A message from Keith at Scrivener!
"Hello 2009 Wrimos,
I’m the developer of a software program for writers called Scrivener, which is currently only available for Mac OS X (sorry Windows users!):
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html
Some of you who are already familiar with Scrivener may know that the first Scrivener users came from these very NaNo boards, as I gathered my first group of beta testers here for NaNo 2005. This year, we’re really excited to be able to give something back by becoming a corporate sponsor of NaNoWriMo 2009. (It seems strange to describe ourselves as "corporate", given that there are only officially two of us, as you can see from our about page: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/about.html !) We’ve also got some special offers for all NaNoists - more on that below.
What is Scrivener?
If you haven't heard of Scrivener, Scrivener is designed specifically to help hammer out the first draft of a long text such as a novel, finding its structure along the way. It allows you to keep multiple text documents in the same project, and you can view those text documents separately or combined together (so, for instance, you could write and edit scenes individually or together as one document). You can also look at two documents alongside one another, or import and refer to research such as PDF documents, images, web pages and media files, right next to your writing. To find the structure, there is an outliner and a virtual corkboard, and you can assign a synopsis to each text chunk in the project so that you can get an overview of and rearrange your draft by using the synopses on the corkboard or in the outliner. Here are some screenshots:
I wrote Scrivener because it's the tool I wanted for my own writing, as I was fed up with having multiple chapters written in Word scattered around my hard drive, and trying to sort through all my notes and research, trying to organise and get an overview of everything. It's not the sort of writing software that presumes to tell you how to write (I'm not a fan of that sort of software myself); instead it just provides a number of tools that are hopefully a lot more geared towards organising and hammering out a first draft than a standard word processor. (It's not intended to replace a standard word processor, though - when you've finished your draft you can print it or export it for tweaking and polishing in your word processor of choice.) I'm not going to claim everybody needs such software or any such nonsense, but if like me you've ever struggled with getting an overview of your novel and keeping all of its disparate threads and ideas together, then I hope you'll give it a whirl, and I'd be delighted if in some small way it helps some of you attain your 50,000 words. (If you like the idea but Scrivener just doesn't suit you, there are lots of alternatives on our links page, by the way.)
You can see what some of the published authors who use Scrivener have to say about it here:
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/testimonials.html
Special NaNoWriMo Scrivener trial version
We want to try to make it as easy as possible to use Scrivener for this year's NaNoWriMo for those who are interested in doing so. For that reason, in the first half of October we will be releasing a special NaNoWriMo 2009 trial version of Scrivener. Normally, Scrivener's free trial period lasts for 30 non-consecutive days. This means that it doesn't run out until you have used it on thirty different days (so if you used it only twice a week, it would last fifteen weeks, for instance). But of course, you are going to want to try out Scrivener before November starts to see if you will be comfortable writing your 50,000 words in it, and after the month ends, if you decide after hammering out your 50,000 words that Scrivener isn't for you (although obviously I hope you will love it and decide to continue to use it!), you will want to get your work out again after the month has finished. And that's more than thirty days of use.
For these reasons, the special NaNo trial version will run from October through to the 7th December, so that you have October to get used to it and the first week of December to decide if you want to continue using it and buy a licence, or export your work to continue along in your regular word processor.
You'll be able to download the special NaNo trial version here:
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/nanowrimo.html
(The above link won't work until early October.)
Aside from the different trial period, the only difference between the NaNo trial version and the regular trial version is that the NaNo version will set you up with a 50,000 word target by default.
Special offer for all NaNoWriMo participants
We also have a great offer open to all NaNoWriMo participants this year. Scrivener is normally a mere $39.95 (or $34.99 for students), but we are offering a further 20%-off discount for Scrivener throughout November and December. To use it, just go to our product page, click on "Buy Now", select the regular licence and enter "NANOWRIMO" into the "Coupon Code" text field in the top right of the web store.
You might want to hold out until the end of November, though, because all winners of this year's NaNoWriMo will be eligible for a 50% discount. Winners will receive a special coupon for this on the NaNoWriMo "I Wrote A Novel, Now What?" page on December 2, once everybody's word count has been confirmed. That means you can get Scrivener for less than $20 if you make 50,000 words this year - no more than the price of a Fisher Space pen or a couple of Moleskine notepads.
Hello Scrivener users
Any existing Scrivener users will be able to pass on their 50% coupon to a friend, of course. And if any Scrivener users reading this would care to share how they have used Scrivener for NaNoWriMo in the past, or pass on any tips they have, I'd love to read your comments in replies to this thread. I was planning on doing NaNo myself this year (after several abortive attempts over the past few years), but the jury is out at the moment, as I started somewhat prematurely: I've been hammering away at a novel for the past few weeks and have yet to decide whether I dare interrupt the flow by starting a second one in November (the current one is quantity over quality as it is...).
