review: Scrivener

[kdbleu]

This is Scrivener. It’s a word processing and organization tool for writing long pieces, novels, scripts, etc. I’m on Day 20 of my 28 free days. It’s supposed to be amazing. But here's what I think. ;)

Comments

[kdbleu]

As an organizational tool, I doubt it can be beat, especially for the price.

What I find really interesting is that it's not the first time I've used a tool that was created to do something specific better (the other was a database tool for tracking addresses for work) but in both cases I really liked all of the new trapping but found the original WP/DB easier to use. This I find very odd, personally.

Glad to be helpful!

[plaid_slytherin]

This was helpful! I'd heard of Scrivener but had never thought too deeply about it... I've always been fairly content with my system, which is to have the story in one document and other stuff in another document and then just research type links in my bookmarks. (So far, I do more research for fanfiction, i.e., BSG Wiki. Haven't done any research for Yan yet since I'm making the whole thing up...) I doubt I would pay for something like this but if there's a free version I might try that if it had something going for it.

[kdbleu]

You get 28 days free before you have to finish which is a great selling point because you really get to use it and until yesterday I was totally unconvinced and now I'm pretty much sold. It was worth the free trial. ;)

I did write a novel in Word using a very personal system very similar to Scrivener, but Scrivener is definitely easier for me because it's all right there.

[scifishipper]

I am also still on the fence about it, but given the size of an actual novel, I think this will really help keep it organized. The drawback for me is that I don't really ever write out of order (which would be one of the useful things about scrivener). I never write scenes in advance because they always change and I like to keep the future discoveries a mystery until I arrive. But, as I said in an email, it will be aces for finding old story elements quickly.

For 40 bucks, I'll also be purchasing it. :)

[kdbleu]

In many ways I'm still on the fence too, but I've spent worse $40. lol

Scrivener is great if you write out of order. I also save big chunk that I cut and frequently reuse pieces of cut material and I'm thinking Scrivener will be good for that too. The search feature hadn't occurred to me until you mentioned it, but I have used it since. I lost a very important 'notes' file *blush* and found it really, really easily. Not just the file, but I had accidentally moved it. YAY!

[embolalia]

I downloaded the trial, too!

Tools>Options>Appearance>Fonts and then >corrections will let you reset those things! (I did the whole tutorial :)

I like it so far, but then, I usually use google docs for such things, so my expectations are low.

I do wish it would let me access the same files on my ipad, which apparently I could do if my main computer were a mac, but it's not. Oh well, they claim to be working on an app.

[kdbleu]

Tools>Options>Appearance>Fonts

I did that and it still defaults to Courier. :( Drives me nuts.

I'm a word processor snob. It's kind of sad.

Actually, my biggest but silliest hang is that I would really like either a net book or the new, as yet unreleased, Microsoft Surface tablet (because it has a keyboard attachment) but I would be either cloud or app dependant. But neither is going to happen soon so I've decided not to worry about it. hee.

[embolalia]

Weird! The font thing worked for me. I did have a netbook for my primary computer for a few years and it was alright, but they do have limited memory and 2/3 size keys :)

[apodixis]

Wow I am late to this conversation. But! I actually use Scrivener so I thought I'd add in my two cents. I've written all my fics on it and I love how it auto-formats everything and I feel like I have a better judge of how much I've written as opposed to Word. I definitely don't use it to its full potential either, more of just a way to keep ideas and fics and drabbles organized in one place. Sometimes I end up writing a scene or a few dialogue lines I want to use so it's easy enough to organize things like that. I also particularly love the word/character count at the bottom which is helpful for LJ's limitations

[apodixis]

OH! The best thing is the auto-save feature. That thing saves every 2 seconds. Accidentally closed it? Crashed? Well good news! Everything is saved.

[kdbleu]

It actually too me a while to quite trying to save. lol

What I wish was that the auto-save didn't seem to override Undo, which I use quite often. I've started cutting instead of deleting, but it's not the same for me.

[kdbleu]

Intersting, I'm always surprised how much (or little) I've written with Scrivener verses Word because I've always used the page view on Word and that's more how I judge, but I also really like writing without being obsessed with my page count. hee.

I love the ability to access scenes and bits for later more easily and more visually as I write very much out of order and spend a great deal of time trying to keep track of 'future' pieces of the story.