Great for organizing papers, manuscripts, ideas, AND epic storylines!
By profession and education, Im in the sciences/public health field and so essentially, writing papers and organizing thoughts for theses or reports is essential. By nature, I am a writer and I enjoy producing intricate storylines that need constant check-ups for story, character and overall writing consistency. For the longest time, I have also been cultivating a long "epic fantasy" (or high fantasy for those who like that term better) manuscript. Since leaving behind my Sony VAIO for my MacBook, I have desperately searched for a program that would (a) handle intense word processing, (b) organizing documents for theses, references, or plain old self-made cartographic contraptions or hand-drawn diagrams, and (c) was easy to use with a smooth, seamless interface. I found that Scrivener gave me the most bang for my buck.
Things youll enjoy:
(A) Full-screen, writing-only mode, i.e. "COMPOSE" mode -- you can have a thought-provoking background image get you through the writing, OR just have a black background.
(B) Multiple templates for screenwriters, script writers, and what have you.
(C) SNAPSHOT FEATURES. This is incredible, especially if youre not sure about changing something in a particular document.
(D) QuickRef windows allow you to have your diagram/reference document open as you type away on the main screen -- no flipping between documents
(E) Extensive how-tos and help on the developer site
(F) Did I mention its got a great user interface?
Yes, it takes a little while to get a hang of the BAJILLION FUNCTIONS, but once youve settled down, its like having your editor (for epic fantasy writers out there) or your peer review group (for those who like to use it for research writing, like myself) in your room. Its got a clean, pleasant interface and it literally MAKES you want to write whatever it is youre writing. If you want a program thats got the most bang for your buck, this ones it.
Suzette Llacer about
Scrivener, v2.1