Getting Started > Add scenes / outline

Add scenes / outline

SceneWriter Pro, as its name suggests, focuses your writing on individual scenes - as opposed to the entire script. This makes writing a whole lot easier because not only can you focus on the particular scene you are writing, but you can create as many scenes as you like, and fill in the text for the scenes later - in any order you wish. This is known as outlining.

Rename the default scene:

Before we add a new scene to our project, we'll rename the default "Scene 1" scene which is present after we created our project.

To rename this scene do the following:

• If the scene is not already highlighted in the Scene List, click on the scene in the Scene List
• Although you can rename scenes from the "Scene" menu, the easiest method is to RIGHT-CLICK the scene with the mouse. The following pop-up menu will now be displayed:

• Click on "Rename Scene" from the pop-up menu to display the "Rename Scene" window. Rename the scene as follows:

Now the default scene has been renamed, we'll continue to outline our script by adding blank scenes to our project.

Outlining your script:

As with renaming scenes, you may also add scenes to your project from the "Scene" menu, however, there are easier methods to accomplish this, the first one being to RIGHT-CLICK in the Scene List, and from the pop-up menu, choose "Add Scene":

The following "Add Scene" window will then be displayed:

Type the new scene title as above, making sure that "the end of the Scene List" is checked for where the scene will be inserted, and click "Add Scene".

TIP: If the last scene in the Scene List is highlighted, you may also add scenes by clicking on the '+' button in the status bar: ...Or by pressing CTRL+PgDn.

Adding Scenes With AUTOSCENE!

But wait! There's a much easier way to add scenes either in "bulk" or as you are typing, and that's by pressing the keyboard shortcut SHIFT+ENTER.

Every time you add a scene with AutoScene (SHIFT+ENTER) the Scene List will bypass the "Add Scene" window and add a scene titled "AUTOSCENE. #" followed by the next incremental number. This feature is especially useful for adding scenes when in The Page scheme.

Press SHIFT+ENTER four times to add 4 AutoScene's to the Scene List as below:

Rename the four AuotScenes as follows:

• Jayne at the office - murder
• Det. Johns gets a call
• Dave is visited by Jayne
• Det. Johns smells a rat

We could outline the entire script, but for the purposes of this tutorial, these six scenes will be sufficient.

At the bottom of the Scene List, you will notice "Scene: 6 of 6" which states which scene is highlighted. Next to that is the "Now" time which is the running time of the script up to and including the current highlighted scene. Last is the "All" time which is the total duration of your script. Note: Both the Now and All times are currently 0min 0sec as we haven't added any text to our scenes yet.

OK, let's now develop our scenes from the outline.