6 reasons why scrivener is the best writing tool ever | wordbitches
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25/05/2014 23:526 Reasons Why Scrivener Is The Best Writing Tool EVER | Wordbitches
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6 Reasons Why Scrivener Is The Best Writing Tool EVERPosted on April 26, 2013 by Elena Aitken
Every writer has their own way of writing. Some use paper and pen, some use traditional word processors andsome use writing software programs. I personally, use Scrivener. In my opinion it’s the best program out there.And this is why I love it so:
I can organize to my heart’s content! – I can separate my manuscript into chapters and scenes andeven scenes within scenes if I want. This makes it super easy to bounce around, fix stuff and rememberwhere everything is. Also, note the pretty colors. I like to color coordinate my files so I can easily see whatPOV chapters are in, what draft, and different file notes…
Very cool cork board function- For easy plotting, you can create note cards just as you would on aregular cork board. It’s easy to drag them around, color code them, and even work on the synopsis for eachscene. You can customize your cork board however you like it to look.
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I gotta see my progress! – One of my favorite features of Scrivener is the word count feature. I am supergoal orientated so if I can see a visual representation of my progress, I get giddy! I love to see the colored barmove across the screen. And you can set your goals to reflect what days you write and when you want to befinished the project.
Compile in any format - It’s easy to compile your project to any format you want. This is great for those ofus that self pub. With the click of a few buttons, I can decide what I want included in the project, and what Idon’t. You can export into all format types, but what I’ve been doing lately is compiling in an epub and thenusing Calibre to convert to mobi files.
Syncing it up- I recently got an iPad and my very first question was, “How can I use it to write?” After a bitof digging, I discovered that even though there is no Scrivener for iPad, you can totally make it work. All youneed is a Dropbox account and a writing program for your iPad. I downloaded a program called Nebulous onmy iPad (others use Simplenote or Plaintext, and I think there are more.) Basically, what you do is SyncNebulous to Dropbox. And then to get it into Scrivener, you Click on ‘Sync’ – ‘with external folder’ and selectthe unique folder that you’ve created for this purpose. AND…boom. Super easy. (At least it was once Ifigured it out) This is a link that will help explain it, although it uses Plaintext, but that’s just personalpreference.
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The Customer Service is Kick Ass- When it comes to asking for help, Scrivener has the best response incustomer service that I’ve seen. When you need help with something, all you have to do is tweet@scrivenerapp and you will get a response. Here’s the answer to a question I had yesterday.
And a few months ago, this was my question:
And this was their response:
As for the ins and outs of how it works, I know there’s a lot more to Scrivener than I actually use, but I’m stilllearning and applying new stuff everyday. Here are a few websites that are fantastic resources. Check them out:
http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/your-guide-to-scrivener#chapter-2
http://everythingscrivener.wordpress.com/
http://www.rebecaschiller.com/scrivener-for-windows-tutorial/
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About Elena AitkenElena is a work at home/stay at home/write at home mom of twins who regularly loses herself in her fictional characters becausetheir lives are way more exciting!View all posts by Elena Aitken →
Oh, and to make it even better, Scrivener is on sale right now at Amazon. Check it out here. Because you can’t gowrong with such an awesome program, especially for only $20. Check it out!
So, what do you think? Do you use Scrivener? What’s your favorite feature?
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This entry was posted in General Mess, Writing Process, Writing Tips and tagged elena aitken, scrivener, scrivener tips, sync scrivener with ipad, why scrivener rocks,wordbitches. Bookmark the permalink.
44 Responses to 6 Reasons Why Scrivener Is The Best Writing Tool EVER
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patriciasands says:April 26, 2013 at 3:27 pm
Fantastic information, thanks!
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Elena Aitken says:April 26, 2013 at 5:23 pm
Thanks, Patricia. I hope it helps other writers discover Scrivener so they can fall in love, too!
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Louise Behiel says:April 26, 2013 at 4:19 pm
well bummer – it’s only available in the US from amazon. great article, Elena. I’ve used the freebie version but have nevermastered the software. you make it sound fairly simple.
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Elena Aitken says:April 26, 2013 at 5:25 pm
Oh, Louise, that sucks. I somehow am still on the US site. But even at full price…SO worth it!
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Tina M. says:November 13, 2013 at 3:51 pm
I bought it via internet, and I’m not US citizen!
think I need to go hunting for all those features. Have had it for a year now and never got it to show its full potential.
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Angela Wallace says:April 26, 2013 at 5:15 pm
Ok, I gave in and bought it! Hopefully I’ll get the hang of it quickly. I am looking forward to using the cork board to keeptrack of all the unimportant character names and places! Lol. Rather than scrolling back up through the doc… “Now what didI call that again?”
