If you’ve discovered Scrivener, like many writers have, you have probably come to love the flexibility and organization it affords your creativity. I’m new to the software, but I really like what I see so far. From everything I’ve read, so does just about everyone else. Understand that Scrivener is not a standard word processor, nor does it intend to be. Think of it as a creative suite. It even makes publishing ebooks quite easy. Once you’ve got the basics down, you’ll probably start looking for some templates to kickstart your writing process. Well, look no further. Below you will find a series of templates that can be found on the web from other authors who share the same passion you have (are gaining) for Scrivener.
Scrivener Fiction Templates
- How to Scrivener has posted a blog outlining The Story Grid scrivener template using the story grid storytelling methodology.
- The Seven Point Plot structure template – listed at the Self Publishing Took Kit’s site is the same model I used to write my novel, The Magic Shop. I was at Dan Well’s presentation at BYU for LTUE a few years ago, and it was fantastic help for a young author. Dan Well’s site is here. Dan and some fellow writers also host a fantastic podcast called Writing Excuses. You can check it out, and specifically episode about this writing model here.
- The SFWA Short Story template – by author Jamie Todd Rubin. This is a short story template intended for SFWA markets.
- The Hero’s Journey template – Mel Corbett bases this template on the famous Hero’s Journey story structure made famous by Joseph Campbell. I have a couple posts about the Hero’s Journey here (Star Wars focused) and here (on the monomyth in general).
- The Snowflake Template – The blog wordinprogress.com has a nice template using the snowflake method.
- Another Snowflake Template – Belinda Crawford’s blog has additional resources as well, such as character sheets.
- The General Novel Project – By bestselling author, David Hewson.
- The Beat Sheet Template – Story structure based on Larry Brooks ‘beats’ story structure, template by Mel Corbett.
- The Mystery Novel template – Self-explanatory. Also by Mel Corbett.
SCRIVENER RESOURCES
If you’re serious about writing, you’ll be serious about the tools you use. Scrivener is widely held as THE tool for writers—the creative suite you’ve always deserved. You have unparalleled control over your text, and you can even create your own ebooks, and so much more.
Scrivener Non-Fiction Templates
- Academic Paper Template – Michael Alaxelson has given us a template for journals and other publications.
- The Research Project Template and the Teaching Scrivener Template – For professional and educational projects, by Katherine Pickering Antonova. These are currently .xml files as she seems to still be working on them. Fingers crossed!
- The One Page Novel template looks interesting. Brief, but useful. Posted by Lady Writer.
There are discussions on www.literatureandlatte.com/forum/ that touch on templates and how to make them. If you have further questions, try your questions there and the great community will be supportive. If you found this helpful, you might want to check out my follow-up post, free scrivener templates part 2.
Any templates for website copy?
No, sorry.
Whatever this file is, it’s not working:
The SFWA Short Story template – by author Jamie Todd Rubin. This is a short story template intended for SFWA markets. I downloads the template, unzipped it, and nothing, it’s dead. Don’t know what’s wrong with it!
If you open Scrivener (assuming Mac version) and on the initial pop up screen called “Project Templates” that appears click the “options” drop down menu at the bottom, you’ll see an option called “Import templates.” Click on that and then navigate to the template, and that should do the trick.
Good luck!
They’re in the wrong file format. I’m on Scrivener for Mac but it requires the file to be saved a .scrivertemplate. rather than .scriv. The importer only recognises the former and not the latter, therefore I’m unable to upload the latter. Is there any way around this? I’d love to utilise these great templates. 🙂
shahwharton.com
Scrap that, I just found how to do it. I’ll include it here for other confused users: with scriv file. Download them, double click on the link and it will auto open in Scrivener. Save as template. With scrivenertemplate. files, download. Follow instruction (outlined by Justin) to import template via Scrivener. 🙂
The links to some of these no longer work. Is there an updated version of this article? These are fantastic. Thanks.
Thanks for the heads up. I’ll look into the links after NaNoWriMo. Cheers!
I want to use that excuse with my clients and students…they just don’t get that NaNoWriMo isn’t a disease. 😀
10.26.16 – Thank you ‘https://justinswapp.com’ for your generosity of time & Scrivener Templates.
I’m by no means a writer, but I enjoy putting my story ideas down on something.
I’m old, retired and mobility challenged. Over many years now I’ve gravitated to fiction story telling. When I finally spent time learning Scrivener I knew it was more than motivational.
Once again, Justin Swapp, thank you. Sincerely, Mike Goodold