Scrivener
Scrivener. Why Scrivener? Yes, there are things that Write Way does that Scrivener doesn’t. There are things Liquid Story Binder does that Scrivener doesn’t.
But Scrivener is set up with three crucial factors in mind. Work Environment, Work flow, and usefulness. In the work environment, Scrivener pulls in ahead of YWriter. It’s a VERY comfortable work environment, and customizable to the max. You have regular writing view, or distraction free writing view. Or you can add an image to full screen move, and that way the world of your novel is before you. An image of the moon’s surface, the Sahara, or a rainy day. Your choice.
To encourage use, the Work Environment of novel writing software must feel comfortable and customizable. I tried customizing the look of Liquid Story Binder, and found it unsatisfying no matter what I tried – and then I couldn’t go back to the default look! YWriter has the comfort feel down – but it’s a little too sterile. You feel like you’re writing in a spreadsheet. And I was a Ywriter Die Hard fan! Write Way was very usable – but the work environment-interface looked too 1990’s and blocky. If they’d changed it, seriously, they’d have had a great software package.
Work Flow. Here’s where Liquid Story Binder bit the dust, as far as I was concerned. Is it simple to add chapters and scenes? Or do you have to learn a new vocabulary just to use the software? People say Scrivener is hard to learn, but I was comfortable with it right out of the box and writing away!
YWriter actually pulls slightly ahead of Scrivener here, because the work flow in Ywriter feels more direct and easy to follow. But Scrivener has so many bells and whistles to it that it catches up quickly in the work flow area. I can look at my corkboard and tell who’s in a scene at a glance, by looking at the right hand side of the index cards. I can add keywords and tags to keep track of my story flow better. And some writers write stories so complex and involved that yes, that’s the kind of workflow you HAVE to operate in!
Usefulness. Write Way has card overlays that you can use to plot your novel – but I wrote a novel in it without using the card overlays! I’m sure I could have learned how to use them, but it seemed to me like an extra step you don’t need, like handrails on a stairway.
Similarly, Liquid Story Binder actually does a better job of adding images to character profiles and location/settings. And you can build a writing music playlist in Liquid Story Binder.
Scrivener has a million features, and they work because they’re useful. The added things that Write Way and LSB had were neat – but I didn’t find them to be essential. And that’s yet another reason Scrivener pulls out way ahead in the end.
Dropbox
Dropbox. You need cloud storage in this day and age to keep backups of all your writing. I originally got started with Cox Internet Cloud, but it was clunky, barely worked… and right about the time I thought, “this is stupid” and got rid of it, Cox cancelled it. I tried OneDrive, but OneDrive is Microsoft. Microsoft starts and cancels services and software at the drop of the hat. Still use Microsoft Money? I do. how about LiveWriter? Expect OneNote and OneDrive to follow those products and services into oblivion eventually.
Another problem is that OneDrive is not easy. They come up with a way to make it work in Vista. You get that working. You upgrade to 8.1, but they take that workaround away. Then they tell you you get it back if you upgrade to Windows 10, which I’m not in a rush to get.
Dropbox is easy. I have shared folders with my producer, so he knows literally when I’m working on my script, because every time I click save, he gets a popup window telling him that. And so many people and corporations pay for its services that I feel confident it’ll be around for years. Will it end? Eventually. But there’ll be other cloud services by then that are better, and we’ll all have moved by then anyway!
When my windows system was corrupted, literally Dropbox saved me. I was able to recover all of my work, after spending several months tracking it down. I now save everything into dropbox. When I switch computers, I’ll install dropbox right away, and have all my work within minutes.
Evernote
Evernote. There’s a war between Evernote and Onenote, but it looks like Evernote has won that war. In my case, yes. I clip a LOT of articles. When I used to “save to PDF” before, now I clip things to Evernote. I have access to hundreds of articles I’ve clipped on writing, screenwriting, etc. I have maps of locations for novels. Screen shots of those locations. I have information on Greenland Sharks in there, including stats you could forget like the fact they smell like urine (ugh), have an affliction of eye parasites, can dive 7,200 feet down, don’t seem to be bothered by cold water, and apparently live for 400 years.
The key to Evernote is tagging and notebooks. You can file things away by tagging them appropriately. Narrow down your search to a notebook and the tags you’re looking for, and behold, thousands of entries are now slimmed down to the handful you’re looking for. The key to being able to find what you’re looking for is in proper tagging.
I do my research in Evernote, write in Scrivener and save my work to Dropbox. With these three programs, all of my work can be moved from computer to computer, and is safe in case of yet another windows system glitch or corruption.
