With a computer programme. I guess it had to happen. My geekery is finally complete.
The programme in question is Scrivener and he - sorry, it - has totally changed my life. I was first introduced to Scrivener by the Family Helpdesk, aka my long-suffering Bro, who from time to time sends me links to interesting-looking Mac software. I ignored him - sorry, it - completely. I mean, what does Bro know about being a writer? I am an artiste! As if a piece of crummy software is going to make any difference to my creativity! etc etc. I pressed delete.
Fortunately, I got a second chance. Eschewing traditional apres-ski, one of my Alpine companions spent an evening re-introducing me to Scrivener ("Haven't we met?" "No, I don't think so." "But you look so familiar. Don't I know your brother?" "Maybe..." "I remember! He introduced us! And you totally snubbed me! But fortunately I don't bear a grudge, and you can have me for a 30-day free trial, and then for life for a single payment of around £34." If only all relationships were so straightforward.)
And now it's love. Proper head over heels. Scrivener is amazing. He's - sorry, it's - everything I could dream of in a word processor. Where to even begin? Everything about him - sorry, it - is incredible. Intuitive. Adaptive. User friendly in ways I couldn't ever have imagined from my mispent youth with other computer programmes. I never knew I could feel this way about anything I could download legally. I don't want to nauseate you, like those new couples who can't stop hinting about the amazing sex they're having. I don't want you all tutting "get a study". But you can convert all your documents into index cards with colour-coded pins and move them around and reorder your manuscript and recollate it in unimaginable ways, and you can label and tag it and group things by folder and keyword and levels of completeness and any other way you can dream up for yourself, and you can attach research items to individual bits of writing and open them split-screen in the same document so you can look at loads of different things like pictures and film and music in one application while you're writing! And it doesn't even get jealous of the bits of research!
I'd better go. Scrivener and I want to spend some private time together. But don't worry, you can get your own Scrivener at the link above (as long as you've got a Mac - it doesn't work on PCs). And no, I have not been paid to endorse it. This comes straight from the heart.
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I would refer you to the latest issue of MacFormat for my article on "useful programs for writing novels on a Mac", which mentioned Scrivener but also pointed a happy finger at StoryMill. But I don't think it's in the current issue. Next issue then...
I'm in love with YWriter - my constant companion through novel 1 and now holding my hand through novel 2. Also...free (and PC friendly).
My boyfriend introduced me to Scrivener a while back, and I've been using it ever since. I love the way you can easily track versions and compile drafts in Word once you're ready to email a version to someone else. And the forums are very friendly too: www.literatureandlatte.com
But can it mow the lawn? Eh? Eh?
And yes, I know you don't have a lawn, but you might one day.
Thanks for that Marie. I've been making my way through lots of software for writing since moving to the Mac; so I'll give this a go.
Rob - really didn't take to StoryMill as it seemed to offer so much, but not actually deliver.
Look, I know you introduced us. I know you met him - it - first. But I can't help it. I've never felt this way before. I'm sorry. I didn't want to have to be the one to tell you. But we're having an affair.
I know you probably won't be able to forgive us. Not yet, anyhow. But I can't help how I feel. Hopefully, in time, you'll be able to look back on your time together with happy memories. Please don't follow him (it) or try to email. A clean page break is better for everyone.
Chris: Yeah, the lack of footnotes or index card-style plotting hacked me off (I've given it to them as a feature request), but I found its word processing better than Scrivener's and its timeline function was quite handy, too, as were things like the automatic backup and versioning to Mobile Me. But I figured I'd mention it in case other people's mileages might vary.
First impressions of Scrivener are good...
I don't even understand what Scrivener is and this post still made me giggle lots.
Hi,
Thanks for all the kind words about Scrivener, much appreciated.
Rob - I'm interested in what it was about StoryMill's word processing features that you found better than Scrivener's, given that they both share the same text engine (based on the one TextEdit uses)? Not that I'm trying to persuade anyone - StoryMill is a wonderful tool, and I would encourage anyone interested in this sort of software to try out all the alternatives out there (a list of which can be found on our Links page), as everyone works differently.
meandmybigmouth - lawn mowing is coming in version 2.0.
All the best,
Keith
(Scrivener developer)
Keith, thanks for stopping by and thanks for your hard work on my one true love, Scrivener.
If you happen by this way again, could you help me out with one question? Is the i in Scrivener pronounced as in Scribble or as in Scribe? It's a matter of great debate between me and my Bro...
Marie: A friend of mine's surname is Scrivener and she pronounces the i as in scribble.
Kayembi: I should have been more precise. What I meant to say was that I found Storymill easier to use as a word processor than Scrivener, mainly due to the interface but also because I found Storymill's structuring functions (Chapters/Scenes) to be easier to deal with than Scrivener's. The actual ability to style and format text isn't something I desperately care about beyond the obvious.
Of course, I've gone back to Word now, since while I found Scrivener great for managing research and Storymill good for structuring and the other ancillary functions I mentioned, I didn't desperately enjoy either when it came to writing and I missed certain features of Word more than I missed the extra features of Scrivener and Storymill (eg Word's dictionary and grammar checker I find better than OS X's; footnotes)
Hi Marie,
Yes, as Rob says, "i" as in "scribble" (I believe both words are from the same root).
Rob - thanks for the clarification. And these tools certainly aren't for everybody, and it would be silly to pretend they are; some will definitely only ever want Word or Pages.
All the best,
Keith
Hurrah! I haven't been whispering the wrong name in Scrivener's ear...
Your impassioned plea for Scrivener's cause made me give it another go yesterday. And I, erm, ended up buying a licence. It's great isn't it (although there are still a couple of things I like better about both Word and StoryMill), although I think it's going to take me a while to get my head round the differences between folders, documents, etc, and for the life of me, I can't work out how to set the spellcheck to use US rather than British English and show dynamic underlines when it spots mistakes. But I'm working on it.
Of course, since I'm an idiot, I registered it to 'Rpb' instead of 'Rob', but I can live with that.
Welcome to the cult of Scrivener, Rob. Funnily enough I can't get it to use British English. Wanna swap?
Sounds good. Do we need to contact Noel Edmonds for this?
My current theory is that it uses the spelling of whatever language you have your Mac set to in the International Systems Preferences. I had mine set to British English and I've just switched back to English. Did you have yours set to English (ie American)?
I don't appear to have a "British English" option in my international systems preferences, only "English". How very irritating.
There's an Edit List button on the right-hand side that allows you to add additional, uncommon (apparently) language like British English (and Welsh). Click it then click the checkbox next to British English and it should appear in the list and you can then drag it from the bottom (or wherever it ends up) to the top of the list.
Ah. Worked it out. Dynamic spelling only works on words you've typed, not words you've imported - you need to run the spellchecker to check those words.
When you run the spellchecker, there's a pulldown menu at the bottom of the list that gives you the languages and that's what sets the dynamic spellcheck language as well: you just need to set yours to British English. (By default it sets itself to whatever's set in the System Preferences.)
Sigh. One of the things I liked about Word is that you can select a region of text and specify what language it's in and Word will use the appropriate spellchecker and grammar dictionary. I can live without them, though, I guess.
Looks like I'm way late to the party--just found this post--but I'll chime in and while I won't say I "love" Scrivener, given the context of the post, I will say he and I are "best buds."
Seriously, Scrivener has been a tremendous help to me.
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