Scrivener, yWriter, or other?

Just downloaded yWriter and I'm going to give it a try. I've been fighting with a novel for months and I think the problem is that I need some structure. Hopefully this will help.

I used plain old open office for my first nanowrimo, after that I switched to ywriter for all my noveling. I'd probably give scrivener a try if it were free beyond just a trial, but I'm on a tight budget D:

I never found things like yWriter useful for me. I dunno know why. I used OpenOffice until google docs evolved now it's all I need.

When I had a Mac I used Mellel and it was the best word processor I ever used.

As an experiment and to keep abreast with what's out there, I used Scrivener to write my most recent WIP. A helpful tool with lots of glitches. But workarounds work, and I found that in projects where I do a lot of scene reorganization, Scrivener makes me more productive.

I just started a new novel, and I am trying yWriter for the first time. First impressions: Not ready for prime time. Not even a decent user's manual to answer how-tos. Spend the $40 and get Scrivener, run the tutorial, and you'll be ready.

yWriter and Word.

i love Scrivener so much

It's like it was made me for and my scattagorical-ness

I love that you can put other types of files in it - like photos, even pdf's, and links to the web. There are places for character notes, place notes, and you can toggle back and forth between note cards or an outline.

I like Scrivener also. I didn't used to, but over time I've grown to appreciate the way it organizes everything. I started with word.

I swear by Scrivener. It's amazing. I love how easy it is to create epub and mobi files with Scrivener - most of my betas have e-readers and were thrilled that I could send them the story so beautifully formatted.

I never knew I needed Scrivener until this last year, but it made life so much easier. I could split my huge novel up into manageable scenes, move things around, delete scenes without having them be lost forever. I got it after NaNo with my writer's code but I bought both the Windows and Mac versions so they still got a nice chunk of my money. The license terms are really fair, too, my husband and I can have a copy on both our laptops.

Scrivener fans,
Are you referring to the Mac version or either Mac/PC? Any PC users who love it? I've been thinking about getting it, but I'm not sure it's worth the time, effort, etc.

Thanks in advance.

I considered Scrivener, but I'm a PC person, and they seemed to keep dragging their heels on the PC format. It also made me wonder what kind of support I would get, if I wasn't a Mac worshipper.

So I went with WriteWay Pro, which was designed for PCs and does - near as I can tell - pretty much the same kind of thing. (And it was ready and rarin' to go for NaNoWriMo 2011, unlike Scrivener PC.)

I enjoy it, and I know I could be doing even more with it if I sat down and fiddled around some more.

I still use Word for short stories, though.

qdsb said:

Scrivener fans,
Are you referring to the Mac version or either Mac/PC? Any PC users who love it? I've been thinking about getting it, but I'm not sure it's worth the time, effort, etc.

Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

I use the PC version. Since my previous post I ported my new WIP to Scrivener.

I have both the Mac and PC versions. Mac version looks prettier, no question, but the PC version does what I need it to. In fact the Name Generator tool is miles better on the PC version and I often end up doing all my name generating on the PC and maybe some outlining, then switching to the Mac for writing. I also do all the exporting on Mac so I can't speak to whether the PC version has any quirks there. But the file format is fully cross-platform compatible so anyone who has both types of computer should consider Scrivener.

Brightdreamer said:

I considered Scrivener, but I'm a PC person, and they seemed to keep dragging their heels on the PC format. It also made me wonder what kind of support I would get, if I wasn't a Mac worshipper.

Click to expand...

I am happy with the support. Knowledgeable, helpful people on the user forum. And, being a techo-geek myself, I ask hard questions.

qdsb said:

Scrivener fans,
Are you referring to the Mac version or either Mac/PC? Any PC users who love it? I've been thinking about getting it, but I'm not sure it's worth the time, effort, etc.

Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

I am a PC user and love Scrivener. I have tried yWriter and it is good for a free program. Scrivener is more polished and definitely worth the one time cost. You have nothing to lose by downloading the free trial. Just import a current Word project into it and play around a bit.

If anyone is on the fence here's a quick link to a 20% Scrivener Coupon Code. Saves you about $8. It really is a amazing tool. Enjoy!

I keep each draft as a separate file in Word, but I work on each chapter in Google Docs. I love Google Docs because it lets you work from anywhere you have internet access, and the comment feature is an incredible help with the edits!

Do you need internet access to use Google docs?

I used Word for years because that was all I had available. Then MS Office 2007 had what I call the 'Apple overhaul', (No hate on Macs, it just looks to me like Windows was trying to emulate Mac's visual style) and try as I might I could never make sense of it. It took me weeks to figure out that all the basic buttons; save as, open, etc, were hidden under the big flashy Windows logo. What was wrong with the simple drop-down menus? Plus, I could never make sense of why they replaced TNR as the default font with Calibri of all things. Blech. But I digress.

From there, I moved to OpenOffice, and still use it from time to time, mostly because it's on my netbook and it's easy.

But I downloaded the Scrivener trial (PC version) a little while back, and I'm quite happy with it. I have a few bigger manuscripts moved in there, but for smaller stuff I'm still using OpenOffice to save days on my trial version until I have extra money on hand that I can justify spending on the full version. Hubby and I are really on a shoestring this month.

Thanks for the link to the 20% coupon code, S.M. Worth. I may be able to purchase the full version sooner than I thought. $8 may not be very much, but it's still money in the bank.

I use yWriter. I tried Celtix(sp?) and the set up was too weird or something, I don't really remember, so I started looking again. Scrivinator required you to purchase it, so that was a definite no- I'm too cheap. Word is too plain for me. The giant wall of text it turns into turns me off of continuing for some reason... yWrite lets me break it up into small scenes and allows easy access to every scene or chapter.

The only down side would have to be the option of listing your characters, locations, items etc... It distracts me and I end up playing with it instead of writing!

Al Stevens said:

Do you need internet access to use Google docs?

Click to expand...

I think you do. However, I'm not completely sure.

Thanks for the replies! Sounds like a positive all around for PC-based Scrivener. Will look into it. Thanks for the coupon, too!!

Al Stevens said:

Do you need internet access to use Google docs?

Click to expand...

Currently, yes.

But Google's working on offline access. Here's a link to some information about Google Docs Offline:

https://support.google.com/docs/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=1628465

For me is Scrivener, I'm also using the trial version but plan to buy it soon. Taking Camp nano to get a %50 coupon

I tried yWriter and some others I don't remember the name. And didn't like their interface, difficult to focus and not clean enough.

I'm a big fan of Scrivener, though I still drop back to MS Word for roughing out drafts. With Scriverner I get caught up formatting everything -- creating character bios, breaking chapters into scenes, playing around with the corkboard.

Am I the only person in the world who tried Scrivener and hated it so much it was uninstalled the same day?


I use Word or Jarte. (Or, when at work, my email program. )