Book Review: Writing a Novel with Scrivener by David Hewson
I have been using Scrivener for Windows for nearly a year now. I first heard of the beta program through David Hewson’s blog and joined straight away to discover the best ever tool for writing. Up until a few days ago, I thought I had a fairly good grasp of how the basics worked – well, enough to have completed the first draft of my novel anyway.
However, a few days ago I bought and read David Hewson’s Writing a Novel with Scrivener and discovered that I didn’t really know much at all. So I took some time out from the second draft to implement some of David’s suggestions, and in a matter of days I fundamentally changed the way I work with Scrivener and, in effect, the way I plan, write and edit.
I restructured the Manuscript Binder, created some Collections and added various Keywords, and now I can’t believe how logically easier my work flow has become. It has enabled me to look at the novel in a totally different light.
Writing a Novel with Scrivener contains all sorts of valuable advice to help not only the newbie or inexperienced Scrivener user, but also the aspiring novelist and even the self-publisher on Kindle – and it’s all based on Hewson’s vast and practical experience of trialling different technologies to simplify his writing life.
So if you’re thinking of using Scrivener, have been using it, or are looking for a writing tool to optimise your writing techniques – then Writing a Novel with Scrivener by David Hewson is an absolute must-read and worth every penny for the tips alone.
Highly recommended!
Available from Amazon for Kindle
Also see:
David Hewson’s website: http://www.davidhewson.com/
and blog http://www.davidhewson.com/blog/
Scrivener Website: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php
Scrivener Free Trial Download: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/trial.php
Posted on February 11, 2012, in Book Reviews, Reference, Writer's Toolkit, Writing and tagged Books, David Hewson, Reviews, Scrivener, Writing, Writing a Novel with Scrivener. Bookmark the permalink. 12 Comments.
You’re certainly making a good case for Scrivener. I’m wondering if I should take the leap and trial it for Book 2. Trouble is, I’m nervous that getting used to it could distract my mind from the actual writing. Yet another displacement activity! Did you know how to use it before you started your novel or did you adopt it part of the way through?
Hi Janet! I would definitely recommend Scrivener for ALL writing projects! If you buy David Hewson’s book, then I suggest downloading a free trial of Scrivener too and having it open as you’re going through the book.
I started using Scrivener part way through my first draft when I was using Word. I imported the word doc into Scrivener and spent a little time breaking it down into scenes, using a new text file for each scene. This allows you to work on a single scene at a time, then you can move them around to develop the structure of the story. It’s such a flexible way of working and breaks the whole project down into manageable portions. You can even set yourself word count targets for each scene or writing session.
I didn’t know how to use Scrivener beforehand, but there’s a very good user manual that comes with it, and excellent help via the forums or Twitter – but I just got stuck into it and worked out a manageable way for me. However, had David’s book been available when I first started using Scrivener, it would have been an enormous help. Still, it wasn’t too late and thanks to the book, I’ve got an even better method set up now.
I’d recommend giving it a try, regardless of what stage you’re at in your writing. Hope that helps! Jan
Thanks for the review! I started using Scrivener for Windows for a new Work in Progress in December, and I’m glad I did. It’s so much easier to organize my thoughts and notes in a single program rather than go back and forth between Word and Excel. I’ll have to check out this book.
You’re welcome! I certainly underestimated how powerful the features are in Scrivener, until I read David Hewson’s book, and it seems I’m not in the minority.
Thanks for your post. I downloaded the beta version of Scrivener and am currently reading through the tutorial. I haven’t really used it properly yet, but I am impressed with it so far. I’ll check out the links.
Thank you for your visit! Good luck with the trial.
I downloaded the trial version of Scrivener and began toying with it in the fall of 2011. I initially used it for outlining, I loved the corkboard feature. I then decided to give it a try for NaNoWriMo 2011. It was the first year I finished. Attribute it to the intuitive interface, great tools or just having all your writing, characters and research in one program. I love writing in scenes and being able to drag and drop these as I need to rearrange my story is priceless. There is a free trial so why not give it a shot!
If anyone decides to buy Scrivener I was given a limited use coupon here http://smworth.blogspot.com/2012/02/scrivener-coupon-codes.html You’ll get 20% off – until it expires. Enjoy!
Thanks for dropping by, Sean – and for the pointer to the Scrivener coupon, too!
Pingback: At long last… « Of Glass & Paper
Pingback: Book Review: Writing a Novel with Scrivener | Everything Scrivener
Pingback: Scrivener: 3 Reasons You Should Use It For Your Book | Chazz Writes
Pingback: Book Review: Writing: A User Manual by David Hewson « Laydilejur: Books and Stuff…