Taking The Plunge.
Using Scrivener.

Three weeks ago, I finally bit the bullet, took the plunge, threw caution to the wind (insert cliché of choice) and installed Scrivener.
For those unfamiliar with this piece of specialist software, Scrivener is a writing package sold by Literature and Latte that is raved about by writers, both professional and amateur. In addition to being a word processor, Scrivener has a number of really useful features that make organising the writing process easier. For example it acts as a binder for all the notes and research etc used in your project, and has a virtual corkboard that allows you to easily reorder scenes within your book.
Despite the glowing testimonies of friends, I held off installing it for a couple of years for purely pragmatic reasons. First, I have already been writing my DCI Warren Jones series for several years. I have  cobbled together a somewhat clunky, but effective, system using MS Word, MS OneNote (for my research and ideas) and MS Excel (for my timelines etc). Whilst I was keen to improve my method (for example, Word is a pain if you write out of sequence), the system worked, and I didn’t think switching mid-project would be sensible.
The second is that version 3 for Windows was repeatedly delayed. Scrivener was originally written for MacOS. Version 2 for the Mac was ported to Windows (and confusingly called V1). Version 3 for Mac was released a couple of years ago. There are big improvements in V3, and so I didn’t fancy installing the available Windows version, and then having to upgrade and relearn everything for V3 (they decided to skip the label V2 for Windows). But more importantly, I’m a proud Windows user and I’m buggered if I’m playing second-fiddle to Mac users. 🤣. The software is also available for iOS (I know writers who use it exclusively on an iPad), although it doesn’t look as though it will be coming to Android anytime soon, which is a shame.
Installation and Setup:
Installing the software is a doddle and a cheap, single licence (which will last for the lifetime of the product) can be used on multiple machines (although you’ll need separate Windows/MacOS/iOS licences if you want to mix and match). I was pleased to see that it works very happily on my portable “writing laptop”. That has just 2Gb of RAM, a basic processor and a tiny hard drive. As long as the machine has a minimum 1024×768 screen resolution it works fine.
The software automatically creates backups and autosaves on close. I simply saved the Scrivener working folder to my Cloud account, so that it is more secure.
Important tip: You can only have a Scrivener project open on one machine at a time – which is sensible, it stops versions of the same file getting corrupted. Therefore, when closing a project on one computer, give your computer a few moments to synchronise to the cloud before switching it off. Then, when switching on a different computer, again, make sure that everything has synced before opening Scrivener to stop it clashing. From what I can tell, as soon as you open a Scrivener file on one machine, it makes a temporary lock file that blocks any other machine trying to open it. When you close, that file is deleted – hence the need to wait for your cloud account to sync.
A rather nifty function allows you to save your preferred layout for that machine or setup. I have a layout saved for when my laptop is plugged into my large screen and a different one for when I’m working on my little laptop – it saves having to resize windows etc.
Things I Like About Scrivener.
A project is simply a set of related text files. This means that whether you are writing a single document, have a separate document for each chapter, or separate documents for each section/scene, you are catered for.
Reorganising Sections Is A Doddle.
If, like me, you write out of sequence, then Scrivener allows you to easily reorder your scenes. You can do this either by dragging and dropping on a virtual corkboard (as if you have a board on the wall with each page pinned to it). This comes with a number of different ways to visualise the layout, including on a series of parallel lines, which allows you to see a visual representation of your book – for example, looking at pacing, is chapter one really busy, but chapter two very empty?
There is also a linear ‘outliner’ that allows you to reorganise sections by visualising the metadata or keywords etc.
Another useful feature, is the ability to group documents in  folder. I often write subplots consisting of several sections, that will then need to be threaded throughout the story. Having them all together in one folder – from which they can be easily dragged out of – makes life very easy.
You Can Add MetaData To Each Document.
Metadata is information that essentially adds tags to each document that isn’t included in the final draft, and is invisible to the reader. Scrivener allows a wide-range of different types of information, ranging from keywords, links, pictures, dates and custom labels (which can be different colours). You can also define your own metadata. I have added some custom labels to mine (eg “To Write”). You can also write notes, and even a synopsis for the document. This is great for organising and searching your project, as well as sketching out what a document will contain (for example a list of things that need to be revealed in an interview or dialogue ideas). I have added characters as keywords, so I can see at a glance if there is a clash, where a character appears in two different scenes that take place simultaneously.
Word Count Function and Daily/Project Targets.
Each section you write will have its own wordcount. However, Scrivener also tracks the total number of words in the full manuscript. It also has a deadline function and you can set daily targets, or a total project target. This is really useful. I generally aim for about 120,000 words. I have set myself a rather ambitious target of completing a first draft by the end of the year. I’ve told Scrivener that I will write Monday to Friday. Scrivener has calculated how many words I need to write each day to hit 120K by December 31st and will update this if I have written more or less on a particular day. You can easily see how many words you’ve written that day, and there is something especially satisfying when the notification to tell you that you’ve hit today’s target pops up on the screen!
Writing Tools.
Scrivener has a rather nifty name generator that is very customisable, and it will also open highlighted words in Wikipedia or Google with a single click. It also supports comment and review functionality, similar to Word.
Keep Your Research To Hand.
You can import a wide-range of research documents into your project, so that you can easily access what you need. For example, I have imported some PDF maps and reference documents; no need to go hunting around my hard drive for where I saved the damn things!
You Can Make Templates.
If you simply add a blank document, Scrivener defaults to a strange font I’ve never heard of. I found the best thing to do is create a series of template documents that are formatted how I want. I have a basic section with my preferred font, line spacing etc, and a number of more specialised ones, such as page or section breaks (I have three asterisks separating sections) plus New Day and Title pages. The advantage of this, is that you can give these new sections their own default labels, which makes organising them on the corkboard easy.Limitations Of Scrivener.
No software is perfect. The word processor is a perfectly acceptable piece of software, but obviously it lacks the refinements of later versions of Word. It has a spellchecker that underlines miss-spelled words (and can be set to UK English), but I’ve yet to figure out how to easily upload my custom dictionary from Word. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the proprietary grammar checkers etc that Microsoft have spent millions of dollars developing. I’ve become somewhat reliant on these, over the years, which means that I will need to export the completed document to Word and do a big edit.
I have also had some small issues with page breaks. I think that’s something I will either have to play with, or just fix in Word.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t come with a thesaurus. Instead, it links out to the Thesaurus.com website. That site is US-based and it isn’t as easy, or user-friendly as Shift-F7 in Word.
I have only had a brief play with exporting a completed document. Scrivener supports a wide-range of document types, including PDF, Word, RTF and open-source formats. However, there are a lot of options for when you “compile” your document. I had some very funny results when I tried. I suspect I’ll need to spend some time fiddling to get what I want.
Some HotKeys are different to what you may be used to. I know many of the keyboard shortcuts in Word. However, Scrivener is very customisable, so I spent some time changing the shortcuts to what I am used to. It’s my own copy, so it’s not like it’ll confuse anyone else.
I have also yet to find a timeline function. You can add dates and times to documents, so there are work arounds, but there’s no simple way to plot out the order of events like I used to do in Excel. I may have to revert to that old method.

So, it’s been three weeks or so, and thus far I’m pretty happy. The very well-written manual hints at lots of other functions that I may or may not find useful. I am a novelist, but it also caters for scriptwriters and those writing reference works.
I might write a follow-up to this in the future if I learn enough to justify a blog post.

What are your thoughts on Scrivener? Do you have any tips that you think are worth sharing?
As always comment here or on social media.
Happy writing!


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  • Cover of DCI Warren Jones Book 1: The Last Straw
    Book 1: The Last Straw