Scrivener

John Degen, author and head of The Writers’ Union of Canada, wrote his latest novel, Seldom Seen Road, entirely on his iPhone using Scrivener, utilizing daily commutes to maintain a consistent writing routine. The novel features a detective trio set against the vast wilderness of northern Canada, where the landscape acts as both a character and an omnipresent threat, reflecting Degen’s deep connection to his environment and interests like birding. He also addresses issues of authors’ rights amid AI training data concerns and plans to create a writing shed to further separate his imaginative work from daily life.

https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/write-now-with-scrivener-episode-no-66-john-degen-author-and-head-of-the-writers-union-of-canada

Scrivener allows users to export and import various customization options—including appearance themes, project templates, styles, compile formats, and global settings—to maintain consistent setups across multiple computers or share with collaborators. While themes, templates, compile formats, and global settings can be saved as files for easy transfer, styles require importing from an existing project. This functionality enables writers to preserve tailored workflows, project structures, and formatting preferences within their creative process.

https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/how-to-import-and-export-scrivener-customizations

Writer Kirk McElhearn emphasizes that creativity benefits from allowing ideas to incubate rather than solely focusing on productivity. He describes how taking breaks before and after drafting fosters subconscious processing, leading to clearer insights and easier revisions, a process echoed by novelists like George Simenon and Stephen King, who recommend intervals between drafting and editing to enhance creativity and problem-solving within stories.

https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/how-incubation-can-improve-creativity

Scrivener supports spell checking in multiple languages by leveraging macOS’s automatic language detection or allowing manual dictionary selection on Windows. Users can download additional dictionaries for both platforms and add custom words to personal word lists to improve spell check accuracy, especially for specialized vocabulary or fictional terms. Instructions for managing these settings and dictionaries differ between Mac and Windows but ensure comprehensive spelling support for multilingual writing projects.

https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/how-to-use-different-languages-for-dictionaries-and-spell-check-in-scrivener

Lancali, the pen name of Lou-Andrea Callewaert, authored the novel I Fell in Love with Hope, which explores adolescent experiences with chronic illness and emphasizes the importance of friendship over romantic love. Drawing on her own experience with an autoimmune disease, she chose to focus on the emotional realities of illness without typical romantic tropes, using tools like Scrivener to organize her writing chaos and appreciated the software’s stance against AI integration.

https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/write-now-with-scrivener-episode-no-65-lancali-author-of-i-fell-in-love-with-hope

Scrivener allows users to change its interface language independently from their computer’s operating system language on both Mac and Windows. On Mac, users can adjust the language for Scrivener specifically via System Settings under Language & Region without altering the overall macOS language, while on Windows, the option is available through Scrivener’s own preferences in the Options menu. This flexibility supports multilingual writers who want to maintain different language settings for their OS and writing software.

https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/how-to-change-scriveners-interface-language

Scrivener’s tables offer flexible options for presenting and organizing data within writing projects, useful not only for nonfiction but also for tasks like worldbuilding, character management, and tracking story elements in fiction. Users can insert, format, and edit tables with various tools, including adding rows or columns, adjusting alignment, and customizing styles, while compiled projects preserve tables as formatted or allow combining adjacent tables with matching columns. These features help writers keep research, notes, and drafting details integrated and accessible within their Scrivener projects.

https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/how-to-use-tables-in-scrivener-projects

Scrivener’s compile feature allows writers to export their projects in various formats, with customizable compile formats enabling precise control over the final document layout. Users can create or duplicate compile formats, then adjust numerous settings such as section layouts, styles, separators, and file-specific options like CSS for ePubs or PDF configurations, tailoring the output to their specific needs. Testing and iterative refinement within the Compile Format editor help ensure the exported file meets the desired standards, especially useful for generating custom-designed ebooks or print-ready PDFs.

https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/create-custom-scrivener-compile-formats

Scrivener’s Find by Formatting feature enhances editing by allowing users to search for text based on specific formatting types such as highlights, comments, revision colors, styles, and more. Accessible via the Edit menu, keyboard shortcuts, or the toolbar, this tool is especially useful during the revision stage to locate and manage annotations, changes, or color-coded text across a project. By enabling writers to quickly navigate formatted text, this feature supports an organized and efficient revision workflow.

https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/use-scriveners-find-by-formatting-feature-to-find-highlights-comments-colored-text-and-more