are virtual index cards and Scrivener gives you so many different ways to use them. You can create character cards, scene cards, research notes. Really, the possibilities are endless.
• The media option - you can use the index cards to store media information. For example, for character cards and setting cards, you can import inspiration photos! Even better....
• The split screen - you can split your screen. I love the option of having a photo on one screen and the 'editor' or writing screen on another. You can look at the setting you're trying to create or look at the character you're describing and write away. After you input all the information on these cards, you can use...
• The corkboard - Scrivener gives you three ways to look at the information you enter. One of these is the corkboard. This little tool is amazing! I'm in the early stages of learning this program and I haven't quite figured out how to do it, but once you enter all your scene cards, you can move them around on the corkboard. When you have them where you want them, click a little button that stores those scenes in that order in the text document. I can't think of an easier way to work out plot bunnies!

So, that's what I've learned so far! If you're an author and you struggle with organizing your novel, check it out. Go through the tutorial and check out the how-to videos on YouTube. Let me know what you think!

G is for German Water Castles
 

My current WIP is a romantic suspense with Gothic elements set in a German water castle. I have been fascinated with these castles since I was a young girl living in northern Germany. We lived near Munster, sometimes called The Land of 100 Moated Castles. The land is marshy bogland. I used to traipse around with my friend Gustel in muck and mud that called up images of Sherlock Holmes’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, so it’s a wonderful place to set a novel.  

A water castle is simply a castle surrounded by water. There are brightly colored water castles and dark, medieval water castles. I love them all, but am going to set mine in a dark medieval, of course. So today I’m posting a few pictures of Burg Lehenich…a little inspiration for my Monday.

Construction began in the 14th century.

 

 

This next one sparks all kinds of fun images for my novel....yep, I'm inspired already!

 

Have a wonderful Monday!