Scrivener is a powerful writing tool. I write about it weekly with tips and usage ideas. To read more of my posts click the Scrivener tag or category at the end of the page.
I’ve seen several comments from other writers indicating they got Scrivener but just didn’t have time to learn it. I understand the feeling. When I first started with Scrivener there was so much to learn and I needed to do other work that I didn’t have time to work with it. It wasn’t until I read several posts in which other authors described how they used Scrivener that I began to understand.
Why the confusion and reluctance in engaging with Scrivener? It is fundamentally different from just using a text editor. It is a robust development software for the whole project. We’re used to just sitting down and typing in Word all the things that we are developing, creating any number of files and trying to track all the details somehow. But once you develop a project in Scrivener or convert an existing project into it you begin to understand just what you can do and how it benefits you. The important point is to take the time to learn it somehow and there are great how-to videos as well as lots of reading material that help with Scrivener.
But why start using it today? There’s no time like the present to make the transition. If you have a writing project that needs starting why not make that the point where you begin learning. Why else should you begin in the middle of a busy schedule? You will learn through usage and then understand the power the design of this software brings to writers. Here’s 5 good reasons to make the change from Michael Hyatt.
It’s as easy as this: click File => New Project to show the New Project Window. Here’s a screenshot with Fiction selected:
Choose the category for your writing on the left and then what it will be on the right. Not picture here but below all this just type in the name of your project and then browse to the folder on your computer where you will store the project just like in Word.
What else should you learn? Begin by understanding the Editor and Binder as well as how to manage projects, project templates and document templates. Just knowing what you can do with these elements gets you much further along. Try to find authors who write what you do and find out how they use it. Once I found how other fantasy authors use it to develop and track details of a fantasy world it really helped me get started. Likewise, other bloggers who use Scrivener have developed templates for organizing your whole blogging year. It’s a bigger scope creative tool but it makes writing much simpler by allowing your to spend more time being creative.
Where’s your snag in beginning with Scrivener? What tips can you offer other people who are starting with Scrivener?
Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section.
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About the Author
P. H. Solomon lives in the greater Birmingham, AL area where he strongly dislikes yard work and sanding the deck rail. However, he performs these duties to maintain a nice home for his loved ones as well as the family’s German Shepherds. In his spare time, P. H. rides herd as a Computer Whisperer on large computers called servers (harmonica not required). Additionally, he enjoys reading, running, most sports and fantasy football. Having a degree in Anthropology, he also has a wide array of more “serious” interests in addition to working regularly to hone his writing. The Bow of Destiny is his first novel-length title with more soon to come.
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