A neat trick with Scrivener meta-data

Okay, now I say ‘neat’ because I was pretty chuffed when I got it to work!

Scrivener is the best way to write a book, in my less than humble opinion, but it does have a pretty steep learning curve for some of the really deep stuff it can do. For that reason, make sure you have a good working knowledge of the Scrivener styles setup before you go any further.

Okay, so here’s the scenario:

I’ve just joined a local writing group, (lovely people), and one of the things we do is critique each other’s ongoing work. I like to pull out the occasional chapter that I need help with (which is usually all of them) and drop them in for a quick look-see. Easy enough in Scrivener: you can set the compile page to include just the chapters you want and export them to a PDF.

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There we go: first chapter of the new book, ready for export and review. The only problem is, I don’t have a header. Now, the writers group is pretty specific: every submission has to have a header on the first page which showing:

  • the author
  • the title of the piece
  • the word count (our group has a limit of 1500 words for a review, though you can submit two pieces if we’re short of pieces – which we never are)
  • genre (I usually have no idea what genre I’m writing until someone tells me)
  • type of feedback required (the best answer seen so far: ‘gentle’)
  • anything the reader needs to know (you can add warnings for graphic sex scenes, violence or mentioning Brexit)

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Film review: Cargo

If you think the whole zombie apocalypse thing has had its day, then track down Cargo (currently running on Netflix UK) and think again.

In the aftermath of the aforementioned zombie apocalypse, Andy is traveling alone through the Australian Outback with his daughter, Rosie. He’s recently lost his wife to the virus and has been bitten himself. Within 48 hours, the virus will transform him into a mindless, flesh-eating, pus-leaking zombie. So he has just 48 hours to find someone to take care of Rosie …

What makes this film a rare treat is that it focuses less on the actual apocalypse and more on the surviving humans. In that regard I suppose it’s closer to the Walking Dead than World War Z, but the thing that sets Cargo apart is that there are only a handful of zombies in it. In fact, there’s not much of anything.

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