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Elena Aitken says:April 26, 2013 at 5:25 pm
Angela. You will love it! I promise. It’s so easy and start with only a few things, you can always add more featuresand fancy stuff later.
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amyshojai says:April 26, 2013 at 5:53 pm
Angela and Elena, that’s my problem–keeping track of names, descriptions, addresses and suchlike. And I tend to writebunches of scenes that are needed but on revisions find they’d work better in different orders. Cut-and-paste can really beawkward. Just downloaded, look forward to using this.
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Elena Aitken says:April 27, 2013 at 7:02 am
Amy, it’s a fabulous tool for moving stuff around like that. And you can highlite the scenes that still need anotherround of revisions, or mark them when they’re done. it’s really helpful
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Stephen Woodfin says:April 26, 2013 at 8:55 pm
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Elena, I do all my writing on Scrivener now and don’t know how I got along without it. Thanks for the post. As for those whocan’t get it on the Amazon US store,at about $50 for full price it is still the best bargain I know of for a program with suchgreat functionality. I don’t use nearly all the capabilities it offers. Also, I encourage all the writers out there to take the fewdays it requires to get passed the learning curve. They will be glad they did.
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Elena Aitken says:April 27, 2013 at 7:03 am
Stephen, thank you for your comment. It is a great tool and you’re absolutely correct, even at $50 it’s a HUGEbargain! I’d pay it again for such a great tool. Like you, I’m slowly learning more and more about it, but Iabsolutely agree…everyone should take the time to learn about it and give it a shot.
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Evangeline Holland says:April 26, 2013 at 9:14 pm
I tried Scrivener when they first released it for PC and it’s waaaay too structured for me. I’m visual, but I need to make a messbefore I can see all of the pieces I need to pull together.
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Elena Aitken says:April 27, 2013 at 7:04 am
Evangeline,Thank you for your comment. Scrivener is definitely not for everyone. That’s interesting that you find it reallystructured. I found it the exact opposite, but I came from Word. I’m interested, what do you use for your process?
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Evangeline Holland says:April 27, 2013 at 3:18 pm
WordPad and a spiral notebook, lol. I am easily overwhelmed when there’s too much to look at, so I need ablank canvas/page/screen where I can jot down whatever comes to my mind about my WIP. When I triedScrivener, it felt like I had to use everything I wrote in the various tools because all of it sat on the program’shome screen. Whereas if I open up WordPad or a spiral notebook, I can plot and brainstorm to my heart’scontent, and set it aside to let it grow in my brain. Then when I open a Word doc, writing feels organic.
I sound crazy, don’t I?
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Elena Aitken says:May 6, 2013 at 11:19 am
you totally don’t sound crazy at all! I think it’s important to do whatever works for you to keep thewords coming.
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Carol Lerner says:August 28, 2013 at 2:08 pm
Hey. Scrivener does have a setting where you only have a blank “piece of paper” in front of you. Justsayin’
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Emma says:April 27, 2013 at 3:18 am
I haven’t tried Scrivener yet, but I must.It sounds like a great help.
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Elena Aitken says:April 27, 2013 at 7:05 am
Emma,Let us know if you give it a try!
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Lori Kaplan says:April 27, 2013 at 10:09 am
Hi Elena, thanks for the post! I’m checking it out and finding a lot of people are as enthusiasitc as you are about Scrivener.There was one frustrated user who commented on Amazon about having trouble with the Compile feature, and a rep from thecompany responded calmly with a clear and easy solution. Very impressive support! Someone else at Amazon wanted to syncwith an iPad, so I posted a reply referring to your post! There’s a 30 day trial on the Scrivener home page… 30 days of actualuse, so I might try it out… either way, thanks again for sharing : )Best wishes with your writing projects!
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Elena Aitken says:May 6, 2013 at 11:21 am
Thanks, Lori.The 30 day trial is perfect because it’s definitely enough time to figure out whether if works for you or not.I know it won’t work for everyone, but for me, it’s absolutely indispensable.
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Dawn says:April 27, 2013 at 10:32 am
Oh, thank you, thank you , thank you! I just recently downloaded the Scrivener trial for an online writing class I’m taking, buthave been too intimidated by all the cool features to really sit down and try and figure it out. You hit the highlights and nowI’m off to explore it a little more for myself!
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Elena Aitken says:May 6, 2013 at 11:22 am
Dawn,If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to start slow with the features and work your way into it. I get overwhelmedeasily and for me, using a few features at a time was key.
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michael kors handbags says:April 28, 2013 at 6:39 am
Good post, i will share with my friends.
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Elena Aitken says:May 6, 2013 at 11:22 am
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Tiffany A White says:April 29, 2013 at 10:43 am
I need to try Scrivener!! I want to!
