Updated Review: Scrivener, a tool for writers
Back in July I downloaded Scrivener, a comprehensive tool for writers that organizes everything from drafts, notes and outlines. It is a very powerful program and offer flexibility that lets individual writers tailor it to his/her needs. After a few months of use and using up their generous 30-day free trial, I’m writing a follow-up to my original post on Scrivener.
Overall Scrivener is everything it advertises to be. I can see how it can help writers of all genres, fiction and non-fiction alike, and can really increase productivity for someone who needs everything organized. With that said, Scrivener is not the right match for me. As I was using it, I realized that I prefer the simplicity of a word processing program that simply allows me to write. Any notes or outlines I use, I usually write out by hand. I’ve always done it that way and it is how I work best.
I found all the features of Scrivener to be distracting. There is a definite learning curve and I spent more time playing around with the program trying to figure it out than I did writing. Did I give it enough of a chance? Some might argue that I did not. But my trusty NeoOffice word processing program has served me well over the years and for now I’ll stick with it.
I am going to keep the Scrivener program on my computer. Maybe down the road I’ll come back to it. You never know when your needs will change. If you are a writer I encourage you to give Scrivener a try. Just because it’s not right for me doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. The 30-day free trial is plenty of time to give it a good test drive. Scrivener is a great program that can really increase the productivity for some writers.
What do you use for your writing? A word processor? Scrivener? Another writing program? Leave a comment below and share your experience with your preferred writing tool.
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I like Scrivener, but I do agree that there is a fairly large learning curve in order to get the most use out of it. So far, I just haven’t had the time to dedicate to that curve. Mostly though, my issue with Scrivener is that it cannot hold vast amounts of data: the index card function is great, but it it can only so much research material before it chokes.
So my primary writing tool is actually a project management tool: DevonThink Pro (http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/devonthink/index.html). It’s quite ugly (though far less ugly since it’s recent redesign), but it is an absolute workhorse when it comes to organizing information, archiving web pages (which for my purposes is a necessity), compiling different media documents together in one place. The actual word processor part of DevonThink is terrible: it has no real understanding of formatting pages or layout. But it is indestructible in terms of data capacity, so it’s a great place to throw together notes and write early drafts when the look of the content doesn’t matter yet. I usually write the first few drafts of a piece in DevonThink, then once I feel like I’m entering a middle stage where seeing the work properly on the page would help and I don’t need to reference research documents as often, I switch over to Word or Scrivener. DevonThink also has a really good search function.
Thanks for the recommendation of NeoOffice: always nice to have Word alternatives. If only DevonThink had a true word processor integrated into it, I would use it for everything.
Hi Kellie! Thank you for your comment!
I was not aware that Scrivener could not handle large amounts of data. That would certainly be a problem for someone with lots of research material. I will have to look at your recommendation DevonThink Pro. I’m always open to new tools to make writing easier.
For now I’m content to use my OpenOffice (for Mac) word processor. It has all the functionality of MS Word and I can fire it up and just start typing. As I mentioned in the post, most of my notes and outlines are handwritten. That’s just how I work.
Definitely look into using NeoOffice (for PC). The word processor is great and because it’s open source, the program is always being improved and updated. Best of all…it’s free!
Thanks again for your comment and I hope to see you around Brad’s Reader again!
-Brad
I’ve written for years starting with handwriting, moving to typewriters, finally to early word processors on early generations of personal computers. I won’t even try to remember all the names. Most recently though, I’ve found a productive way for me to work is with a very simple text application on the iPad for drafting all or parts of whatever I’m writing, importing these all into Scrivener along with research materials and anything else I need to produce a complete draft, then exporting from Scrivener to a Word Processor to complete and polish it. All this is based on some simple realities about the way I work:
1. I start off with rough notes by hand in notebooks, mind maps, outlines, or whatever captures the ideas.
2. At some point, I have to get it in writing. For that, I’ve been using ‘My Writing Nook’ on the iPad. It allows me to work wherever and whenever without distractions. I can get a whole or a piece out quickly in draft form and then export it to my Laptop where I work with Scrivener.
3. Scrivener is my central point. Everything concentrates there. Drafts, research, photos, and everything that will go into the piece collects there. I work with the pieces, assembling, disassembling, and whatever else until I have a draft I like including photos and whatever else I want there. Then I export to a final format application (usually Word format).
4. I finally put the polish on in Word or OpenOffice, formatting, organizing, and making any final changes needed for whatever the target market is.
I’ve now completed several projects this way and I’m settling in and making it work smoothly getting everything done. One large project was an online course where I wrote 22 separate lessons and supporting material. My most recent was a short article on search & rescue.
The iPad was the missing piece for years. I was never quite satisfied with a laptop and nothing else really worked. Smart phones just don’t cut it for me. Scrivener, once I found it, was also an important addition since every other way I’ve come up with to organize everything just wasn’t satisfactory. I wrote two books before I hit on a fairly workable system, but Scrivener has definitely made everything simpler.
Everyone has their own system. All that REALLY matters to other people is that final result. How you get there is up to you, but I find that working with tight little apps (My Writing Nook & Scrivener) until I need to put the polish on makes me work faster than ever before.