Scrivner?

[Hudson Bartholomew]

Sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere, I didn't find anything after a search. 

 

Authors: does anyone use Scrivener? Thoughts? 

 

I'm in the middle of a 30 day trial, but I'm not convinced. I have no real issues with it, but I don't really find myself using too many features. 

 

If anyone has experience using the software and can offer up their opinion, I'd love to hear it. 

 

Thanks!

Edited February 12, 2017 by Hudson Bartholomew

[CassieQ]

I have scrivener and I don't really use it that often, as I write more short stories than long novel length works.  However, I have a friend who is writing a long, novel length piece and she uses scrivener and loves it.  So I guess it depends on the person using it and what it is being used for.  I think if a very detailed oriented writer was writing a long piece with a lot of characters and a complex plot it would be useful, but since I am not that kind of author and don't write those kinds of stories, I can't say.    

[JamesSavik]

I bought it to have a look.

 

It is a professionally done package that is has regular updates for cleanup of bugs and the installation of new features.

 

I spent some time working with it.

 

You will need to find some sort of guide to using it. It's a huge, complex program with many features. It doesn't work by ESP. 

 

It was different enough from how I work for me to lose interest in it.

 

There's just too much to learn to make it really work effectively unless you go for the third party documentation route.

 

If you fight your way through the learning curve and get used to working with it, a great many people swear by it.

 

I found myself swearing at it.

Edited February 12, 2017 by jamessavik

[Caz Pedroso]

I have it and use it for my longer stories. I like that i can move scenes around easily and that i can add a scene into a separate folder when I've written something that i'm not sure where it will fit yet. 

 

I also like the word counting feature. it had a target for the total length, and each session. This means i can set myself goals to try nad reach. 

 

The only complain i had was the spellchecker. It didn't recognize words that i knew i spelling right and when i activated the auto correct? Well, then i started getting rather annoyed. 

 

I therefore use it for the first draft and keeping things in order. For the fine tuning and spelling/grammar/formatting i export it into word and work from there. 

 

Oh, i also use it to keep all my prompt responses in one place. Saves having lots of separate documents. 

[Hudson Bartholomew]

I have it and use it for my longer stories. I like that i can move scenes around easily and that i can add a scene into a separate folder when I've written something that i'm not sure where it will fit yet. 

 

I also like the word counting feature. it had a target for the total length, and each session. This means i can set myself goals to try nad reach. 

 

 

 

I also like the ability move scenes around, but so far that's the only function I like that I can't do in Word. Target words for each session sounds interesting and I didn't know it could do that... I'll need to go find where that is. 

 

I believe Scrivener can also assist with making changes across all scenes or searching across all scenes, which might be difficult in Word if each scene is split into different files. Have you used something like this before? Is it really as easy as they're selling it? 

[Sasha Distan]

I trialled it and was entirely doubtful. I have met lots of writers through Nanowrimo who use it - though generally unsuccessfully.

 

In my opinion and after my experience, it seems like a toolkit for procrastination. Lots of things to do to stop you from writing. all you need is a word processor and notebook. Everything else is just tosh.

[Hudson Bartholomew]

 it seems like a toolkit for procrastination. Lots of things to do to stop you from writing. all you need is a word processor and notebook. Everything else is just tosh.

 

 

I'm kind of leaning in that direction, too. 

[JamesSavik]

 it seems like a toolkit for procrastination. Lots of things to do to stop you from writing. all you need is a word processor and notebook.

 

That wolf does have a way with words. 

[Renee Stevens]

I use it for all of my stories now. It's awesome for keeping track of all your characters, your settings, etc. Now that I'm revising a story, I can simply go in and add "scenes" where I need them, put in place holders, etc.

 

I also use the "folder" page to make notes about what I need to happen in a chapter. It makes a little graphic on the folder so I know it's something I'm still working on. When I finish a chapter, I remove the notes from there, the icon goes bye bye, and then I can ignore that chapter for the most part.

 

I also like the search feature. I can search for errors that I make continuously (like towards instead of toward) and save it as a collection. It will then give me a list of the "scenes" that I've used that word in and highlight them. The thing I really like about this versus word, is that they stay highlighted (unlike word) so you can just go from one to the next and fix them.

 

Personally, I prefer Scrivener over Word, but I've been using it for a while now so I'm a bit more used to how it works. It definitely takes some time to get used to.

 

Really the only downfall to scrivener is that most people don't use it, so if your beta/editor doesn't use it, then you have to compile it into word to send to your team. The compile feature takes a while to get figured out, but I've finally figured out how to do the things I want.

