Scribbled

Scrivener

I imagine that most fledgling writers - people just like myself, only less so - are constantly on the lookout for any tool or approach that will make writing possible easier. We’re talking here about short story writers, poets and novelists, screenwriters, any kind of researcher. In the digital age, a natural category of tools for such writers is the specialized word processor, or perhaps it’s more accurately called an idea organizer or project manager. The thinking behind this genus of writing program is that for work that involves research and gathering of resources, and for writers who need the flexibility of shuffling narrative elements ala index cards and corkboards, more than a mere word processor is required.

There are several such programs out there in the wild, but I was drawn to Literature and Latte’s Scrivener (a Mac-only program) by a couple of rather positive mentions at Lifehacker, and by a love letter to the program penned by Merlin Mann of 43folders. The Mann review of the product really spoke to me:

If you write like I do (and I pray that you do not), you have a messy approach to drafting that is iterative, intuitive, and far from linear. You do a brain dump, then type a little, then research a little, then type a little more, then move a bunch of stuff around, then groan aloud, then 80% start over and so on until something is done. Yes, it would be more tidy if we all followed the mandate of our elementary school teachers and wrote perfect 5-paragraph essays straight from a completed outline. But, such is life. And Scrivener seems to get that.

I’m using the 30-day trial period to give Scrivener a spin, and so far I’m impressed. The program allows you to save a variety of resources for reference, even PDFs, audio files, and website URIs. The 98% of you who use Microsoft Word can relax, as Scrivener outputs to that program. Expect to have to devote some time to the tutorial, but it’s far from boring and well worth your attention. The acid test will come shortly as I really apply the program to the “longer project” I’m working on, but I think I’d be surprised if the $39.95 price doesn’t wind up feeling like a bargain.

Update: Purchased it a couple of weeks ago.

Windows users: As mentioned above, Scrivener is not for you. But Literature and Latte graciously provides a list of Windows-based writing programs, with descriptions and links. Alternative Mac programs are also listed.

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