Sometimes I feel like a genius. Then I realise I’m a total product of the Dunning-Kruger effect and I’ve been an idiot all along.
Take the idea from this article for instance. The fiction swipe-file. It’s a novel concept, taken from the common knowledge of one discipline (copywriting) and applied to another, (Fiction writing.)
Now, I posted that article and a couple of people told me variations on “that’s a great idea.”
Add to that the fact that it’s responsible for making my fiction writing hobby into a profitable enterprise, and I’m feeling smug.
Here’s the come down though: I’m an idiot.
An honest truth about me: You don’t want to see how I organise – or don’t organise – stuff. Especially business stuff. When I see a new idea, I go for it. Then I optimise the process. If you check out the archives in chronological order, you’ll see how that’s how it goes. In 2015 I discover an idea, in 2016 I make the idea into a process and by 2017 it’s a complex labyrinth of different bits, bobs and whatevers that’s hard to describe.
So it is with my fiction swipe file, and that’s why I’m writing all this “Dear Diary” stuff.
I mostly type random ideas into notepad files and collect them up inefficiently when it comes time to create the project. This is good because a project can sit for days, weeks or months and I don’t lose any great ideas.
It’s bad because I’ve gone the long way around to get to the short cut in terms of organisation:
In short, I’ve created a “template folder” for each new fiction project, with folders inside folders and files within those folders.
If I didn’t create it, I wouldn’t have a clue how it worked.
There’s Got To Be An Easier Way…
That’s what I thought earlier on this week.
I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if my fiction swipe file was structured so it was easy to get to, and I could somehow import all the stuff I needed when I started a project?”
I also thought it’d be great if I could create some sort of “First Draft” app to pull the various swipe bits and pieces and turn it into a horrible “spun article” kind-of first draft which gave me a template and structure to work from.
That became a bit of a mental abomination, but I realised something that made me feel like a moron.
Scrivener can already do most of that.
It can’t spin a document from multiple swipe file entries, but you can use it to hold a lot of data in folders and files that don’t take up a ton of clutter on your computer.
So, with that said, if you read the fiction swipe file article, you can follow the process I’m going through as I’m writing it. We’re going to use Scrivener to create an easy to manage swipe file.
(Note: This’ll be based on fiction, but using Scrivener, you can create a non-fiction swipe file for any real purpose from copywriting to advertising and so forth.)
Let’s go.
Using Scrivener To Create A Swipe File
Using Scrivener to create a swipe file isn’t all that complex. Here’s what you do.
Step one will either be to create your project or to create a template if you’re planning on creating work in more than one genre.
For instance, if you’re writing crime novels and that’s it, then you’ll just want a single project that you can call “Crime Fiction Swipe File.”
If you’re likely to use multiple swipe files, for instance, different genres, and you think that you’ll need multiple projects that are basically the same, then you do the same thing – create a project but once you’ve finished it, click File>Save As>Template and then you’ll be able to load up your skeleton multiple times.
That’s a good idea because most fiction requires the same sort of swipe.
Step Two: Create Major Folders (& Minor Folders)
Imagine every story you’ve written as a spreadsheet. You have major data sets: how the characters are talked about, how the plot progresses and how places are described.
So those are what you’ll create as major folders to copy and paste those things when using Scrivener later.
Of course, you can get incredibly complex, depending on how far you want to take it:
Final Thoughts
This is a relatively simple concept which will deliver big results.
Also, if you’re already doing something like this, then Scrivener will make everything easier and neater when it comes to your desktop and organisation of both your fiction projects and your swipe files.