I’ve written before about the mess you can get into when you spend time deciding what to use to write with (or on) and letting the choice of a physical tool get in the way (a.k.a. serving as a wonderful free procrastination service) of getting the words down.
And if we writers need anything like we need a lumbar puncture, it’s another way of avoiding getting the words down.
I have boxes of old notebooks. Each notebook is at least partly filled with writing.
I have folders and filing cabinets filled with scraps of paper.
I have computer files spread across old directories on laptop drives and back-up drives.
I have carved story ideas into the trunks of ancient rubber trees in Malaysian plantations.
That last one is a lie, by the way, but you catch my drift.
Some of those aforementioned computer files are so old, I struggle to open them now. A whole slew of them have their filenames mangled by the old Microsoft trick of turning anything long into a standard length by abbreviating it with a ~. These aren’t just in Word 6 format, they were created with Word 6 back when Word 6 was cutting edge.
My Writing Life Was Unmanageable
I was on the look out, therefore, for something that would let me be mobile and allow me to keep all the parts of a piece (and even separate pieces) in the one place. A file and directory structure on your laptop is fine, of course, but unless you open every file that may be relevant when you launch Word or Open Office, checking a separate file or even moving chunks of writing between them is not a quick process and can seriously interrupt the flow – and it never takes much to block my creative dribbles. (Not my most attractive image, sorry.)
As a Windows user, I had read with envy about Scrivener. I only wish I had a picture of me reading about it, so you could see that envy. Here’s something that gives you the idea, anyway.
Then Scrivener released a version for Windows. Hooray!
It wasn’t quite as fully featured as the Mac version. Boo!
But they promised it would catch up soon. Hooray!
But then a series of events – including the obviously increasingly sclerotic behaviour of my old IBM Thinkpad – led me to change.
I ended up with a manly twenty-seven-incher of an iMac and a beautiful – albeit less blatantly masculine – Macbook Air.
I could buy the Mac version of Scrivener. Hooray!
And I did.
Why Scrivener Works for Me
Here’s a few reasons why Scrivener works for me and why it’s an essential part of my toolkit for writing lots. To put it plainly, I don’t think I would have a chance of coming close to reaching my goal without Scrivener. (If I fail in the 10K Challenge, however, that will in no way be the fault of Scrivener!)
Word Count
Obviously, given the nature of my 10K Word Challenge, counting words is key.
Scrivener tells you the word count as you go (but see below). This is great. In my previous word processors, I had to either create a keystroke combination or find the tool hidden in the menu somewhere.
It also give you the character totals but I’ve not worked out yet how to make that useful because I don’t do draft tweets! And sending a covering letter to an agent telling them that you’ve enclosed your latest book of 454,354 characters may mark the end of that relationship.
If you want to create a large piece in separate files in a normal word processor and you want the total word count, you either have to add up the total words on each document you’re creating or import all the separate files into an unwieldy big one. In Scrivener, at the press of an icon, you have all the separate files combined (temporarily) and the total count displayed. (When you’re ready to make your finished document, you simply ‘compile’ it into your format of choice. That can be anything from .doc and .odt to .html or .pdf and even .mobi. How good is that?)
Compose Mode
Now, if trying to choose the correct tool for your writing was a distraction, it’s a sure bet that email, Twitter, and the lure of the web browser are going to exert a significant pull on your attention when they’re just sitting there unloved and unused while you power on with getting the words down.
You need to find a way to shut out the world while using your computer.
Scrivener comes good, once again. Another icon click and – whoosh – you’re in Compose Mode. Your screen presents you with a sheet of white paper and the background is greyed out. I find this especially good when working on freewriting, as my focus remains completely on the page in front of me.
And, apropos of the word count discussion above, if you find the total words depressing at the start of a session – if you’re aiming for 8,000,say, and you’re currently at 12, that can be marginally dispiriting – there’s another bonus to Compose Mode. To see your word count, you need to move the cursor to the bottom of the screen to make the control bar float up into view. Nice. Easy to find when you want to know your total and hide when you don’t.
Organisation
This is the nuts for me. The Binder feature of Scrivener is basically like having your directory structure in view at all times. I can import all the separate files relating to a single piece of work and they’re just there, where I can see them.
You can also view these files and arrange them in different ways but that’s probably a discussion for another time. It’s enough to say that
When you close a Scrivener project (your group of files collected in one place) it automatically backs it up for you. In fact, your files are more or less instantaneously saved as you go along.
To make sure I stay mobile, I use Dropbox as my default drive. That means that when I’m away from my home office, I can still access the files when I open my Scrivener on the Mac Air. No more excuses that I can’t work on something because I don’t have the piece with me.
Status and Snapshots
I like to see the way work develops, too.
Scrivener has a simple but elegant solution called Snapshots, which lets you take a, well, snapshot of a piece of your work.You can take a snapshot each time you start to make changes. This lets you roll back to earlier versions or make comparisons fairly easily.
And you can tarck the status of a single chapter or section by using labels. First Draft, for instance. Or Revised Draft. You can even add your own labels.
This puts you in complete control of tracking how you are progressing – and lets you wind the clock back to the time before your hero said that really stupid thing that changed the whole direction of the plot.
The Rather Obvious Conclusion
Scrivener is the perfect writer’s tool for me (please remember that other writing tools are available) because it can be as simple as a ‘normal’ word processor or as complex and flexible as you need it to be, depending on what you’re writing.
If I’m writing a short story, there are very few features I need over and above the word count and compose mode. For a novel, on the other hand, having my research notes and character sketches – and even the outline – to hand saves time and gives me a greater sense of control over the material. I realise that may be a psychological effect rather than something practical and definable but, hey, I don’t rightly care.
Disclaimer
It’s only fair that I tell you that, in return for writing this endorsement of Scrivener, Literature and Latte are providing me with a large and inflatable diddly squat, which they are happy for me to exploit in whatever way I believe will aid me in my 10K Challenge.