Writing Software: The Best Thing About Scrivener

I get a lot of questions about writing software, questions I usually find funny. I write with paper and pen. I have pencils scattered across the desk and right now there are index cards covering the floor. A little messy? Maybe. But it works for me, so I don't use writing software.

But when I first decided to be a writer, I did fiddle with the various writing programs available. I was hoping to find something more efficient, but the old fashioned pen is what draws my creativity. Still, if i was going to use a program designed for writers, I might go with Scrivener. It's efficient, organized, and you can get it for under $50. You want specifics? Here are a few of the things I enjoyed when using Scrivener.

1. You can divide the story based on keywords. This is handy if you have a complex plot involving more than one story line. You can search using a character's name (or a place or an object) and have everything involving that character pop up for you. Any scene with that character's name is going to pop up for you. This is helpful, especially if you need to focus on a specific thing, place, or character.
2. It has note cards. I love note cards. Of course, these are electronic note cards, but since they display much of the information you'd write on a note card anyway, they're almost as satisfying. This is probably my favorite feature of Scrivener.
3. You can make notes. If you've ever written a book, you'll know that you make constant notes as you go along. Scrivener allows you to keep these notes within the program. The bonus? No more lost notes. The drawback? You can't use lost notes as a reason to procrastinate.
4. It has chapter files. Have you ever been typing and wished it were easier to move between chapters? Scrolling can get a little irritating. The chapters are actually individual files and show up in the handy sidebar. You can simply click on the chapter you want instead of scrolling.
5. Chapters can be divided into scenes. Moving scenes within a chapter is handy, and Scrivener makes this possible. Because the scenes are also stored as individual files, they can be accessed as easily as chapters. Even better is the ability to move them around, helping to revolve continuity errors or simply streamlining the story.
6. You can put your scenes up on the cork board. Want to rearrange scenes and chapters quickly and easily? Put them all up on the cork board and move them as you please. This is fun and almost as satisfying as the note card feature.
7. It's organized. This program has places for character biographies, research, notes, and all the other little things a writer needs to keep track of. It's nice to keep all these things in one place instead of having to open multiple files.
8. You can export your file to multiple formats. If you don't think this is important, you've never had to submit anything to an agent, editor, or publisher who happens to be picky about file formats. But this is also handy for the self-published author since you can export to paperback and even .mobi (for Kindle). Handy.

If you haven't used Scrivener, give it a go. You might find it useful. If you're like me, you'll be impressed with its versatility but not care so much because you still like pen and paper. But if you work almost exclusively on the computer, you might find yourself using this program frequently. I'll look at other programs in later posts, but Scrivener should be enough to get you started.