31: Scrivener for Life Story Writing

The Life Story Coach

How I Use Scrivener for Life Story Writing: a few helpful tips

I made the change from Mac Pages to Scrivener over the past year or two, and now Scrivener is my go-to for creating all my life story books. I'm constantly learning new things it can do, but here are the essentials that make it an indispensable part of my workflow.

1) Split-screen editor.

The Editor is where you do your writing, the main window where your draft appears. And since we as life story writers are basing the narrative on what our storyteller has shared with us, it's a huge help to view the raw material (transcript, old letters, etc) side-by-side with the draft.

2) The Binder.

This is where you see all of your documents and folders, where you create new ones, and where you go to move sections of the book in a snap. You can use it as an ersatz-outline, dragging and dropping elements until you find the perfect structure.

3) Labels.

On its own, the binder is a powerful visual tool; add colored labels, and you'll never get lost in your writing again. Listen to the podcast to see how I use just a couple of labels to signal what's been finished and what still needs work.

Want to check out Scrivener for yourself?

Click to check out Scrivener for Mac Or here for Scrivener for Windows

Need some visuals to go with the podcast? Take a look at my sample project at http://thelifestorycoach.com/31-scrivener-for…fe-story-writing/.