Hi all. Has anyone here done a thorough comparison of WriteItNow vs. Scrivener?
I am about to buy one or the other. I have been using Copywrite and ditched it. I changed to StoryMill and am about to ditch it.
I love the look and feel on Scrivener but my concern is that it does not have the scope of WriteItNow e.g. timelines, and separate folders for Characters, Locations etc (although I guess these couple be made in the Binder).
Like any writer, I suppose, I am looking for an easy-to-use program that allows me to organise all aspects of my novel (characters, locations, scenes etc) into one easy-to-navigate package.
The advice of anyone here would be greatly appreciated.
From my perspective (as the developer of Scrivener), I would say that the obvious difference is that while WriteItNow is very rigid in that it is designed solely for writing novels and with a particular workflow in mind, Scrivener is much more fluid and designed in such a way that you can set it up however you want it (you can add a “Characters” folder for character sheets and so on if you want). That’s not a criticism of WriteItNow, mind - that’s the way it is designed to work, so your choice will really depend on whether you want something more structured from the get-go, or something that allows you to find and define your own structure.
I tried all of these different applications before I decided to develop Scrivener, and for me, WriteItNow just had too many forms to fill in and seemed to make everything overly complicated - but that’s just me. (I’m also not a big fan of non-native software - I much prefer a Mac-native interface, but again, that’s just a personal preference.) Scrivener doesn’t force any particular workflow, or ask you to fill in any forms or suchlike, any more than Word. So it depends on how much you want that side of things done for you, I guess.
Certainly you can keep all of your information about locations and characters in Scrivener, though. Just set up some top-level folders for them (2.0 - out next year - will allow you to assign custom icons to such folders, too). And you can also bring in web pages, PDF files and images for reference alongside your writing.
So I suppose the best thing to do is just spend some time in the trials of each - remember Scrivener gives you 30 non-consecutive days of use, so the trial only counts down the days you actually use it - and see which one fits the way you work best. (Hmm, although checking, it seems that WriteItNow doesn’t allow you to save anything in its trial version, which would make it hard to test it out properly.)
Thanks for trying, and good luck in finding the tool that works for you (and remember that if neither quite do it for you, our links page provides links to other software that might).
I am assuming you have not run into vic-k yet. Otherwise you might not add the forum community to your list. Sure, AmberV is here to raise the level to “higher than norm”, but she is carrying quite a load offsetting the likes of Mr K, thequiteone, Juddbert and Pink. They are all harmless really, just be careful.
Welcome aboard! Don’t hesitate to ask questions and remember to do the tutorial (very helpful). The FAQ has tons of info in it and what isn’t might be on the forums. If not, ask away. Someone will eventually answer. And the answer might even be helpful! You never know.
Shaun,
Welcome aboard Scrivener
Ignore Jud & pink, theyre escapees from the lower decks. Theyll be taken back down there and punished.
When Dee said, “Naturalised” , she meant, 'neutralised’
Vic
Behave, both of you! You don’t want to scare him away before he’s been naturalized, do you?
