How to Organize Novel Scenes in Scrivener

Scrivener is a digital binder for organizing long-form writing projects. It’s so powerful that it’s easy to be overwhelmed by all of its complex features, especially when writing scenes.

I’ve spent years perfecting how I use Scrivener for novel-writing. I could spend ten more posts discussing how I organize in this program; although, this post focuses on the basic building blocks of scenes.

The Corkboard View

When I first open my project, this is what my corkboard looks like. I have a different color for each of the three acts of my novel, and the individual keywords (which I’ll expand upon soon) are on the right side of the cards. It’s easy to trace exactly which scenes I want to tackle from this view.

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The Scene View

Once I select a scene from the list on the left, I have a tighter view on exactly what I want. This screen is where I compose each individual scene long before I tackle all of the organizational methods.

The information pane on the right-hand size is your most important organizational tool. If it’s not visible, click on the small blue circle with an “i” in the top right corner of your screen.

The Synopsis

The synopsis is the very first element I fill out after writing a scene. I give each scene a summary, and then combine the summaries of each scene for the overall chapter.

Tip: Keep your summary short and sweet. You’re not writing a study guide for your novel, you’re simply reminding yourself what happened in as few words as possible. Focus on plot and action here.

The Notes

The Notes section is my most-used, most-loved component of Scrivener themes. I use it for a thousand different purposes. Here’s the breakdown of this image:

• The “**” symbol denotes an action I need to take during editing. While writing a later chapter, I remembered I needed to add this detail in chapter 3. Instead of breaking up the writing process by jumping back, I simply left this note and tackled it later
• The ” – ” denotes a note. I usually use this when I change a fact while revising or writing. It helps me keep track of solidified information so it’s consistent throughout the novel
• A research note – I jot down any details important to the scene
• Decision making – Building off the research note, I’ll make decisions in the The Notes section. Ask questions, explore different options, and brainstorm right here
• Denote draft – The “2” year symbolized that I made this note while working on Draft 2. It’s another piece of information that I dump in The Notes section instead of letting it float around in my brain
• Another note – The “*” in the last paragraph is simply another note to myself – I’m currently revising in Google Docs, but I updated this scene and this scene only for the purpose of this blog post

All in all, The Notes section is your dumping ground for whatever you need. Don’t be scared of it. It’s a powerful container for whatever thoughts you have while writing and revising.

No two writers will use this space in the same way, but this is an example of how I use it for various reasons.

The Bookmarks

The Bookmarks pane can be accessed by clicking on the little bookmark icon next to the notebook icon in your righthand information pane. It’s another excellent tool.

I drag and drop any relevant weblinks right here for each scene. I can load the webpage immediately and reference it while writing. If you resize the information pane window, you can view it more easily.

Metadata

The Metadata pane is another excellent tool.

If you want to add custom metadata, click on the gear to the right of “custom metadata.” From there, add as many elements as you need.

My custom metadata:

• Scene vs. Sequel
• Setting
• Time/Date
• Goal/Reaction
• Conflict/Dilemma
• Outcome/Decision

I learned about Scene/Sequel, and then Goal/Reaction, Conflict/Dilemma, and Outcome/Decision from K.M. Weiland’s books, Outlining Your Novel and Structuring Your Novel. I highly recommend both of these, as they’ll help you oil your novel into a fine-tuned machine.

Writing strong, well-structured scenes isn’t intuitive. To guarantee that each scene has a purpose, I fill out this custom metadata. It helps me define the core motivation/conflict of a scene, and solidify what I’m trying to accomplish.

Keywords

The keywords for this scene are visible in the Metadata photo above; however, they’re important enough to discuss indvidually.

Adding keywords to my scenes, and then my chapters, is what adds those color codes to my corkboard.

Want keywords on your corkboard?

1. Click “view” in the top toolbar
2. Drop to “corkboard options”
3. Check mark “show keyword colors”

Here are all of the keywords I have for this particular novel. The keywords you need will change depending on your own story.

• Body – A dead body shows up in this scene/chapter
• Steam – This scene/chapter has some sexual tension or action
• Luke Contact – The antagonist directly contacts the protagonist
• Andrew – The protagonist mentions a certain character
• Heather Care – The protagonist actively cares for another character
• Gun – A gun is mentioned (this means I need someone else to double check that what I wrote is correct)
• Crime Focused – This scene is more about crime
• Romance Focused – This scene is more about the romance
• Arc Focused – This scene is more about my protagonist’s character growth

Mix and match keywords as you need. You can track different points of views, different types of scenes, characters’ appearances, different recurring events, and much more. This is just a glimpse of how I use keywords.

Snapshots

This is the most satisfying part of the information pane.

Snapshots are a great way to keep track of different versions of a scene, or chapter.

Each time my scene goes through significant changes, I simply press that little “plus” icon, and Scrivener automatically takes a snapshot of the draft’s current state.

You can “roll back” to an older version of a scene, or “compare” an older version to the current version. As you can see, this scene has adapted quite a bit from its first edition. When it feels like you’re not accomplishing much, this is a great way to visualize all the progress you’re making.

Good luck!

I hope that this peak inside my Scrivener project gave you new organizational ideas for your own writing projects.

How else do you use Scrivener? Feel free to drop a comment below, or email me at greyzonepages@gmail.com with any questions or responses.

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