I decided to download the Scrivener NaNo Trial version this month. It has some nice features that I know I'll use down the road, but it is feature rich to say the least, and I feel more than a little overwhelmed.

I'm fairly sure that this is treading over old ground, but I would like to ask you all, if you use Scrivener, to give us a review please. What features do you love or hate? Which do you use the most? Have you noticed that using it has helped you reach your word count goals or story goals? Is it worth paying for? Will you use it for other things besides NaNo?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

I love scrivener. I use it for all of my writing projects. I love being able to move things around and how each "scene" stands out.

I purchased my copy with a nano code a few years ago, and I haven't had to pay anything since. I think I paid about 35 bucks and use it daily so for me that's a darn good deal. There is a new version coming out but I haven't looked into it yet.

It does have a huge learning curve. But... Once you get it set up how you want, it's amazing. I would never go back to writing in Word. There are still parts of it that I have no idea how to use, but someday?

There are lots of Scrivener people out there willing to help and I've found that for whatever issue I've had, I've found a solution by googling, or asking on twitter.

As far as helping me reach my wordcount goals, I do think it has helped. I can write a little "bit" of something I think of but I don't know exactly where it will go into the story. I put these in a "folder" called story bits and once I figure out where it goes in the story, I drag it to it's spot. This helps me be able to fully flesh out the scene out of order instead of just jotting down the vague outline of the idea to write when I get to it.

Hope this helps!

Lisa

I absolutely LOVE Scrivener. I do agree that it has a steep learning curve, but in my opinion, it is SO worth it to learn how to use it. I use it for planning and organizing my thoughts as well as for writing.

The features I love are as follows:

• Compose mode -- a distraction-free way to just focus on writing. If you're on Mac, the keyboard shortcut is Command + Alt + F.
• Document links -- definitely helps me with planning / organizing my thoughts. When I know that what I'm writing is related to something else I've put in there, I can create a link to that document. If need to reference the other document, I can double click the link (it's in the Inspector on the right side) and the other document will show up for me to look at it.
• Wordcount goal tracker -- I use this all the time when I'm doing NaNo! I set the goal at 50k and to end on 11/30 and it will tell me how many words per day I need to write to reach that goal. The counter will tell me when I've reached the goal for the day, and will recalculate if I go above the goal to give me the new daily goal. It's pretty great!
• Labels -- For organizing / planning. These are also in the Inspector on the right. I use them to keep track of my notes with a color-coding system.
• Being able to change the default new document for a folder (helps with organizing and planning)
• Being able to move scenes around to different places in the draft (much easier than cutting / pasting)

There are SO many things I use, and many more things I haven't tried yet that will come in handy when I revise.

For some tutorials, I've used these ones on the Well Storied blog to help me along, but also have watched some YouTube tutorials and used other resources. The Well Storied ones are a great starting point, though!

Scrivener rocks! I can't imagine life without Scrivener. It was totally worth the price.

From helping me with a word count perspective, I love to use the target word count feature. In Compose Mode, you'll see a tiny little target symbol in the bar on the lower right hand corner (nested circles). Clicking on that will let you set a word target for the scene you're writing. Then, as you type, you'll get a status bar that gradually changes from red to green. It is a lot of fun and very motivating to make that bar change colors.

I love the overall structure that Scrivener provides with the outline on the left hand side. I love that you can just move around your scenes if you want to change the order of the plot. (I can't imagine what a nightmare that would be in Word).

I like to use the research folder to house files on characters, timelines, and actual research. It is so convenient to have all those docs in one file. You can paste in hyperlinks and photos too.

I like tocastmy characters with models or actors. You can put their picture in the synopsis section in the upper right. Just toggle from index card mode to graphic mode in the upper right hand corner.

I like to keep track of plot problems/ issues to resolve in the Project Notes section in the lower right hand corner. (You can toggle that section back and forth from document notes to project notes. Project notes persist with every document).

I like to use the Label feature to indicate which character has the POV.

The search feature is pretty robust. When you search for a term it will indicate all the docs where the term appears and highlights them.

I like to use the comments feature to capture feedback from others and notes to myself.

I have use the custom meta data fields to indicate the date (in the story's timeline) that a scene takes place.

I love the outline view. It helps me see an overall picture of my novel. I like to add columns for Total Word Count and Target Word Count.

I use Scrivener for all kinds of things besides writing fiction. It's a wonderful place to compose blog articles. I use it to take notes in classes that I'm taking. It's a fantastic way to organize any kind of research. It's a good place to store recipes. You can almost use it like a database.

What I don't like about Scrivener: The fact that not everyone uses it. It should be required so that we when we share we're all on the same platform : ) Formatting is not as smooth as Word, so in the end, you'll need to export to Word. I wish there were an easier way than going through and selecting scenes to compile.

Let me know if you have specific questions: kiraswan@msn.com

Thanks for your specific thoughts. I can see that there are very useful features. I'll give it a try.

Thanks again!