At last, the secret is revealed here! How to take years to finish your book, face frustration and delays, and the right software to keep you from finishing your novel!
Interested?
A lot of people MUST be, from what I’m seeing. Let me tell you a little story from earlier this spring.
I took an online class with East Anglia University about Screenwriting, and the subject of Screenwriting software came up. The instructor (Michael) explained that the tab system for Screenplays is a little difficult, but if you just buy Magic Movie Screenwriter or Final Draft,
1. they automatically do the formatting for you
2. both have a lot of tools that reduce the workload,
3. and Final Draft is the industry standard.
No kidding, someone asked in the class discussion part – “What software should I use?”
I answered “Final Draft – you stand a better chance of being taken seriously if you just use Final Draft’. I also explained there’s a no-frills, lower cost of screen-writing software called Fade In you can use until you can afford Final Draft. And of course, Final Draft has many features you won’t find anywhere else that save a LOT of time.
Someone came in after me, and immediately chimed in that with only 6,000 hours of template formating and creation, you can get Microsoft Word to work almost kind of. Everyone began to answer excitedly, “I’m going to use Microsoft Word!!!”
Dumbfounded? It’s true! Move on to Jerry Jenkins, Michael Hyatt, and many others. In many, many, many articles I’ve read, no kidding, authors / novelists all are beginning to chime in and say, “If you want to buy one piece of inexpensive software that will DRASTICALLY change the way you write, stay tuned, I’ll give you the name of that software.” You read the article or booklet, and finally, they all tell you the same thing – if you DRASTICALLY want to change the way you write forever, then you want to buy Scrivener (no kidding, I’m writing this blog entry in Scrivener now!).
So what are most authors whose books aren’t finished after six years of writing still using? Microsoft Word.
Microsoft Word is good for BASIC tasks, and for BUSINESS writing, where linear flow is no problem. Want to drastically reduce the time and work to write a Business plan? I can tell you one $40 piece of software that will impact your job positively, and allow you to write that business plan FASTER. Answer – Scrivener.
Want to write a book? Fiction or non-fiction? Answer – Scrivener.
Want to write a movie screenplay? Answer – Fade In until you can afford it, then Final Draft.
Until you’ve tried these two software titles, you have absolutely NO IDEA how much time you’re WASTING using Microsoft Word, Open Office, LIbre Office etc. . Using Microsoft Word to write a book or Screenplay is like using a chainsaw to chop down a tree,, instead of pulling the chain and letting the chainsaw do it. It’s like buying a cart, then putting the horse in the cart and tugging it down the street.
Writing a book (fiction or non-fiction) with Microsoft Word or Open Office was okay ten years ago. You didn’t have Scrivener. You didn’t have Ywriter.
Those programs are out now, and they ENCOURAGE creativity. They ENCOURAGE editing. They ENCOURAGE speed and work-flow.
Writing a book or Screenplay with Microsoft Word (six times more expensive than Scrivener) is senseless. It costs more, slows you down, makes editing nearly impossible, and you cannot visualize your workflow as well.
Yes, you’ve got ONE DOCUMENT. Quickly, find the section where the scuba diver is pulling the shark tooth out of the sunken ship, and the head pops out, and he loses the tooth!
Unless you spend the extra time to write an index of scenes and update it daily… what page is it on? Get there in two seconds. Ready…. Go. TIME! Find it yet?
No? Because I’m already editing the scene in Scrivener.
Look at your document in Word. Who is in the scene at the coroner’s office? Quick, answer that. Who’s in that scene? I’ll wait, while you scroll through your document to first find the scene, then read it. And I’ll tell you that in less time than it took to write this sentence, I found the scene in Scrivener, took a look at the index card, and saw it was the Coroner, Chief Brody, and Hooper.
The truth about writing is that it is enjoyable, exciting, and fulfilling. The secret is to use software that enables you to look at not only PORTIONS of your book quickly, but also the entire project when you need to. Scrivener and Ywriter both have tools that allow you to focus on things like the who (is in the scene), the what (object in the scene), the where (scene location), when (the scene is) and the why (what happens in the scene) are ALL available at a glance in both programs.
You CAN’T do that in standard word processors.
If you want this benefit, act now. Get YWriter for free. Then when you’re convinced, buy Scrivener (it’s just $40) and find how much more rapidly and confidently you’re finishing that novel. I easily hit my 1,667 words a day, thanks to the word count indicator in Scrivener, and often shoot past that. It’s more work to try that in Microsoft Word.
Conclusion
Give these programs an honest, dedicated try. You’ll be convinced once and for all as you see your page count JUMP. I can finish a 150,000 word novel in three months with Scrivener. How long is it taking you to finish your novel?
