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Safari Reader + “Print PDF To Scrivener”
If you’re conducting research on the Internet and use both a Mac and Scrivener, then here’s a tip.
You can view website content in a format that may be more useful for research purposes by using Safari Reader to ignore extraneous (in this context) page content.
Then, you can save the Reader-ified content directly to your currently open Scrivener project:
“…[P]rint the document from the source application, and when the print dialogue appears, use the PDF drop-down menu to select the target application. When you first ran Scrivener, it installed the necessary mechanism for this to work [for non Mac Store installs]. You should see an option in that list to “Save PDF to Scrivener”. The source application will assemble the print, save it as a PDF file, and then transfer that file to your active project.”
See the Scrivener manual (section 11.6 at the time of writing) for more details, including how to make this work for installs via the Mac Store.
This might sound laborious, but it’s just a few steps; click Reader in Safari, Print, PDF, Scrivener, and bingo!
An alternative to this (which I also use) is Safari’s feature for saving an entire web page (as other browsers no doubt have, though this definitely works like you’d expect inside Scrivener), and import that into your project. However, this runs into the problem of content being split between pages, and if the website doesn’t offer a Printable option, you’re slightly stuck. However, Safari Reader can combine pages together (sometimes—it isn’t perfect), making this a neat solution.
A Messy Business
As a new author, I seek out advice from a variety of sources, for example, the awesome Writing Excuses podcast. There’s so much advice available about redrafting and editing, or working with critique partners, even writing query letters
.It’s clear to me that in writing s novel I’ve embarked on a multiple-step process. I considered that perhaps it’s like pottery: making the rough shape on the wheel, refining the shape, maybe decorating the surface, then firing the piece to finish it. Hell, I could glaze it and fire it again before I was done.
So, in writing my first draft, I must be at the first stage of throwing the clay and making the rough shape? Yes?
No. The above (and somewhat lengthy) analogy presupposes that I have the material available to begin the process of shaping and refining. Actually, I don’t. I think for me that the process of writing the first draft akin to the digging up the clay in the first place. It’s messy, it’s tiring, and I’ll need more than will appear in the finished article(s), but I need something to work with.
That’s how I’m viewing my first draft. It’s not pretty and it’s going to need a lot of work, but I need to get it written before I can progress to making something prettier.
Rory Hunter 