Anyway, I hope some of you Mac-using wrimos decide to give Scrivener a whirl this year if you haven't already tried it - be sure to let me know in the replies to this thread how you get on, and feel free to ask me any questions or field any problems. I'll be monitoring and answering questions on this thread throughout November, along with answering technical support queries in our regular forums:
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/forum
You can also contact me directly on contact AT literatureandlatte DOT com.
Thanks for reading. Good luck with the writing!
All the best,
Keith"
----------
26,651 / 50,000
Oct 1, 2009 - 22 39
Any chance a windows version might be in the pipeline?
----------The Steampunk FAQ and Resources thread.
55,128 / 50,000
Oct 1, 2009 - 22 58
Some of the people in my region with Macs raved about this program last year.
For my fellow PCers, might I recommend Liquid Story Binder ? It’s what I have and from what I’ve heard about Scrivener, it seems pretty similar. You can download a free trial that lasts for 30 non-consecutive days, so you could play with it today and save the other 29 days for November if you wanted to. :) You can export and save things in basic Rich Text, so you don’t have to worry about losing your book if you don’t want to pay for the software.
They also have a Yahoo group where you can post any problems, questions, or suggestions, complete with the actual software developer answering and implementing things on a regular basis. They also had a coupon in November last year I think - I know I paid half price for the program when I bought it.
I like it anyway. (And am not affiliated in any way. Just figured I’d throw it out there).
----------2008: An Initial Love; 50,048 words; Region: Seoul, South Korea
2009:???; Goal of 100,000 words; Region: Las Vegas, Nevada
0 / 50,000
Oct 1, 2009 - 23 00
What a fabulous idea! I love it when things work with, or are meant for, Macs. *rushes to look at the shiny*
26,651 / 50,000
Oct 1, 2009 - 23 25
Thanks, I'll check it out!
----------The Steampunk FAQ and Resources thread.
60,016 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 01 17
Yay! Finally something for the Mac people out there. It's a bit saddifying when there's just PC offers...
I can't wait until the trial is up and running :)
----------___
· Katharine
· ML of Elsewhere Australia
· Elsewhere Australia has a Twitter!
33,348 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 02 05
LSB has also been offered on www.giveawayoftheday.com for free on at least one occasion that I know of. The current version even has mindmapping and a character generator as well.
----------Charles R. Brentner
32,649 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 02 55
I personally like storYbook. It probably doesn't have all the features of other programs, but it is free, which is perfect for poor college students. And it works on Windows. It has color coded character sheets, location editors, Different strands of the story, and is great for timelines and outlines and stuff.
----------Main Characters killed:6
Times 4th wall broken:9
Fight scenes: 12
When life gives you lemons, make grape juice. Then sit back and let the world wonder how you did it.
21,816 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 03 55
Thanks so much! I'll definitely check it out!!
17,461 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 04 14
Fantastic! I've been "stalking" Scrivener for awhile now but this officially removes any excuses I've had for putting off the purchase.
31,478 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 04 49
That's an awesome deal for Mac users, especially since they don't get much for them exclusively, but if you are a Windows user, check out Liquid Story Binder (just google it). I've been nano'ing for many years, and the past two (this will be the third)I've been using that program and it is AMAZING!
----------My Writing Blog
Follow Me
8,711 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 05 59
Wow, this looks handy. And from the web page it seems clear that it has the sleek Mac design aesthetic. /claps enthusiastically
53,483 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 06 27
Scrivener might possibly be the best software ever programmed! I wrote my first novel in Microsoft Word, and fought and fought and fought with chapter headings, moving things around as I tweaked the story. It was an absolute nightmare. I work in IT and like to think I'm above average literate in computers, but I still haven't figured out how to insert dynamic chapter headings in a word document. With Scrivener, it does the numbering for you, just start a new document within your project. If I need to add a chapter between 12 and 13, I don't have to renumber 13 to 14, 14 to 15, etc, I just add the new document, and Scrivener does all the renumbering for me. And it's super easy to export it to a Word document at any point if you so choose. I am so in love with Scrivener and can't sing its praises loudly enough, and HIGHLY recommend it to anyone with a Mac.
Now if I can just find the time to hack my netbook and turn it into a MacOS machine rather than Linux, I'll be set....
