How to get scholars and scribes to write something?

Question

I'm attempting to try the new writing system in Dwarf fortress, I have now for about 2 years had 2 scribes and about 6 scholars. They have access to about 10 empty scrolls and 10 empty quires. They also have 8 tables and chairs in the library and 2 of the scholars and one of the scribes is dedicated (no other jobs). The dedicated scribe is a proficient (very rusty) writer and the scholars have a variety of proficiency levels in various scholarly topics.

However, thus far they have failed to write a single scroll, produce a single book or even write on a single quire. Any idea what could be wrong?

Answer 1

Scholars ponder, discuss and research, and write new works. Scribes only copy existing works. You'll probably want to focus on scholars more initially, since the scribes can't do any copying until there's something to copy.

This forum post has some good experimental findings on scholars and scribes.

• Scholars seem to use the Writer skill to create new works.
• Scribes seem to use the Reader or Student skill, rather than Writer or Wordsmith, as you might expect.
• A typical scholar will only write a book every other season.
• Allowing everyone entrance to the library lets visiting scholars enter, who may write things for you.

Based on this guy's findings, I would suggest you make sure your scholars are as proficient in the Writer skill as possible. Make sure your library is open to visitors and they might write something (which your scribes could then copy).