![]() ![]() And every time I open up Word, I feel like I’m making my life as a writer way more complicated than it needs to be.Īs a writer, I basically just want to write. This may not be a big deal to you, but I like using beautiful, simple tools. Any fancy formatting that Word lets you do doesn’t register with most typesetting software (subheads, bulleted lists, and endnotes/footnotes all have to be marked up manually and then designed by a book designer). Yes, that’s cool, but the problem with these features is that they’re pointless for authors. Those who swear by Word tell me they love the robust features like being able to add footnotes and chapter links and the like. I have lost more than a few chapters of my books thanks to this feature. Word will just randomly crash on you and unless you’re saving every seven seconds, you’re likely to lose some of your work. I thought this was just me until I heard from other writers who struggle with this, too. And yes, you can turn this stuff off, but navigating a plethora of menus is anything but easy. I find the auto-indents and instant formatting cumbersome and frustrating. What’s so bad about Microsoft Word?įirst things first. I have finally seen the light.Īfter hearing so many writers I respect (people like Michael Hyatt and Andy Traub) talk about the magic of Scrivener, a word processor designed for serious writing projects, I decided to give it a go. Feature-rich interface that includes the ability to highlight, add notes, include images, etc.I wasted years of my life doing all my writing on Microsoft Word.Allows you to work in the browser, the desktop app, or the mobile app - they all sync together through the Cloud the next time there’s internet.Ability to export your work into either a Word (.DOC) or text (.TXT) file.Simply and intuitive word count goal tracker that integrates with Nanowrimo and even lets you set days off.Floating taskbar includes ability to bold, italicize, and quote text.Scrivener is more cusomizable than Dabble.Scrivener has a higher learning curve for using its feature-rich interface if you want to take advantage of all its features (however, from my experience, there are more features than you need).Dabble is touted as “Scrivener without the learning curve”.Dabble was designed to be a simple word processor with minimal features in which writers can write without distraction while also keeping all their work organized in one place.Scrivener has more features than Dabble.Word count goal settings in Dabble (Screencap taken by author) Tldr: If you wanted to add another part or chapter, you’d have to find it under the Book Actions section, which is the ⋮ beside your book’s name. ![]() This means you need to specifically click the ⋮ beside where it says MANUSCRIPT and select Add New Book. What these folders represent can be changed after they are created, but their spot in the nest hierarchy determines their subsection type.įor instance, if you wanted to add another book to your project in Dabble, you’d have to find it in the Manuscript Actions section. You have to create folders for each book subsection type in specific levels. In Dabble, the folders are preset and refer to a specific type of book section. And since you define what these folders represent, you have complete freedom to organize your work however you want within a project. You could keep nesting folders to infinity if you so chose. This means there is no limit to the number of folders you can nest within each other. You simply click the folder to name it and edit it to represent whatever subsection you want. A folder is simply an undefined text file that you can define any way you like. In Scrivener, the folders do not inherently refer to any type of book section they are not predefined. There is a slight difference in the way you create these nested documents in both programs that could get a bit confusing. Nesting hierarchy: the books “Benny’s Story”, “Bad Blood”, “Killing Jar”, “Human Nature” > part 1 “Wanted” > chapter 1 > scene 1 (Screencap taken by author) see the screencaps from the previous section for how this looks in Scrivener
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