Software for Writers: Scrivener, How I Love Thee.

I have found the Best. Thing. Ever.  Scrivener, by Literature and Latte is a writer's best friend.  I am using it for fiction, but had I known about it, I would certainly have used it for all those long grad school papers. It organizes drafts, comments, and notes, and I can even stash reader's comments in it.

 

I easily uploaded my working draft into it from MS Office and I can export my draft into pdf, kindle versions, etc. without any fuss at all.  Some of my favorite features are listed below.

The corkboard.  I make for each chapter a little synopsis and then they show up on the corkboard.  This is really helpful for looking at the big picture.

This screenshot is not of my story, but is one provided by the makers.

The compiler.  In my old word-processor, the whole novel was in one document.  A change that required backward revision required a lot of scrolling.  Yuck.  In Scrivener, I can divide the novel into parts, chapters, sections, etc. and view each discrete chunk, or the whole thing.  You can see in the above screenshot the outline on the left.  A click on any heading shows all the content below it.

The character list.  Also in the left sidebar is a list of characters.  As they reveal their personalities and characteristics to me, I can record these details in their character entry.

The comments. Just like in other word-processors, I can insert comments.  This is really useful when I am writing new material and realize that something I am writing now necessitates a small revision in a previous portion.  Rather than stop and go tend to it, I can just toss in a comment to remind me to take care of it later.  When I sit down to write, I can click on the whole manuscript and all the comments appear.  I can pick through them and decide what I want to work on next.  A click on the comment takes me to that section.

And since I am writing and home-school (aka frequently interrupted) I can use the commenting feature to dash off a quick note of what I was going to do prior to being pulled away.

The notes.  I can toggle that right sidebar to show either my own comments or the notes from other readers which I have cut-and-pasted in.  Sometimes reader's comments come in and I am not in the mood to deal with that section yet.  No problem! I just paste the comments into the Notes for that portion and they are there waiting for me when I am ready.

The back-ups.  It saves automatically all the time.  I can also take snapshots of it before I venture off in an experimental direction.  If I dislike my experiment I can revert to the snapshot.  Also, when I shut it down, it backs up everything.

The customer support. I had one small not-my-fault technical glitch and the customer support was prompt and personable and reassuring.

Scrivener runs on Mac or Windows and costs between $35 and $45 depending on platform and whether or not you qualify for the Educator's discount.  This is not a sponsored post, but if you do click on the links here and purchase, I get a small commission.  I'd be talking it up even without the commission though.