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For me the most important part of writing longer, novel-length pieces is the organization help that Scrivener gives me. So far it's my favorite tool and as cool

For me the most important part of writing longer, novel-length pieces is the organization help that Scrivener gives me. So far it's my favorite tool and as cool as this might be I'll remain skeptical until I see the final product.

tenkabuto 9y ago
Scrivener's organization UI is wonderful. I wonder if there could be a one-thing-well app made for just handling that and relegating longer-form writing to the user's word processor of choice.
ghaff 9y ago
I used Scrivener for one non-fiction book I wrote that was very chapter-centric. (i.e. it was a compilation of quasi-independent pieces organized around broad themes). I really liked the flexibility it gave me to reorganize and include fragments of thoughts. On the downside, once you get past a certain point and get into editing and collaboration, you pretty much have to throw all that away and switch tools.
antjanus 9y ago
One downside of Scrivener is how old UI feels and looks. It definitely needs a heavy facelift after all these years. Oh and the use of RTF docs. I'd say that when someone comes to the table with markdown support, a UI that matches the times, a better format, and strap Pandoc on top of it, you'd see a true competitor to Scrivener. Scrivener satisfies the market but I think a straight up clone with a few changes and a few extra features could easily take over. Not one of these alternatives that keep trying out something "new".
- dangoor 9y ago
  Scrivener is actually getting a facelift. Check out their blog with some screenshots of their in-progress Scrivener 3: https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/ https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/
jacques-noris 9y ago
I love the idea behind Scrivener and the binding concept works very well, but as others said: the UI is too old school and there are too many features. It feels cramped. A streamlined version of Scrivener with less features and a better UI would be great.
rufius 9y ago
I feel similarly with Ulysses. In my case, I organize my thoughts in sheets from a legal pad. This maps nicely with sheets in Ulysses. I want to like Scrivener but it's not quite the right fit. I'm glad it exists though - this is a space ripe for exploration. Pen and paper still are best for my initial creative stage.

tenkabuto 9y ago

Scrivener's organization UI is wonderful. I wonder if there could be a one-thing-well app made for just handling that and relegating longer-form writing to the user's word processor of choice.

ghaff 9y ago

I used Scrivener for one non-fiction book I wrote that was very chapter-centric. (i.e. it was a compilation of quasi-independent pieces organized around broad themes). I really liked the flexibility it gave me to reorganize and include fragments of thoughts. On the downside, once you get past a certain point and get into editing and collaboration, you pretty much have to throw all that away and switch tools.

antjanus 9y ago

One downside of Scrivener is how old UI feels and looks. It definitely needs a heavy facelift after all these years. Oh and the use of RTF docs. I'd say that when someone comes to the table with markdown support, a UI that matches the times, a better format, and strap Pandoc on top of it, you'd see a true competitor to Scrivener. Scrivener satisfies the market but I think a straight up clone with a few changes and a few extra features could easily take over. Not one of these alternatives that keep trying out something "new".

dangoor 9y ago
Scrivener is actually getting a facelift. Check out their blog with some screenshots of their in-progress Scrivener 3: https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/ https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/

jacques-noris 9y ago

I love the idea behind Scrivener and the binding concept works very well, but as others said: the UI is too old school and there are too many features. It feels cramped. A streamlined version of Scrivener with less features and a better UI would be great.

rufius 9y ago

I feel similarly with Ulysses. In my case, I organize my thoughts in sheets from a legal pad. This maps nicely with sheets in Ulysses. I want to like Scrivener but it's not quite the right fit. I'm glad it exists though - this is a space ripe for exploration. Pen and paper still are best for my initial creative stage.