Jen
----------Reading and weeping opens the door to one’s heart, but writing and weeping opens the window to one’s soul. – M.K. Simmons
http://www.jenniferksights.com
85,169 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 06 42
You asked how other Nano writers use Scrivener? Hehehehe...
I’ve used Scrivener for a number of years now and absolutely love it. I’ve written my last four novels on it and planned and outlined out many more. Since I get a lot of questions asking how I use it to combing plotting, outlining and the actual writing, I wrote up an article on it.
You can find it in the latest issue of Vision: A Resource For Writers e-magazine called Scrivener Hybrid Outlining. (This is a free e-magazine)
I hope other Nanowrimo Scrivener users find it helpful.
Thanks for making this offer to other writers, Keith!
----------***
Julieann Dreamer
http://jamarlow.com
Nano 2009: Into the Forest Shadows
Nano 2008: The Phoenix Eggs: WON
Nano 2007: The String Weavers: WON!
32,519 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 09 32
I still don't find it particularly fair that Linux users can't run Mac programs, despite the fact it's the same architecture.
Ah well.
It's nice that the Mac users get something. :) There are so many strictly Windows programs, like Q10 (although ssh it runs great in Wine on Ubuntu), it's not fair.
We need something strictly Linux though, fyi Linux users of the NaNo forums. ;D
I'll just stick to OpenOffice and Notepad, though. It's been my system for five years, not gonna screw it up now. XD
----------OH MAA GAA NANO COOKBOOK
8,510 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 07 06
YES! Finally something that Mac users can use! I have both a Mac and PC, but definitely prefer the Mac, so this is a terrific offer. I'll definitely be downloading this when I get home. Depending on how I like it, I may buy it, dunno yet. But still. This. Is. AWESOME.
----------28,769 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 07 13
I have been using Scrivener for all my long writing projects for a year and a half (my winning (but terrible) novel last November, and many 20-25 page term papers for grad school), and I have to say that it has made writing so much easier and so much more of a pleasure. I actually find it more helpful for the term papers (it's worth having for the ability to have .pdfs or note files open in the same program as my writing alone), but it made reordering my NaNo last year a snap. It was well worth buying, and I'm looking forward to using it for my novel this year.
9,620 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 07 26
I am utterly obsessed by Scrivener. It's gorgeous.
I've been using it for half a year now and still find out something new in it almost every day. Everything from planning and outlining to writing a final draft is so much easier with it. I used it to write my final piece of academic work for my teaching qualification after struggling for weeks with multiple word files. I doubt I would've finished it at all were it not for Scrivener. It makes the physical act of writing even dry texts pleasurable.
I've been using it to write quite a bit of fiction and am very much looking forward to attempting NaNoWriMo with it.
30,026 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 08 07
I have used both and, while Liquid Story Binder is quite like Scrivener, I find it more complex to use --with various levels that can prove confusing and overwhelming at first (they are awesome, though, once you get the hang of 'em). I suggest to anyone thinking to use LSB for NaNo, to spend time now to get comfortable with it. Come Nov 1 you will want to focus on writing and not be distracted with software complexity.
I also recommend yWriter for PC users (http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html) by Simon Haynes (who is also a WriMo). It's quick to learn and easy to use. Best of all it's FREE.
Melissa
----------Melissa
>Official ML for Murfreesoboro, TN<
Follow on Twitter! http://twitter.com/NaNoInTheBoro
25,436 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 11 40
I heard about Ywriter last year after Nano was over. It's sad--maybe my novel last year would have been good if I had split scenes up instead of having one massive scene split by sleep. I'm definitely using it for this year's novel.
I like it, though. It works on my flashdrive, there's import/export of files, it's free, and it lets you do character sheets, plot sheets, and a timeline.
Best part is definitely the free (!) part and the flashdrive part. I can take it to school and work on it during programming.
----------2008 -- Winner!
2009 -- ??????
16,383 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 12 09
Wow, what a great offer! I downloaded the (regular) Scrivener demo a few days ago and I love it. I'll be sure to install this one when it's ready!
----------A moment is all it takes to touch someone's life.
A link to my book of poetry, "Breathing Into The Sunlight", if you're interested:
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/351878
0 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 12 40
This is wonderful news! Especially considering I've been looking for the perfect program to write my novel in this year.
I've been toying with Storyist and can't quite grasp it the way I would like to. Especially since I was/am scouting out programs to write my novel in for this year. I wanted to try Scrivener if Storyist didn't work out, which looks to be that way, so now I have a bunch of extra incentives to try it out. Thanks again!
Oh, would any of you seasoned Scrivener users happen to have any tips or tricks you could pass along to a newbie?
----------"The best antidote to writer's block is ... to write."
