Tech Tips for Writers – Scrivener

Screenshot of My Novel WIP – The Bow of Destiny

Many writers are using Scrivener to develop projects ranging from fiction to non-fiction varying in length from articles, blogs, short stories to books. So understanding that usage is high for this software, I wanted to share insights on usage in a short post.

Why you should use Scrivener if you aren’t already? Isn’t is just another writing editor with some tools geared toward writers? Is it a waste of money? The main reason you should put it in the budget or at least give it a try for free is one word: development (and here are additional reasons). Scrivener is a great tool to use for developing almost any kind of writing project. It is organized so that you can store all kinds of information related to the project all in one location. Likewise, you no longer need an outline since you can use the folders in the software as the outline. Using this method you can easily move pieces of your work around until you are satisfied. I’ve been using it for just this kind of structural re-organization of my novel, The Bow of Destiny, duing my current revision. Michael Sullivan discusses how he realized he could make use of Scrivener and even further developed his fantasy world. Troll River Publications posted a useful video for using Scrivener’s tools for outlining.

Editing for Deep POV

I especially like using this software for developing shorter projects like a blog post, article, paper, or even a short story. I used Scrivener to develop my blog serial – What is Needed and will use it in developing my longer projects. It has helped me re-organize my current novel but I’m still learning all the features for editing purposes. If I have trouble editing I get around this by doing a copy/paste from my novel into a temporary file in Microsoft Word to do my heavy editing and then copy/past back into Scrivener. Why do this? Because the whole book is organized in Scrivener which also allows you to compile the manuscript into a single Word document, PDF document or even an e-book. I look forward to expanding my skill with Scrivener and sharing more details about the features as I do. Regardless, I done with organizing and editing the “old-fashioned way” – perhaps you should consider doing the same if you haven’t already.

If you aren’t using Scrivener, why haven’t you tried it? If you are using it, please share your tips and ideas in the comments section. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today!

Thanks for reading!

PHS

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