Story Templates for Scrivener

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Pepsi Ranger
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Story Templates for Scrivener

Post by Pepsi Ranger »

IMPORTANT: These files are not games. They are templates designed for use with Scrivener, which is a project manager and writing tool designed for writers by writers, available at Literature and Latte. To use these files, you must have Scrivener. If you don't have Scrivener, they will not do anything for you. Please be aware before you download.

Description:

Scrivener, by default, comes with a few basic templates to help writers plan and write their manuscripts, including sections for research and templates for fiction, nonfiction, and scripts, but most of these templates are generic, if not outright blank. Fortunately, the Internet is full of user-made templates that give writers better options for developing their ideas and manuscripts. This page has some of the best.

Recently, I've developed some templates of my own, and I thought I would share them here for anyone who wants them.

The templates I'm posting here are designed to simplify certain writing processes (or over-complicate them if you choose to use them in such ways), so that the user can have tighter control over his novel, short story, design document, game plan, etc. They aren't necessary for crafting a solid piece of work, but if you're any kind of planner, they may help to guide the process.

How to Use:

- Once you download each file, you'll unzip them to your "Documents" folder, or to whichever folder you save your Scrivener project files.
- Then go to your newly freed folder and click inside. You should see an icon with a .scriv extension.
- Click the .scriv file to open the project file in Scrivener.
- Then ...

Option #1 (most effective)

- "Save as" a new project file name.
- Now get to work!

Option #2 (less effective)

Note: This method will lose special formats like document templates.

- Open a "New Project" under "File" tab.
- Select a "Blank" template.
- Name it whatever you want.
- Copy folders from template files to new blank file.
- Highlight "Templates" folder or equivalent and "Set Selection as Template Folder" (under Project tab).
- Now get to work!

Option #3 (least effective)

Note: This option will save the structure, but the text, for some reason, goes away.

- Once the project file is loaded, click "File" tab, then "Save as Template," then follow the instructions. A window should appear allowing you to modify the metadata. You don't need to do anything but hit "Okay," but you're free to change its category listing if you want.
- Click okay.
- Select "File" tab, open new project, and select the new template as your base.
- Give the new project file a name.
- Now get to work!

Special Note:

Each template's project file has a series of instructions inside that you can read for more information on how to use them effectively. Make sure to check them out before you dive in. Remember, these are readable only when opened as a project file, not as a template.

Important Reminder for Scrivener General Use:

Only files that are part of the "Draft" hierarchy are counted toward manuscript stats and compiling processes. If you want to include any document or folder into the project file that does not count toward your writing stats, be sure to move them to a separate section. The "Research" folder is already designed for this purpose, but you can create your own and call it whatever you want.

The Templates:

Below is a list of the templates I've written and am offering to whoever wants them.

- Story Planning General (Alpha 1) -

This template is strictly designed for planning manuscripts. It has a number of categories available from defining the book's title, keywords, descriptions, etc., to developing three-dimensional characters, connected places and items for series' books, and even epilogues if you think of one before you think of your actual book. This template is ideal for those who have ideas but aren't ready to write the actual book. Its purpose is to remind the writer what he or she wants to do for the book, even if it'll be another year or two before he gets around to writing page one.

This template is also a work-in-progress. Some sections are incomplete as of this writing.

Eventually, I want to develop it to provide planning templates for not just fiction, but for nonfiction, screenplays, and videogames. It'll be awhile before I get there.

- NaNoWriMo Basic Template -

This template is formatted for NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. If you plan to participate in NaNoWriMo, this template will be your friend. It offers a handful of sections for quick planning and journaling, but its bread and butter is the "Novel by Day" section, which provides a dedicated document for each day of NaNoWriMo and tracks your word count for that day, with a preset target of 1,667 words per day, which you can modify to whatever you want. The monthly target of 50,000 words is also set in the "Project Target" feature.

I know there are other NaNoWriMo templates out there, and they probably do the same thing that "Novel by Day" does (I wouldn't see the point if they didn't). But this one allows you to record not only your daily and target word counts, but it gives you the opportunity to plan your novel, comment on your activity, and write a postmortem when the month is over. So, yeah, this one's the best! Though, I have no supporting evidence that proves my claim is true. Check it out anyway.

Preview Media:

You can preview "Story Planning General (Alpha 1)" and "NaNoWriMo Basic Template" in this video:

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Preview begins at the 5:46 mark.

Other Sources for Useful Templates:

Here are a few other places to get user-defined templates that are pretty awesome.

Squibler: Has some of the best all-purpose templates on the Internet.

Scrivenerville: Has all of the other best all-purpose templates on the Internet.

Author's Tech: Acts as a database for the types of templates you should be using.

Helping Writers Become Authors: One of the best templates out there for outlining your story.

There are more out there, I'm sure, so keep looking if you haven't found what you're looking for. Or, better yet, create your own template. It's easy! Just start with a blank project file and go from there.

Final Thoughts:

Some of these templates may appear overwhelming at first. Remember that you don't have to use every feature they offer. Just use whatever helps you get the job done. You'll figure it out as you go.
Attachments
Story Planning General.scriv.zip
This is the ALPHA 1 version. This will be updated in time.
(118.27 KiB) Downloaded 196 times
NaNoWriMo Basic Template.scriv.zip
Use in November!
(139.5 KiB) Downloaded 191 times
Story Planning General
Story Planning General
story planning general screenshot.jpg (201.53 KiB) Viewed 1093 times
NaNoWriMo Basic Template
NaNoWriMo Basic Template
nanowrimo basic template screenshot.jpg (170.05 KiB) Viewed 1101 times
Last edited by Pepsi Ranger on Thu Oct 31, 2019 6:19 am, edited 3 times in total.
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