Writing Tools – Scrivener

I’m not trying to sell you anything. I feel like I have to talk about Scrivener though. Scrivener is writing software. It’s a word processor and project management tool. It’s what I use to write my novels.

Top left: dictionary; Right: calendar; Center and bottom left: Scrivener, split screen and pop up show my timeline and two different chapters

I initially wanted to post about it because it makes writing about time travel so much easier. It keeps all of the chaos and twisting webs that I create organized. I can have multiple chapters or notes open at the same time, with split screens and pop up windows.

I found Scrivener by chance really. It’s a habit of mine to read the acknowledgements and thanks at the ends of books. At the end of one book, (a TIME TRAVEL book now that I think about it) the author mentioned how amazing Scrivener was, and how he couldn’t have written his book without it. I looked it up. I didn’t even know that such an amazing tool existed. I bought it, and I have never regretted the purchase.

I’m not going to talk about all the features, or try to sell it to you. I just want to say one thing.

I might never have written or completed my first novel if it wasn’t for Scrivener.

Something about how easy it is to write with Scrivener really helps to keep me going. Organization is a breeze. Before I bought the software, I was saving each chapter in separate Word/NeoOffice files. It was a mess, and going back to find and edit one simple line was an absolute nightmare. If the writing process hadn’t been so seamless with Scrivener I might have chickened out, and never completed my first novel. You can also easily format your .mobi, .epub, or other file type exports for easy self-publishing, which apparently is difficult to do with programs like Microsoft Word.

Composition Mode is how I normally write. In this image, I also have my timeline open.

I LOVE Scrivener.

I heard about it by chance. Maybe by reading this, you are hearing about it for the first time too. I really am not trying to sell it, but if by blogging about it I can help someone achieve their writing goals more easily, than that’s a good thing.

It might change your life. It might not. Either way, happy writing!

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