Scrivener for Windows Love
The day the Scrivener for Windows beta debuted, I was all over like it was Ben & Jerry’s and I hadn’t had ice cream in a month. I downloaded it, played around with it for a few days and thought, “I love the corkboard tools, but this just isn’t for me.”
Last week I decided to give it another try. I’ve been editing up a storm and (as a procrastination technique) pasted my finished book into the updated beta program to see if it would help me in the editing process. Happily, I discovered that all the features I thought the program lacked on my first trial had been turned on in this later version.
I can write scenes and shift them around easily between chapters. I can write a quick summary of the scene that goes onto a tiny index card. All of these index cards show up in my chapter folders. I can stamp them First Draft, Revised Draft, Final Draft, etc. depending on where I was at in my editing process. And in the end, it took all of 10 seconds to compile my manuscript into a Word document.
And these were just the things I found useful in the editing process. I can’t wait to use this on a new book where I get to use all those corkboard tools. On a joyful side note, I also discovered that Scrivener’s Outline interface works incredibly well with my outlining methods.
I highly recommend this program to both outliners and pantsers. And if you tried the beta last year and didn’t like it, I suggest you give the latest version a try while it’s still free. It’s come a long way since November.
(Image property of Scrivener)
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8 Responses to "Scrivener for Windows Love"
on March 14, 2011 | to this post
I’ve heard about this program. Wondering if it’s solely for Macs? I’ve checked out a few other programs, too. Liquid Story Binder is another. Thanks for sharing.
on March 14, 2011 | to this post
i downloaded the windows beta version too. have been hearing so many good things about it, but wasn’t sure it was worth the effort. i literally opened the program, then immediately shut it :O)
i’m going to give it another shot…
on March 14, 2011 | to this post
I just bought the Mac version a few weeks ago and love this. I haven’t yet written in it (just imported my finished document) but I’m loving it so far for revisions. I LOVE not having to scroll all over the place to cross reference different scenes in the story. And the synopsis portion of the cork board is so helpful!
on March 14, 2011 | to this post
I’ve always been interested in Scrivener, but I was never able to decide if it would actually help. Now that I’m knee deep in the edit stage, it’s looking more and more attractive.
Sadly, I’m on a Mac, and it said the new Mac version would not be out until October.
on March 14, 2011 | to this post
Ohhh, I am total pantser. I’ll have to take a look at this and gather myself
Also love that its for Windows!
on March 15, 2011 | to this post
I’ve been using the widows version since they started the beta in NANO. The new beta 2.0 is great, much improved from the beginning.
I tried using Liquid Story Binder which is pretty powerful, but to much so for me.
Scrivener is what I’ve been looking for and it easy to use. The ability to move scenes around easily in a large manuscript makes it worth the money. And writing small chunks (scenes) makes writing a longer book less daunting.
on March 15, 2011 | to this post
@ Scooter Carlyle: Currently, the Mac version of Scrivener is 2.0; Windows version is 1.0.
Scrivener 2.0 was released just before NaNoWriMo last year; I expect that’s the deadline for the next Mac version. My recommendation: Don’t wait.
Because the Windows version was begun while the Mac version was being upgraded to 2.0, it trails the Mac version’s development. (It’s also being developed by a different team, who need to wait for changes to the Mac version before porting them to the Windows version.)
I have, and have used, both, and I recommend each of them unreservedly.
on March 27, 2011 | to this post
I’ve been so curious about the Windows Beta version, and you’ve convinced me to try it out!!