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Elena Aitken says:May 6, 2013 at 11:23 am
Do it, Tiffany!!
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lauriegienapp says:May 6, 2013 at 4:37 am
Ugh… I hate to post anything that might be viewed as anything less than glowing, because I love scrivener as much as you do!But I just want to caution Windows users that our version of scrivener does not (yet) have the sync feature. So while it’s stillvery easy to use Dropbox, and go from your desktop to your laptop, or even your iPad…. you have to use import/export, andgo through several extra steps. However … Scrivener is so awesome, it’s still worth it.
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Stephen Woodfin says:May 6, 2013 at 8:59 am
I may be not understanding the full sync feature, but I use Scrivener for PC and save projects on Dropbox. When Iopen the project on any of my computers, it is synced to the latest version of the project I saved on Dropbox. So it isreally seamless moving between computers.
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lauriegienapp says:May 6, 2013 at 9:29 am
Stephen.. perhaps it’s just a matter of terminology. Scrivener for Mac actually has a menu option called Sync.Scrivener for PC does not (at least, as of the April 2013 update). So PC users can use export and backup anduse Dropbox to access projects between computers… and as long as we open the latest version, make mychanges, close it, and then open that same version (now changed) the next time we open the project on a PC,we’re all set. However… if I wish to work on my iPad, as Elena described… (and I agree with her, you can usePlaintext, or Nebulous…. I personally prefer Textilus)… since I do NOT have the sync feature available to me,it’s a matter of importing the new material, which ADDS TO (rather than syncing with) the latest version…and I just have to make sure I delete the outdated stuff
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Stephen Woodfin says:May 6, 2013 at 9:42 am
Okay. Yes, that is clumsier than what I’m used to. Thanks, SW
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Elena Aitken says:May 6, 2013 at 11:25 am
Thanks, guys, for clearing it up.I use Scrivener for Mac and I sometimes forget that the PC version might not have thesame features.There might be a few extra steps, but in my opinion, totally worth it!
John Castle says:June 7, 2013 at 3:59 am
I use Scrivener for all of my work — novel, novella, screeenplay, nonfiction essay. I love everything about Scrivener. It is, tomy knowledge, the only truly scalable writing app out there — by which I mean that you can engage as few or as many of thefeatures as suits your individual style. No other writing app I know of is that flexible, and that is, in my opinion, what makesScrivener such a winning proposition.
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Vybarr Cregan-Reid says:June 7, 2013 at 5:09 am
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I use it for my formal academic writing, for non-fiction, and for my blog (www.psychojography.com). It is the best piece ofsoftware for writers. Nice post.
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Dorthea says:August 22, 2013 at 1:25 pm
This blog, “6 Reasons Why Scrivener Is The Best Writing ToolEVER | Wordbitches” illustrates the fact that u know precisely what you are writingabout! I really 100 % agree with your blog. Thanks a lot ,Jennie
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Rebeca Schiller says:August 26, 2013 at 7:13 am
Great post and thanks for the mention!
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CKR says:September 29, 2013 at 6:56 pm
Well, this is months late, and a whole lotta dollars short, but I gotta tell you, while what you suggest might work for you, andworks on a Mac, those of us on the PC cannot easily sync with the ipad. There are many reasons for this — chief among themthe fact that the iPad, like all IOS devices, is a data roach motel.
As much as I loved using it, the fact that there was no Scrivener for the iPad pushed me into a Windows 8 tablet (NOT RT!).There, I can use Scrivener, Windows recognizes that my data is my own, and I don’t have to use drop box, but can actuallysync the files directly.
None of this is an indictment against Scrivener — which is an excellent writing tool that I use on my PCs. It’s more that theentire idea behind the IOS platform is that Apple owns and controls my data, and that there are very few useful tools toactually write on the iPad. Yes, there are a few, but the fact is, they ALL have something missing. Some (Textulus, I believe),don’t understand the simple concept of subfolders. I don’t know why, but those guys cannot seem to understand how muchmore powerful it would make their app. Other apps, cannot seem to get rtf to work (which I understand is a bit of a problemon IOS). And I won’t even go into the utter disaster the Office product is on the iPad. It’s simply unusable.
So… Scrivener rules. But, like everything else Mac, it rules best if you USE a Mac computer — and that’s something that Ican’t see in my future. If they ever get Scrivener for the iPad off the ground (and there is some recent movement in thatdirection), I’ll consider going back to the iPad. But for the foreseeable future, it’s Windows 8 on a tablet.
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search says:May 20, 2014 at 9:07 am
Having read this I believed it was very enlightening.
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I appreciate you spending some time and energy to put this information together.I once again find myself spending way too much time bothreading and posting comments. But so what, it was still worthwhile!
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