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Jack of all trades? The saying continues: master of none. But Scrivener not only provides scopes for 'all trades', its sophistication also allows the user to 'master' the process. There are two parts to this series of posts. Basic tools common to all applications of Scrivener Specific strategies for writer types and projects Basic Scrivener tools If you are new to Scrivener, I highly recommend you take my (free) 14-day Scrivener course. I've been using...

Feedback - where the fun starts! Processing feedback. What's the best strategy? How can you avoid editing overwhelm? When your editor returns your Scrivener project file, where should you start? There may be feedback all over the place. In a covering letter As comments in the Inspector In the text itself, as Annotations or colouring (Revision mode, or highlighted words) A strategy for processing feedback without editing overwhelm It's up to you what you...

Editor's feedback - the Scrivener way How do you, a professional editor, provide feedback to your writer client? Some time ago, I outlined my developmental editing process in this blog post. My developmental editing feedback process To recap: When a writer sends me their manuscript as a Scrivener project file, my role is to read it and provide feedback, whatever stage they have reached. I'm not copy editing, or line editing, but providing advice on...

Meet Desiree Villena: a human VA In recent blogposts, I've referred to ProWritingAid as an editing VA (virtual assistant). My guest today is a real VA, Desiree Villena. Desiree is a blog writer for Reedsy, the online marketplace that connects self-publishing authors with the world’s best editors, designers, and marketers. On Reedsy, Desiree also offers her services as a proofreader. Reedsy publish many excellent articles and this one on 'how to edit a book' is...

In my previous three posts on the reports available in ProWritingAid, I explored many reports. On 13 April, we looked at the Core group of reports. On 27 April, we looked at the Repeats group and the Structure group. On 11 May, we looked at the Readability group. But we're not done yet! Today's post looks at reports available in three more groups: the Consistency group the Fiction group, and the Plagiarism group. The Consistency...

ProWritingAid: your VA editor In my previous two posts on the reports available in ProWritingAid, I explored many reports. On 13 April, we looked at the Core group of reports. On 27 April, we looked at the Repeats group and the Structure group. But we're not done yet! Today's post looks at reports available in the Readability group. The Readability group The Readability report The first report - Readability - provides a series of readability...

My guest today is Rachel Hobbs, author of the Stones of Power series of dark fantasy novels. Rachel is no newcomer to Scrivener, nor to this blog - she was my guest in 2016. Time has moved on and Rachel's first book of her series, Shadow Stained has just been published and is now available on Amazon. Welcome back, Rachel! How do you feel about Scrivener? Since discovering Scrivener, I’ve never looked back. I...

ProWritingAid: your VA editor In my previous post on the reports available in ProWritingAid, I only touched on the Core group: Realtime, Summary, Style, Grammar, Thesaurus, Overused and Combo.But there is so much more! In this post, you will find yet more useful reports, each one helping you to create a clean and well-written manuscript, ahead of sending material to your editor. The Repeats group The two reports in the Repeats group might...

My guest today is Denise Brixey, author of the Harry the Wonder Cat series of cosy mysteries. Denise has been a member of my RedPen Mentoring team of writers for several years. I've encouraged her throughout her publishing journey and I'm delighted to announce that her second book The Jamaican Mission is available for preorder now and is being published TOMORROW on Tuesday, 21 April. I'm also delighted that Denise decided to...

VA = virtual assistant ProWritingAid is a grammar checker, style editor, and writing mentor in one package. Before showing your WIP to another human, and asking for feedback, run the text through ProWritingAid first. That way, your manuscript will be as clean as possible, and your human reviewers can focus on its effect on them, from the reader's perspective, without being distracted by any typos. If you have reached the stage of employing...