Using Scrivener for World Building

This is mainly regarding using Scrivener's "Novel Template" for the science fiction and fantasy genre

I have been using Scrivener ( From Literature and Latte) on and off for the last two to three years. I never really dived into it much until a few months ago when I decided I wanted to use it to do world building for my world Draena and the stories that happen in it, most prominent currently is my first novel Battlemage's Choice. I hope to have it completed and self published mid fall/ early winter.

Now the name dropping is done back to business. I use Scrivener for a few projects I need. I use it to keep the recipes for my business sorted into categories. Like I said earlier, I use it for my world building for Draena. I started out using the "Novel template" which you can do it with or without parts. I use it with parts because originally I was going to have Battlemage's choice divided up into parts. Now its so I can keep the different books separated. I have about 3 books, 2 novellas, and a collection of short stories roughly planned out, building on what I created for Battlemage's Choice.

Starting Out

Like I said earlier, I picked the Novel Template with parts. So when you click New Project, click on the Fiction tab which will give you 3 options. Novel, Novel (with parts), and Short Story.

For this I am going to use the Novel Template that does not have parts. Pick a name for your project to have it saved and where you want it to be saved to. Once you click Create it will give you a lovely How-to type guide t get you started. I wouldn't delete this in case you need any info on it later. If you want to delete it, at least print it out first. It does have some good info in it.

So starting out it doesn't give you much to start with so some changes are in order.

I ended up adding sections for the following:

• Ideas
• Notes
• Outline

In Ideas is kind of like a 'rainy day' folder if I get stuck on something or have a spark of something I am not quite ready for. Things in there include title ideas, scene ideas, series ideas, cover ideas. You guys get the point, it is a place for me to keep my ideas on the project.

Notes I have stuff along the lines of magic system, augmentations, creatures, objects, notes on different races, classes, deities, ships, vehicles. If it needs explaining in some degree for use in the story even if its just describing what it looks like, it goes here.

So with a fantasy story and even a science fiction one. knowing what kind of creatures/races I have in that world need to be explained to some degree. For example in my Draena world, I have 4 different types of elves, 2 types of dwarves, 6 types of dragons, and 4 other creatures that I need to define that I know will show up at some point.

There are also 11 different classes that I use for fighting (kind of like in DnD for example). Seeing as those have different attributes and skills that they use and some that draw on a magic system those need to be defined.

To give an example for science fiction, one would need to know what kind of ships are used. The science fiction story I have planned out I need to have a basic understanding of Astronomy, what kind of space ships i would have, what their capabilities are, crew size, know a bit about military and some tactics. I also need to figure out what augmentations are there. Are there any side effects to getting those. I also have to develop a government that spans systems and a good portion of a galaxy.

In both science fiction and fantasy there are different factions that stick to certain areas. I also have to define what they control, who leads them.

An Outline for any novel may seem daunting at times. You can also go about it several different way depending on how in depth you want to make it. I go chapter by chapter and I write out what I want to happen in that chapter. If I add something, I make sure to add it to the outline so later on I can have good continuity throughout my stories.

Other features I have found while exploring Scrivener

Project Targets- So if you click on the Projects menu, about halfway down there is something called Project Targets. In it you can set how many words you want the total project to be. You can also set a daily goal, mine is at 750.

Full Screen- So along the top of the page there is a button that on mine its black and the arrows point to opposite corners. This makes you go into a window where you can only work on the current section that you are writing. I like using this when I am working on my chapters to try to cut down on distractions. I also have it set up so that a map of Draena blocks out the edges of the screen so I only focus on what I am writing. You can change the backdrop by going into the view menu and go down to the bottom where it says Fullscreen Backdrop.

Templates Folder- I like the Templates folder a lot. In it you can create forms that you can use with your projects. In it to start you have a Character sketch and Setting sketch. Both of these I ended up changing around to suit my needs. The Character one I added things in about people they are close to, flaws, strengths, what they look like, what factions they are with, what occupations, etc. I also created different forms for each folder that I have like Chapter Template have 5 blank scenes already added into it for me to type up each scene. I really like to color code things to so I am able to color code each form to what folder it will go to.