Writing Tools: Scrivener and Nanowrimo

As part of the Nanowrimo experience, I decided to try out the software for novelists, Scrivener. I’m happy to say it was both easy to use and inspiring. The bad news is that I probably won’t be buying it soon.

First, the positives. You can see all your “chapters” listed on the left for easy access. They don’t have to be chapters, either. You can just write scenes, if you haven’t quite decided where to put them yet. To help with that, each item comes with an “index card,” on which you can either compose a short description or have one automatically created. Then you can move the index cards around on a virtual bulletin board to try out ideas. Another view lists all the chapters and scenes, complete with stats — number of words, writing goals, etc. (especially helpful to Nanowrimoers).

Even better, you can keep all your research in Scrivener and that appears in a box just below the chapter list. There’s also a section for character and location cards, so that you can keep all your info about a given character or place in one tidy spot for reference.

Another feature, which I haven’t tested yet, is the compilation feature. The program will turn your finished draft into a Kindle or ePub book for you. I wasn’t as interested in this feature, since my husband does this for me with a greater level of customization, but it could be a key feature for many.

While I found it inspiring to have the whole book right there in the window, without having to worry about flipping back and forth between documents (yes, it can save as Word and several other types of files), I probably won’t be buying the program just yet. The cost is currently $45, which is a lot for someone without steady income. I never did move my research over to Scrivener, because I’m addicted to Evernote, which is officially Fabulous. (If you’re a writer and you’re unfamiliar with Evernote, check it out immediately. It’s free.) I can use any number of word processors and have access to them everywhere through either Dropbox or Google Docs or iCloud or even Evernote again. (Scrivener has cloud access as well.)

If I were well enough off, I would buy Scrivener at full price just because it makes my working draft feel a little more like a connected whole. I’d buy it to just to support the product, which is well thought-out and bug-free, at least during my trial. If I’d finished Nanowrimo, I probably would have bought it with the 50% discount for finishers. But at $45 and limited income, I can’t ignore the fact that it really does things that I already have free tools to do.

Other pros: Templates, help with query/submission letters (maybe they could add a submissions tracker in the future?), name generator (creates only very common American names), support for short stories.

Cons: User not supposed to include Chapter headings in text, as program inserts those upon compilation. That’s good, since a change in chapter order would otherwise result in edits to all chapter numbering. But then I still had to add them back in later for submitting individual chapters to my writers group. Also, I used the version for Mac, which is their original and most developed version. Scriveners for Windows may be more bumpy.

Pro or con, depending on view: This program doesn’t teach you how to write a novel — no sample outlines or story ideas. I wasn’t looking for anything like that, but some people are.

Big Pro: Free trial lasts for real 30 days of use, not 30 calendar days. This means it only counts the days that you use the software.Try it and let me know what you think. http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php

UPDATE: With my husband’s encouragement, I went ahead and bought Scrivener for Mac. Although I had other tools to accomplish what Scrivener can do in terms of content, I missed the inspiration I got from seeing my novel as a growing whole every day. Plus, Scrivener does make it quite easy to check details from other chapters quickly.