Scrivener, My Friend
Scrivener was the writing software that I lusted for before I even knew how to spell revisions. Okay, not really, but I wrote my first three books in Word, which was adequate but somewhat challenging when it came to rearranging huge chunks of text and major revisions (which on my first book, there were about 6 before it reached the version its in now).
Five books later, and Scrivener is still a writer’s best friend. I don’t claim to know all of the features and getting used to writing in sections was a paradigm shift for me, but for the better. And the coolest feature, I just discovered today. I can now color code my notes on the side bar based on who’s POV its in, which is a super cool feature I’ve been dying for.
Scrivener also has the note card feature, which allows you to outline on note cards and view them like a story board. Then the notecards transform into text segments for when you start writing. If you’re an outliner (which I am not) this is a great feature. The other cool feature is the Edit Scrivenings, which combines all the segments into one, so you get the continuity I used to have in Word. It tracks your word count per session, which is awesome for the daily writing challenge from the Austin RWA.
If you’re serious about writing, Scrivener is the way to go. I tried several other programs and was not impressed. Scrivener is a perfect fit.
Alas, it only works on a MAC, so unfortunately PC users will have to shift gears to another program. But Literature and Latte offers recommendations for PC users, so all is not lost.
So that’s my writing nugget for today. I’m almost done with a book I’d started during LAST March’s writing challenge and had set aside for revisions on that darn first book…which is still clinging to life, despite my efforts to put it under the bed…
