I scoured the Internet and found an article like this one that gushed about Scrivener’s diverse and powerful capabilities. Microsoft Word made the task onerous I wasn’t able to see enough of the project to diagnose and fix problems. After taking a break for a few months, I realized the story needed significant reorganization to solve structural flaws. I wrote a 250-page guidebook to kayaking and rafting the rivers and lakes of Idaho, but the simple fact is that there are better tools for the job than Microsoft Word.Ībout five years ago I started writing long-form fiction in Word and quickly realized its limitations when my draft went beyond about 10,000 words. I wrote news stories, feature stories, poetry and notes. I used to write everything using standard word processing software. ( Select this link to download a free 30-day trial of Scrivener from the app’s developer, Literature and Latte.) My introduction to Scrivener From outlining to formatting a finished manuscript, Scrivener does everything a writer needs to plan, research write, edit and organize (or reorganize) a book. Others have a favorite desk or chair, or a notes app that stores ideas across digital platforms.įor me, that favorite tool is Scrivener, a word processor that puts your research at your fingertips and breaks big projects into digestible parts. For some it’s a ragged notebook full of brainstorms and sketches. Links to pages inside the wiki are in red.Like a carpenter with a favorite speed square, writers have favorite tools. The document structure will be maintained in folders. It is also possible to export individual parts of a project in some of the above formats for archive or exchange purposes. eBook formats: PDF, ePub, MOBI (requires KindleGen).The output of Scrivener can be in any of the following formats: (Note UTF-8 is used) Image files, audio files, video files and other files can be included as part of a project. It is possible to import existing files in RTF, DOC, DOCX, ODT, TXT formats. With support for footnotes and comments and the ability to reformat your work during compile, you can produce submission-ready novel manuscripts, work with academic standards, and much more. Export to web or e-book formats for self-publishing. Compile for Export and Print: Compile your finished draft for printing or exporting to your favorite word processor for final formatting.Snapshots: Taking a “snapshot” of a document allows you to edit and rewrite in the confidence that you can restore an earlier revision at any time.You can even mix up script formatting with regular text for writing treatments. Scriptwriting: Switch to scriptwriting mode for automatic screen- or stage play formatting-or set up your own script formats.Full Screen Editing: View your text in full-screen mode for distraction-free composition.Collections: Create collections to keep arbitrary lists of documents and research independent of their regular order: track documents that need attention or use Saved Search Collections to generate automatically-updated lists of related documents.Use the outliner to plan first and write later, or write first and use the outliner to make sense of that messy first draft. Outlining: A fully-featured outliner helps you take control of the structure of your work.Storyboard and rearrange your project by moving cards around on the corkboard. Corkboard: Virtual index cards store a synopsis for every document you create.Edit Multiple Documents: “Scrivenings” mode temporarily combines individual documents into a single text, allowing you to view and edit different sections of your manuscript in isolation or as a whole.Linux is possible but not officially supported. Scrivener is available for Windows and MacOS X. This program is a commercial product, however a free trial download is available. While it gives you complete control of the formatting, its focus is on helping you get to the end of that awkward first draft. Scrivener is a powerful content-generation tool for writers that allows you to concentrate on composing and structuring long and difficult documents.
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