12,870 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 13 44
Storybook, mentioned above by fantasyfreak_18, runs on Linux and Windows. I run Ubuntu Jaunty, and it works perfectly. I believe it's intended more for Linux users, but I'm not certain. I've been using it to plan my novel, and I love it. The color-coding is very nice, and strands are super useful. It isn't intended for writing your novel, but for planning. I'll probably do the actual writing in either LyX or OpenOffice.
The Storybook website is here: http://storybook.intertec.ch/joomla/
----------NaNo 09: THE WILDSONG (Goal: 60k)
31,691 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 14 38
Yay! I've always been so jealous of yWriter... now Macs get something for NaNo too!
(I was actually thinking of downloading the free trial for NaNo anyway xD So glad we get a longer free trial...)
0 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2009 - 01 49
Hi all,
Many thanks for the enthusiasm! "Kayembi" is my registered name her (as in KMB, my initials), so I'll be replying using this account.
We have a selection of Windows alternatives on our links page:
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/links.html
(It likes like we've missed some judging by the replies here, so if you have any others you think should be on there, feel free to e-mail.)
As for a Windows version of Scrivener, let's just say that we do really want to be able to cater for Windows users at some point - I can't say any more than that, though, I'm afraid. :) I'm a Mac user myself and as I designed and built Scrivener initially for my own use, it has started life as a Mac application.
DM - I understand your pain with lack of Linux products. Unfortunately, although Linux and OS X are both Unix-based (or Unix-like), the frameworks for the OSes are very different so it's not possible to make a straight port.
I'm hoping to get the NaNo edition of the Scrivener demo up early next week, by the way, so I'll post here to let everyone know as soon as it's up.
Thanks and all the best,
----------Keith
(Scriv dev)
Scrivener - Outline. Edit. Storyboard. Write.
Follow us on Twitter or Facebook for our Tip of the Day and Scrivener news.
32,713 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2009 - 02 58
StorYBook vs. yWriter5: I played around with both. While StorYBook is more colorful and a bit easier to plan the novel and track characters, it is *only* for planning and organization - you can't open a window to add or edit text.
yWriter5 lets you type in text, import and edit other text files, and export your book (or just the storyboard, or scene titles, etc.) as a single .rtf file.
Not being a Mac user, I can't say how they compare to Scrivener. :-(
----------Follow me on Twitter as @TonyNoland and at my writing blog: www.TonyNoland.com. There, see how easy that was?
30,532 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2009 - 05 10
I was just looking at the Scrivener website to assess the learning curve required and whether I needed to modify my system when I saw that links with the iPhone. Wow! How can I not try Scrivener out now? I always have my phone with me and jot down thoughts as I go about my day. Usually I re-type them into whatever system I am using (Word or old fashioned handwriting). It seems now that I could just beam it straight into Scrivener - that is just cool!
30,013 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2009 - 05 55
Something exclusive for Macs, that people seem to love (from the comments here), that looks good and gives an extended free trial and 50% off if you win?
How can I not try it? ;-)
Thanks for such a generous offer, Keith!
----------BFS goals - http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/1075131
27,447 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2009 - 09 40
I can't WAIT to try out this program. I'd love to check out the trial now, but the NaNo trial isn't available yet -- if I were to download the regular 30 day trial just to check out its features, would I still be able to download and use the NaNo trial?
----------2009: The Circumstances of Kenneth Valerie
2008: The Rabbit Effect
2007: Megrez
2006: The Indecent Career of Anchises Tanille
2005: Tomato Soup
11,500 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2009 - 10 48
I'm very interested in give Scrivener a try, but the link to the special NaNoWriMo offer page does not work. Is it too early in October? Did it crash?
Thank you for developing for Macs, and for accommodating the wrimos!
0 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2009 - 11 33
Hi,
Yes, the link isn't up yet - it will be going up early next week. But yes, you can download the regular trial until then, if you want. The regular trial gives you thirty days of actual use, meaning that if you use it one day and then don't open it for another week, only one day will be gone from the trial. The NaNo trial with just cut off in December. But because the two trial versions - although otherwise the same - won't use the same demo period, what this means is that you could download the regular trial now and use it for a few days, then download the NaNo trial when it becomes available later this week, use that until the end of November, and then - if you're still not sure - you could use up the remaining days on the regular trial. Hope that makes sense!
The NaNo trial should be up by Wednesday at the latest.
Thanks for the interest and all the best,
----------Keith
Scrivener - Outline. Edit. Storyboard. Write.
Follow us on Twitter or Facebook for our Tip of the Day and Scrivener news.