Up until yesterday, I was determined to stick with my notecards. I had become Bartleby the Scrivener with regards to Scrivener.
And I didn’t see what the big deal was
Until this weekend.
This weekend, at The Novel Writing Retreat at VCFA, nearly half the writers in the room raised their hands when Lauren Myracle asked, “So….who has discovered Scrivener?” One year ago, at the same retreat, Coe Booth and Holly Black asked the same thing. And they all were raving.
Others started swooning.
So I downloaded the free trial. I played with it for about two hours.
This morning, I went ahead and bought it.
Note: I am not a person who enjoys reading manuals. In fact, I rarely read them. I did watch MOST of the Youtube intro. Today, I will go get Scrivener for Dummies.
My progress so far: Two WIPS downloaded, one complete, one in progress.
I like the corkboard. It’s the same as my notecard storyboard.
Realization One: I can turn my first 14 chapters into six.
Realization Two: I’m expecting to learn even more.
If you are a Scrivener devotee…or newbie…feel free to cheer me on, add thoughts and hints…and success stories! I think I really like this program! It seems to do what I’ve been trying to do on paper…just without…well….the paper.
I’ve taken a couple of runs at Scrivener, and given up on it each time…. And yet, somehow, I’m still curious. Everyone raves so much about it, I’m left wondering what I’m missing here…. Curious to hear about your progress!
For me, the corkboard is the appealing part. I like storyboarding–it really helps me see where I’ve gone wrong. So basically, so far, it’s become the new shiny toy that made me do what I should do…but perhaps wasn’t completely ready to do…until now!
I have used it for a novel (sidelined for the time being, but I plan on picking it up in April). I really like it, but I’m 100% positive I’m not using it to anything like it’s full capability. I look forward to your posts.
I doubt I will ever use it to full capacity, but right now, it is making me do things that force me to evaluate my WIP. (infer: things I might skip over, because I fear what I will find.)