Hello,
First I want to say that I can’t wait for the final Scrivener version to be released so I can purchase it the day it is released! What I have seen so far has impressed me greatly! I do find that some of the concepts are new to me and I’m not sure of what my worklow will look like once I start using Scrivener full time.
Previously, I have used Word to do all my writing with a small utility called ‘Chapter by Chapter’ to organize each chapter into individual files as work gets rather unruly when your manuscript is pushing 250k words. Anyway, I definitely prefer to work in chapter sections and to keep each chapter in a separate document. I doubt I’ll be breaking thigs down into specific scenes, but who knows. In playing with the beta, I’m not sure how best to create my new folders for my chapters. Do I just create a new folder every time I want a new chapter and then create a text document under that for the chapter text? I see there is a duplicate option but it seems to duplicate everything including all the documents underneath. How would this feature normally be used? I’m curious what other people do.
I also have questions about formatting. How easy is it to customize all the font, paragraph settings and all when I write but then have the exported document conform to a manuscript standard? It seemed like the tutorials suggested this was possible but the process wasn’t obvious to me in the beta. As for formats, I also would like to be able to publish (export) to more than one template. For instance, one template would be standard manuscript formating, but another would be ebook formating for use on eReaders. Can Scrivener simplify all this?
I know that right now the focus is on getting the software to release, but I would like to add my one favorite feature request. I would love a flexible timeline feature. By flexible, I mean not stuck to any specific date format. As a writer of fantasy, having a timeline of scenes and events is immensely useful, but I have not found a lot of great options out there. I use excel right now, which does the job, but it sure would be nice to see a nice timeline integrated into my writing tool!
Thanks again for all the great work and I am looking for the day I can whip out my credit card and get the released Scrivener!
Danny