Structuring a Manuscript
Posted by annastan on October 26th, 2009. Filed under: Books, Craft, Resources, WIP.As I’ve been struggling with my current WIP, I’ve realized I need to find a better way to think about structure in my manuscripts. Often the stories go haywire and it takes me a long time to rein them back in and figure out how to make them work. I’ve tried outlining but it’s not something that really works for me (though I do outline after I have a draft done, to give me a better sense of what I have).
In researching different structuring methods, I kept hearing about Scrivener and it sounded like something that might help me. Since I don’t have a Mac, however, I looked around and found something not quite as fancy as Scrivener called yWriter. It doesn’t have all the pretty functions that Scrivener does, but it works on my computer and it’s free!
My plan is to use this fun little program for my NaNoWriMo book. It might turn out that my writing methods are completely incompatible with the program, but I’m interested to try it. I’m hoping to keep the freedom of outline-free writing but end up with a more structured manuscript by using the different charting options on yWriter to help me with organization. Ultimately, all the fun toys in the world can’t be a substitute for what writing a novel entails: hours and hours and hours of focused hard work.
Happy writing everyone!
October 27th, 2009 at 5:51 am
Thanks for this. I had been hearing buzz about Scrivener so it was good to be able to have the links to check them out. Keep us posted on how you are finding yWriter — I’m very curious to hear how it goes. Who knows, maybe I’ll try it myself!
October 27th, 2009 at 6:35 am
I’ll be interested to hear how you get on with it, Anna. I’ve been fascinated with Scrivener for years, but have yet to take the plunge.
October 27th, 2009 at 11:29 am
very intersting. I may have to check it out.
I did NaNo last year. I’m not sure if I’m up to it this year. If I am, I do have a project that I’d like to work on. I just don’t know if I have the stamina and time for it this year like I did last year.
Good luck! Have fun w/ your NaNo project.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
I ADORE Scrivener. It’s so ridiculously helpful in organizing one’s unwieldy ideas! Hope yWriter works well for you, and good luck with NaNo—only five more days!!!
October 27th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Thanks for the comments everyone. I’ll definitely keep you posted on my yWriter experiences. Good luck to all the NaNos!
October 29th, 2009 at 9:06 am
After reading your post, I’ve decided to try out Scrivener (since I do have a mac). We’ll see if I like it after the 30 day trial…