Scrivener Is Awesome!

Summary of Scrivener’s Awesome-ness:

• Paperless system of organizing and writing
• Actually easy and natural to use because it’s written by real writers who know what we go through
• Simple, still an easy-to-understand word processor
• Imports documents for research, including PDFs, text files, photos, videos, audio files, and links
• Reasonably priced
• Select what you want to export in a draft

Needs Improvement:

• It’s only for the Mac!  I think everyone should use it; therefore, they need to make a PC version.  I can see how it would be tricky, though — it uses some nifty features built in to Mac OS, like the Inspector.
• Would like it to be able to import and save the content of web pages automatically.

I can’t tell you how awesome this program is.  I had been hearing all about Scrivener on Twitter, but never thought to check it out until recently.  I’m pretty old school in my writing habits, but this is not a good thing, just a comfort zone thing.

To store all my notes, research, and text, I just used the Random Notecard Method of note taking, and the Mystery Text File System of storing everything in a one big “Notes.txt.”  Sometimes, I’d branch out into “Notes2.txt.”

But I just downloaded the Scrivener trial and will never go back!  This program is more than just awesome, it’s now essential. Before I started my micropress, I dreamed of a simple word processor that had built-in outline and research organization tools.  Well, Scrivener is it. I can’t imagine a writer who wouldn’t benefit from it, especially ones who take copious notes before writing even the smallest of articles.

Here’s a screenshot of the corkboard feature (you can turn off the cutesey cork if you want, but I like it):

And here’s a screenshot of viewing multiple documents:

You can store not just text files, but PDFs, website links, photos, audio files, and videos in one location.  They don’t have a tool (yet) that pulls off the content from a website automatically, but you can always save the html and import it.  I’m doing that, just because I have so many lengthy articles online that I use for reference, but I can’t always go online.

Now I understand why so many people say that they will never go back.

Scrivener users rave about it, and now I know why.  It just makes so much sense to write this way, and is a near-perfect electronic adaptation of the way so many of us learned: index cards, storyboard, outline, text.  It completely replaces the bulky binders full of yellowing copies, crumpled-up Mystery Scribbles, and ancient smudged note cards, and it hardly needs any learning time.

It’s also damn cheap, only $40.  There’s even an educational discounted license for $35.

I did download the trial, but bought the license a few days later because there was no question. If you do any kind of writing at all, and you feel like you waste a lot of time shuffling through notes and trying to find stuff you bookmarked ages ago, get Scrivener. It’s totally worth it.