Scrivener!

[nefhiriel]

I've owned Scrivener for a while, and dabbled around with using it - but only within the last couple of weeks has imbecamiel inspired me to really dig in and learn how to use it.

After going through their several-hour-long tutorial that teaches you the key features, I absolutely adore it, and I have been spending hours getting my dieselpunk/mafia story

Comments

[cairistiona7]

I really liked Scrivener... but I found it didn't play nicely with Word. :/ When I edited older files on it, ones I created on older programs and then opened those same files in Word, I discovered no end of coding errors. In fact, I'm currently retyping several chapters of my WIP that Scrivener messed up.

BUT... that said, I did like using Scrivener immensely. It has soooo many good features for writers. I just wish it used normal file formats like .doc or .rtf instead of .scriv.

Since I'm mostly writing fanfic at the moment, you probably already know about these, but I love the Sindarin Name Frame (http://elffetish.com/SindaFrame1.php) And I use Encyclopedia of Arda quite a bit. Oh, and this: http://ljkrakauer.com/accents.htm It's a chart that has the keyboard shortcuts for entering accented characters.

[nefhiriel]

Huh...that's odd (and too bad!) that you've had bugs like that. I haven't had any issues with exporting Scrivener files into .doc files/just copying and pasting text from the Scrivener pages, but I'll definitely have to keep an eye on things to make sure I have everything saved!

And thanks for the links! That keyboard shortcuts site looks like a fantastic time-saver. :D

[anonymous]

Hello Both,

We're you compiling your Scrivener project into RTF, DOC or DOCX before opening in Word cairistiona7? It's very odd that you experienced any issues at all, as SCRIV files are essentially packages of RTF that almost all writing applications understand. Please contact the relevant support department at either windows.support@literatureandlatte.com or mac.support@literatureandlatte.com so we can appreciate what was going on in your instance.

Thank you for your post nefhiriel! Much appreciated.

All the best,
David
Scrivener, Literature & Latte

[cairistiona7]

Wow, okay... didn't expect to hear from a Scrivener person, but thanks.

I think a major part of the problem was that I had imported old files that I created originally using WordPerfect 9. I converted them from .wpd to .RTF to work on them again, using WordPerfect 11. Then I imported them to Scrivener and then exported to Word 14 as a .doc file and... that was when I found all kinds of weird substitutions--@ instead of " etc. Somewhere along the convoluted path the files must have got corrupted. I don't have the files in question anymore (and I'm not even 100% sure that's the exact order of the different programs I used).

When I return to writing fic for publishing, I intend to try Scrivener again. If by some odd chance I have a similar issue, I'll contact the support desk. Thanks.

[nefhiriel]

It's a great program! I'm enjoying it a lot (and it's good to know that help for issues is readily available :)).

[hakaisha]

Apropos of absolutely nothing, but I vaguely remembered Scrivener from this post from, yes, the beginning of the year and looked it up. I compared it to yWriter too. I'm way too late for NaNo but it seems like it can be a helpful tool if I ever want to start writing longer stuff (I swear I write short stuff now because I can't keep long stuff coherent).

I'm really really impressed by Scrivener, and things like split screens and snapshots and reference tagging are really awesome. I'm gonna give yWriter a go too, but I've the feeling I might try plotting out longer works on Scrivener.

The things fandom teaches me! :D

[nefhiriel]

"I swear I write short stuff now because I can't keep long stuff coherent"

I can relate to that statement to a truly depressing degree. Even on short stories sometimes, things just fall apart towards the end. I did technically finish a novel, though. It's just got this gaping hole at the end where a Clever Plot Twist was supposed to happen. XD

But you've reminded me that I do intend to organize it into Scrivener (hoping that Clever Plot Fixes will magically happen in the process). I still do really like the program - it's so good for gathering together scraps and resources into one place. (How did you find it compared to yWriter? Sounds familiar, but I can't remember if I checked that out thoroughly or not.) I'm too late for NaNo, too, but I'm enjoying cheering some other people on.

You making any progress on fics? Original stuff? Job stuff? I know I keep vanishing, but I love apropos-of-nothing kinds of conversations from friends I keep meaning to catch up with. :)

[hakaisha]

yWriter is another similar type of program in that it melds easy organization of ideas/storyboarding with actual writing, and breaks stories down into chapters and scenes for easy rearranging. It's free and has a MUCH smaller footprint than Scrivener. That said, I do like Scrivener better

[nefhiriel]

Yeah, I'm pretty sold on Scrivener, too. :) They seem to have figured out the right balance of keeping tools handy, without them getting in the way of functionality