[Hitch]

Update to my previous post:

So...I've spent a week or so working with Scrivener. After a lot of thought--and trust me, I hate to say this--I don't find that a) the blank-screen character "clips" (I forget what the Scrivener term is) really works for me, so I'm sticking with Snowflake Pro for that. And, while it's nice for outlining, I think I'll stick with YW5, all-in.

There are some things I like about Scrivener, but I still like YWriter, overall, for real serious writing. Scrivener's prettier. No two ways about it. But it lacks a BOATLOAD of the functionality and usability of YWriter. For example, YWriter automatically allows you to show goals and conflict (in a synopsis-like mechanism) for each scene, which you have no way of doing in Scrivener, unless you come up with some tagging mechanism. You can mark a scene as plot or subplot; as reaction or action (and based upon that, the characterization for each scene's conflict is altered as well--Goal, Conflict, Outcome if you mark it as an action scene; Reaction, Dilemma, Choice if you indicate that it's a reaction to the prior scene/event). As I previously mentioned, you can then identify which charcters are in the scene; what time the scene takes place, and the timelining is done for you automatically.

You can set your POV, and rate the scene individually, for humor, tension, quality and relevance. NONE of this is doable in Scrivener without a lot of tweaking and tagging and notes. Granted--a lot of pantsers will find this overly anal-retentive, and I wouldn't disagree, but it's a way of crafting that agrees with me.

What I do like about Scrivener is, if you're OCD like me, you can use almost-unlimited levels of outlining. This allows me to indicate story structure, inside of acts, more easily, visually. So that I can indicate that I'm in Act II, and I've reached the spot where X should start to occur, (for example, the big setback in Act II), and THEN outline from that point, at yet another level of indentation, with a chapter/scene. Using that level of detail helps me make sure I don't get lost in the story instead of keeping the plot moving along.

So...after all this back-forth, as much as I hate to add yet another level of stuff to what I'm doing, I'm going to finish my outline (I'm a big-time outliner; my outline takes forever to do, right up there with my character development and backstory) in Scrivener. It's visually easier. I think it's a really good outlining tool.

But then I'm going to put the entire outline into YWriter, and use that for the actual writing. There's simply no comparison between the two, if you write like I do. Yes, Scrivener has some nice features for research, like keeping images and the like; but in terms of the mechanics of writing, I really think that YWriter is simply superior. I wish I could get Simon to add the levels of indentation for visual purposes--with that alone, I'd chuck Scrivener. It's okay, and it obviously works for a lot of people, but it doesn't suit me for writing the final product.

Offered FWIW, for anyone else who might be a bit OCD, and is seeking the "best" writing product. So, now I have FIVE things (although fortunately, LSB is finally going the way of the dodo, as Scrivener basically does everything I was using LSB for, which is the more-extended, detailed outlining.) So, I'll end up with Snowflake Pro and Scrivener for the advance work, and YWriter for the actual writing. It's a lot of damn software, but...until someone comes up with something that has everything that Scrivener AND YWriter bring to the party, (I'd drool for something that combined all three), that seems to be the best option for me. Not for everyone, fersure, but for me, that's how I view it.

Hitch