A customer writes to me:
Dear Macmama,
I am an author, and have been using Microsoft Word to write my
memoirs. I thought it would be easier than just using a typewriter, but I still
have scraps of paper all over my desk, as well as photos I want to add. I
thought writing on the computer would simplify this task, but I find myself
having a hard time being organized. Is
there a better way? Daniel F., Oakland
Dear Daniel,
While Microsoft Word is a powerful word
processor, and has features that most of us never use, it can be frustrating to
writers who need a solution to not only document a narrative, but also organize
timelines, photos, clippings, text snippets and research. And the outlining
features are a bit clumsy. For outlines and project organization, I use Omni Outliner Pro, which I’ll
talk about another time.
But for writers who need to gather ideas as well
as make outlines, I prefer a different solution. Enter Scrivener, a writing
application that according the makers at Literature &Latte (I love that!)
allows you to, “Outline. Edit. Storyboard. Write.”
I have been reviewing
Scrivener for about a week now, and I have to say I love it, and wish that I
had the great American novel waiting to burst from my fingers. While the
learning curve is a bit steep, the benefits are many. In this one application,
you can gather and organize your research, make an outline, organize
characters, photos, websites, text clippings and media files. One of the small
features that I love is the “composition mode”. Like the old days, when you
type, the “paper” moves, not the cursor. So you are always looking at the
middle of the screen when you type. You can turn this feature off if you are
more comfortable with the current word processing cursor behavior. Another
feature, which is also available in Word 2011, is full screen mode, so you can
remove the distractions that live on our desktops. One of the UC Berkeley
professors that first told me about Scrivener loves the fact that he can still
write on virtual index cards.
Scrivener comes with extensive
tutorials, both interactive and video, and the user forums on the web are
helpful and thorough. The developer is also very responsive when you have
questions or issues, and according to user reviews, usually answers emails
within a few hours. This application has been designed beautifully and
thoroughly. As I said, it takes some work and study to learn, but the payoff of
mastering an extensive authoring tool is worth it.
Scrivener is $45 to buy, free to try and
can be found here:
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