Scrivener (Software Review)

Congratulations http://jbwalkerwriting.blogspot.co.uk on your fiftieth blog post! This time round I thought I'd do something a little different and so, I've decided to review the software for writers: Scrivener. It can be bought via the Mac App Store for under £35 and comes with tutorials and images etc. to help you get used to it. Similar aids can also be found on the Literature & Latte website and YouTube channel.

So what is Scrivener? Scrivener is designed by a writer for other writers who may not be all to happy with the mainstream word processors like Word, Pages etc. The software was designed to distill the writing process into a concise programme that allows for much greater flexibility and a wider variety of methods in which to write anything that requires particular depth, whether that be novels, screenplay (there is a template for that,) theses, poem collections etc.

And how does the software do this? The main features are as follows:

The Binder: This is a column running down the left-hand side of the page showing three default folders: "Draft," "Research" & "Trash." You can add more folders should you feel the need and/or rename them to accommodate your personal project. Within these folders you can split any work into multiple chunks and find your workload reduced as a result. The best aspect of the Binder however is the ability to import existing files including RTF, .doc, PDF etc. and amalgamate them all into a single Scrivener file (SCRIV) instead of having several loose documents floating around on your desktop, forever worrying if you've lost them. Not only that but if you've written a project as a single Word document with several sections, upon importing you can split the document into smaller chunks anyway very easily despite the original being a single word doc, which makes the work look a lot tidier and easier to tackle, especially when you move onto further drafts. And the best part is, you can compile everything at the end into .ePub, .doc files amongst others!










Targets: These are word counts that can be set for each session as a motivator to get you to write!






The Corkboard: This is a series of index cards containing the synopsis of each individual scene/section etc. and can be used to plan the work in advance before you begin writing, and since you can create your own folders within the project, you could create different sections devoted to planning itself and not just he draft sections. In all, the flexibility of these tools allows for a project however you want it to be set out. I could go on about all the features but there are just so many that I might run out of room!

Other cool features included!

- Snapshots (allows for comparison between earlier drafts)
- Fullscreen Background Fader 
- Statistics (see word frequency amongst other approximations such as average number of paperback pages & manuscript pages)


So in summary, is Scrivener worth it? Well considering it will benefit me in university with writing reports as well as my creative writings, the answer is yes! Should you buy it though? If you write texts that are 'deep' i.e. not necessarily long but that require a great deal of research etc. then definitely yes, it will pay for itself many times over in all those precious seconds that might otherwise have been wasted fumbling around and keeping everything in separate folders; and I'm very organised so I know where everything is usually anyway but still, it's so much easier having a central HUB folder with everything in as opposed to multiple, colour-coded folders on my desktop. But please check out the site and YT tutorials to get a far better understanding because honestly, it's worth the hour or so it might take to adjust to the new software. In any case, I hope you found this review enjoyable and informative and if you choose to buy it, I hope it serves you well.