On Writing Software

I’ve always been the type to open Notepad, or Word and just start writing…until a few days ago.  My friends raved to me about Scrivener, and it turned out, there was a windows version as well.  So I downloaded it, installed it, and spent a few hours clicking through the tutorial.

And following that, I took my newest WIP, and converted it into a Scrivener project.

I started out using it as a poor man’s Word.  Writing in one huge text document.

Then I split it up into fragments.

Then I spent a few days staring at the whole thing, wondering how anyone works in it.

After a few days of scribbling words and only getting a few paragraphs in, I realized the problem wasn’t the writing software, it was the writing wetware between the keyboard and the chair.

I rewrote my outline (still did that in Word – not quite ready to switch).

I split the outline pieces into scenes.

I used the corkboard to lay out the new outline…and I began writing.  It’s odd that after so long of just working in Word, it almost feels natural to have the synopsis available alongside the text as I work.  So I am continuing, as an experiment.  Will I love it?  I can’t say.  I don’t hate it at this point, and I see some benefits, particularly when it comes to organizing stories with interwoven plot threads, many characters, and running jokes.

We shall see.