Saturday 22 May 2021

The Great Scrivener Debate

Hands up if you’ve used Scrivener.

(Barely raises hand)

Starting a new novel is always exciting. I’m writing my fifth historical now, and I’ve never used Scrivener. I always tell myself… next time. Next time I’ll use it, figure it out, give it a try! Now that “next time” is here, and guess what? I gave up in like 2-seconds flat. Actually, it was after two days.

I’ve been researching the content for my novel for weeks! I’m sick to death of the research, I have to tell you. I have my outline done. I even did something new (to me) and wrote out an entire chapter timeline on butcher paper and marked all the major events. It’s a roll of paper and I hooked it on a hanger and have it hanging in my kitchen on the sliding door curtain rod. I’d show you, but then I’d have to kill you because all my novel’s juicy bits are on there. But I look at it every day, and remind myself… this is what I’m following.

But back to Scrivener. I registered for the free 30-day trial. 30. Days. That is pretty generous, I think. Anyway, my first mistake was sitting down to figure it out the moment I was ready to start drafting chapters. Silly rabbit!

I found it awkward to navigate, but in the same breath I watched the tutorial videos and… WOW! There are a lot of handy features. The notecards look like an amazing feature. If only I can figure out how to use them myself. Or even start a new chapter after I click the scene tab.

Perhaps I’m just resistant to change? I am pretty set in my ways. My desk is full of notebooks, and when I can’t reach one, I scratch ideas on napkins, sticky notes and even on the back of envelopes (I love to write ideas on bills). I’ve created a messy filing system that up until now has served me well.

(Not my real desk, but pretty close)

But I know there is a better way, and maybe Scrivener is the answer. According to the tutorials, Scrivener takes all these note scratches, research, outlines, character sketches and all the rest of it and complies it into a nice digital notebook. Wouldn't that be nice?

I’m giving it another try this weekend.

Have you used it? What was your experience?

25 comments:

  1. I've heard of it, but have no desire to use it. :)

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  2. Hello Andie, I tried Scrivener (very briefly) several years ago but didn't invest enough time. Like you, I vow to use it next time. Converts seem to swear by its benefits. Although I would probably still use notebooks and post-its etc too! Good luck with your new book.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I feel like I need to test it out with a tester book. Def. sitting down to learn it at the exact moment I'm prepared to start typing my book out was a mistake. LOL.

      Delete
  3. Rae, like you I tried it, but didn't invest enough time to really use it.

    Perhaps its time to revisit it.

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  4. I absolutely love Scrivener, and have used it for my last 4 or 5 novels. It has made life so much easier for me. I don't write books in their finished sequence, and Scriv lets you easily shift scenes around. It's also great for planning. You can search across all documents in the same project which I also find invaluable. We all work in different ways and Scriv really suits the way I work. I plan and first-draft on Scrivener, and do the structural edits there. Once the novel moves to copy-edits stage, I do that in Word or LibreOffice.
    I come from a background in IT and took to Scriv really quickly as in some ways it's similar to code development platforms I'd used.
    For anyone trying it, I'd recommend working through the tutorial first. It uses Scrivener so as you navigate the tutorial you are using the same functions you'll use when writing a novel. And remember you don't have to use all features - I don't. Just use what suits you and the way you work.

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    Replies
    1. I keep hearing this... How easy it is and couldn't ever imagine going back. I'm still tittering with it today.... I see the features are nice. I'm just not that organized in general so maybe that is why I'm resistant to it.

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  5. Tried it once, didnt like it. Too complicated for my brain

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  6. I love it. I’ve written 10 novels on it. I love the way you can move stuff around and have a bird’s eye view of the whole book. Plus target counter. Compose mode to write without distraction. Also the cork board to look at the total shape of the story. I only use a small % of the available features as I hate reading instructions. But even using it “lite” I love it. Word is an abomination only to be tolerated when doing final edits.

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    Replies
    1. How did you teach yourself to use it? Just curious.

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  7. I have it, but have yet to try it. My system with MS Word is pretty tight. But after reading this post, I'm re-thinking.

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  8. I will investigate it properly in 2 books time. My next book is the next in a series, so I'm reluctant to screw up a system that, whilst imperfect, does work. Then I intend to write a standalone, so I'll start that project from scratch in Scrivener.

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  9. I love Scrivener! I was introduced to it at a conference workshop in Sept 2017 and was hooked. I bought Scrivener for Dummies after I returned home (and a MacBook Air). Joseph Michael holds Learn Scrivener Fast webinars and I've signed up for almost every one of them and learn something different every time.

    I will never go back to writing a book using Word.

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    Replies
    1. THERE IS A SCRIVENER FOR DUMMIES????? I must get!!

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    2. I bought my copy from Amazon. I'm not sure if you can still get it.

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    3. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scrivener-Dummies-Gwen-Hernandez/dp/1118312473

      Indeed it is!

      Delete
  10. Well as we used to say when summing up industry meetings, "A diversity of views was expressed!" Very much a Marmite program.

    For the sake of completion, a non-writing but very tech savvy friend pointed me in the direction of:

    a. https://www.theologeek.ch/manuskript/

    and

    b. https://bibisco.com/

    Both are Open-source community-type software, and of course, FREE. I'll be checking them out gently over the coming weeks.

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  11. I've got Scrivener but have not quite got to grips with it. I started writing one of my novels on it , but have crossed back to Word. I think I need to give it another go when I've got more time!

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  12. Scrivener? This is a whole foreign country to me ... not sure I do foreign apart from Italian food.
    I love the writing style of this blogpost ... off now to Google Scrivener.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I can't. I own a copy, and I have given it a good try several times. My first problem is that it imposes its system on yours. I do have a system, a barebones one that works for me, and I couldn't incorporate Scrivener into it. it's its way or nothing at all.
    And it lost work. Because it saves to its own folder and nowhere else, unless you do it manually, it's easy to muck up that folder and then you're stuffed.
    I don't use Word, but I would if I wanted the extra storage that goes with it. I use Atlantis Word Processor, which has several handy features that a novelist would appreciate, but they are not imposed on you. You use them if you want to, or you can use it as a simple word processor.
    The main reasons I settled with Atlantis are simple - you have a tabbed interface, like a browser does, so you can have several documents open at once. When you open the program, it opens at the document you were using, at the place where you left the cursor. No scrolling, yay! And it has an echo detector (when you use a word too often). It doesn't have a Track Changes feature, so I use Libre Office for that, another sound word processor.

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  14. Just wanted to mention The Novel Factory (https://www.novel-software.com) as it's got a lot of the useful features of Scrivener, but is much more intuitive to use. Thought you might want to check it out!

    ReplyDelete
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