Scrivener

*Click on the title of this entry to go to the webpage for the program*

So, Scrivener is probably the best writing program I’ve ever seen, let alone used. I believe that my first quote about it was: “It’s writing ART!” and I meant it. It allows me to do all sorts of things that I wouldn’t normally be able to do (a.k.a. remain organised).

Scrivener has given me the ability to combine my whole mess of ways I write into one program. I have notecards for plot, places, characters, and chapters. I’ve colour-coded them according to groups, books, race, gender, etc. I can mark the chapter cards with whether they’re done, edited, first draft, N/A and any other label I so choose. As someone who is planning on getting her first novel into the hands of an agent/publisher by Christmas that’s a good thing. The thing that has been holding me back for years was I couldn’t keep track of what I’d edited. I started the trilogy at 12, finished it all by the time I was 18, and have been editing since. Seriously, people think Tolkien taking 7 years and sleeping with his ms is nuts. I’m going on 13 years at this point. Anything that keeps me organised and on track it brilliant.

You can look at things in an outline mode, chapter by chapter, or on a corkboard with notecards. From the above description you can guess which view I like. In all seriousness, the colours, labels, and views save me time, energy, and frustration. I find that I am getting everything done more quickly and smoothly. For me, Scrivener is decidedly the best program out there. It’s such a relief to find a program that’s intuitive enough for me to recommend it to others, pretty and smooth enough to keep me organised, and varied enough to keep my attention.

So, I say, “Three cheers for Scrivener! Three cheers for the person/people who created it! Three cheers for being able to keep me on target!