[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

Hitch, on Scrivener, Word does not have the same structural capability.

Stuff like adding notes and tags to scenes, separate from all-document notes and tags. Word's outline capability is not nearly as visual as Scivener's, with the ability to add colors and status words to each block of text (normally scenes but you can subdivide at whatever level you prefer).

Howdy! I absolutely agree that you can't "tag" Word outline features, or paragraphs, or anything else. I would never suggest differently. I would proffer that being able to use comments, for notes, is similar, although, again, the ability to see them EASILY, at a glance, is not the same (although the reviewing pane is not dissimilar, either, in Word). Ditto Status "words," as in Draft, Done, etc. You're 100% right.

Also Scrivener allows one file to maintain resource sub-information much more easily, and separately assemble your text document, than inserting it into one Word file. Same for document snapshots, backing up your work to explore different revisions. Sure you can do that manually in Word but it is a built-in for Scrivener.

Well...to me, the sub-resource information "folders" are simply convenience, rather than anything special. I feel that there's not really any difference between keeping a folder on a computer, versus keeping the folders at the "bottom" of the Scrivener file list. But, again, I absolutely understand why some folks like it. It's convenient.

Also, vis-a-vis assembling/Word, I'd say that using Master Documents would solve a LOT of authors' issues, if they are building a massive story/storyworld, and are working one chapter at a time. (This may be me, just being cranky. Despite the fact that we're very clear that we're not a concatenation service, I've lost track, recently, of the number of "books" that have come in, in pieces. Chapte
rs, sections--you name it. We've had one file with hundreds of chapters/sections, and 500 images, that we apparently were expected to concatenate, just to QUOTE it.)

I admit I don't understand why folks can't just learn to use the tool (word-processors).

I agree that the snapshot feature in Scrivener is likely handy, if people really do have multiple revisions and want to see earlier versions. That's not a way I work, so...can't speak to that.

Working purely in Windows I prefer a combination of Word and OneNote, which still doesn't have the easy one-file approach of Scrivener. Scrivener for Mac is better than the other combinations I've tried in OSX (Circus Ponies Notebook, Growley Notes, and OneNote for Mac). The latest MS Office365 for Mac is weak, after all their improvements. Even that combination doesn't have the character or story hand-holding that some of your preferred applications provide.

I think you're downplaying some of Scrivener's abilities but I can understand how it isn't everyone's cup of tea.

I don't dislike Scrivener. It's just that the features it does have aren't quite what I need/want. I think, in viewing it, that it's mostly a visual-person versus a word-person difference. Most creatives tend to be heavily visual. Scrivener definitely caters to that.

As I said, I infinitely prefer YWriter for most of the actual writing, even over Word. As I'd mentioned previously, I do/did like Scrivener for simply outlining, in conjunction with Snowflake Pro (for character development) and YWriter for actual writing, as I like to track things in my scenes that maybe other folks don't care about, or do in their heads, or use tags for in Scrivener, or, or or. I'm big on structure, both for the overall story/book, and within each scene, along with keeping track of conflicts, goals, yadda. And, timelining, for which I think that YWriter is really the bee's knees. Plus being able to easily output scenes by character, by POV character, etc. It's a grossly overlooked little program, just because it's not very sexy-looking.

To be clear: I don't want the "story hand-holding," per se; I simply want the ability to put various story stages in my outline, so I can see it clearly. For me, it's not a writing tool; it's an outlining tool. (I'm an outliner to the nth. It's just how I am.) I don't actually want someone else's ideas about structure, not even Campbell; I like my own. I simply want to be able to see them.

At least in Word, if I chose, I could use a header level to indicate something like the "PNR," or whatever, and color it however I wanted, for ease of finding, and filter the Outline to see to that level. I find that using the Word built-in outlining feature works pretty well for multi-dimensional outlines (say, Act, Chapters, Scenes, and for me, goalposts/milestones for the story itself). That's the ONE thing I don't really like about YWriter, and what set me off on this quest for something else.

And yes, so far, I'm rather liking PowerStructure, because it lets me see all those things at once. To me, that's helpful, more helpful than the Scrivener Corkboard. However, again, I understand completely that more-visual folks might like the Corkboard better. I'm more of a word person, as opposed to a picture/visual person (more left-brain than right, by far). So, something like YW5 or the left-hand-pane in Scrivener (as opposed to the Corkboard, I mean) or Power-Structure works BETTER for me than index cards. Same process, effectively--different visual stimuli. See what I mean? My friend and colleague Holly Lisle is a devotee of Scrivener and Index cards; I can hardly deal with index cards, real or virtual. I like to see my structure in an old-school outline. Boring, I know, but what can I say?

That doesn't mean that Scrivener isn't a great program. It's not a great program, all by itself, for ME. I get that the "one-stop shop" features of Scrivener, and its price, and the fact that it's pretty, make it a very attractive and popular piece of software. I don't mean to "diss" it. I'm just talking about the features that I want/need/desire/wishlist, in this thread. And I'm glad I did--I would never have stumbled across Power Structure without it. Someone else may find/love Writer's Blocks. {shrug}. As I said some posts ago, whatever gets you to the finish line is what matters, IMHO. (Still think that LSBXE is utter crapola, though.)

Hitch