[Hudson Bartholomew]

Personally, I prefer Scrivener over Word, but I've been using it for a while now so I'm a bit more used to how it works. It definitely takes some time to get used to.

 

Sounds like many established authors use Scrivener, so I feel like it's got to have some significant benefits over Word.

 

Do you think using it leads to improved/better writing? Or it's more about efficiency? 

Edited February 14, 2017 by Hudson Bartholomew

[Caz Pedroso]

Sounds like many established authors use Scrivener, so I feel like it's got to have some significant benefits over Word.

 

Do you think using it leads to improved/better writing? Or it's more about efficiency? 

 

It's not so much the efficiency (at least not for me) it's more the organisation. It keeps everything in one place. You can switch between character profiles and the chapter you're writing. You can make notes on chapters to remind yourself what you want to put in it. You can add notes to things to come back to later so you don't have to interrupt what your writing, but you also don't lose an idea that came to you. 

[Sasha Distan]

Sounds like many established authors use Scrivener, so I feel like it's got to have some significant benefits over Word.

 

Do you think using it leads to improved/better writing? Or it's more about efficiency? 

 

 

It's not so much the efficiency (at least not for me) it's more the organisation. It keeps everything in one place. You can switch between character profiles and the chapter you're writing. You can make notes on chapters to remind yourself what you want to put in it. You can add notes to things to come back to later so you don't have to interrupt what your writing, but you also don't lose an idea that came to you. 

 

And you can do all those things with any standard word processor (Word, OpenOffice etc). And they are compatible with everything everyone else uses (editors, betas etc)

 

Hudson - no different pen, paper, writing desk, ink, computer program, laptop, desktop machine, fancier screen, little writing nook, office, or anything else EVER makes anyone a better writer. Only hard work, dedication, research, the willingness to learn, and the resistance to keep going when one fails.

Only these make anyone better - at anything.

[mastershakeme]

On 2/14/2017 at 3:16 PM, Sasha Distan said:

 

 

 

And you can do all those things with any standard word processor (Word, OpenOffice etc). And they are compatible with everything everyone else uses (editors, betas etc)

 

Hudson - no different pen, paper, writing desk, ink, computer program, laptop, desktop machine, fancier screen, little writing nook, office, or anything else EVER makes anyone a better writer. Only hard work, dedication, research, the willingness to learn, and the resistance to keep going when one fails.

Only these make anyone better - at anything.

 

Yep. I got scrivner because I thought I'd become a published author or something, because you know, the only thing missing is organization!  But as of now, my files are scattered across 2 computers, my phone, Dropbox and Google drive.... My brains a mess, so is my project! 

 

It's ok though because disorder helps me. You have to go with what's good for you, but it never hurts to try something different

[metajinx]

I've been using Scrivener for about three or four years now, and I'm still incredibly happy with it. I can structure my whole story into scenes, write notes as to what I want to happen there, move them around, link Character Sheets and add pictures that inspired me to get me into the same setting again, mark the hyperlinks in different colors and with different icons (like placeholder, action scene, romance scene, unfinished, needs rework, plot driving, ...), add "folders" where I collect stuff for different topics so I don't have to search around, add word counts to keep track of how much I've still got left in a chapter, and - most importantly - I can compile my work automatically, format it just like I want it, and save it as any and every file type I can think of, even compile it as different ebook formats. I can change spacing, font, font size, header, footer, special sections, all in one go and with no need to go over it at the end. Okay, given you've set it up like you want it, but that takes about one hour and you'll never have to do it again.

I've gone so far and composed my own template that offers everything I need to simply get going. 100k novels and no scrolling through all of it, each time I want to work on one specific section. And if I want to use sections, I don't have to tinker around with navigation and text hooks, I just click on that itzy bitzy icon and go on writing instead of swearing.

Want to work on two scenes side by side? Split the screen. Want to erase all the background noise? Fullscreen-mode. Want to lay your novel aside and work on it later? Everything opens just like you had it last time. Each project has its own folder where everything has its place, so no clicking through your folders and looking for stuff that you were so sure was somewhere around there.

 

Yes, it takes some work to get used to it and yes, nobody needs all the functions it offers, but you pay once and are done with it. It does automatic backups, so set that up and be done with that, too. I can't even describe how happy I am with Scrivener!

[Hudson Bartholomew]

I've been demoing an alternative software called Ulysses, which has fewer functions, but seems a lot easier to use, at least for me. It's about the same price as Scrivener, and I'm honestly leaning toward Ulysses instead since I find Scrivener to be so bulky. In the end, though, everyone's just got to find what works for them, right?