Scrivener is spectacular. It’s outstanding. It is, probably, the best all-in-one writing environment out there. I have written at length about it over the years. I respect the application, the business model and the legendary developer who works on it. I love scrivener.
Though, I don’t use Scrivener.
I know, shocking. And usually not something interesting to talk about; however, I have today seen a reddit post which vexed me, and, as such, required me to write a response. Not on reddit because I try not go get involved over there, the response in question, you are reading, right now.
I also, don’t link externally from here because, well, why would I send you to that hellscape? — Anyway, the post was just a couple of paragraphs which basically said ‘I like Scrivener, but I spent too much time tinkering, and then I can’t find anything.’ This is a reasonable thing to say. But, do you know what the comments said? Can you guess?
‘You are the problem.’
‘Skill issue.’
‘Learn to use the application.’
‘Maybe you are not good enough of a writer for Scrivener’
Again, I am paraphrasing, but you get the idea. People didn’t like that this person didn’t get along with Scrivener.
As I said, I love Scrivener and often recommend it to people who don’t enjoy the flat/linear workflow of traditional work processors. I understand it, I learned it. But, I don’t use it.
The reason I’m ranting here, a little, as well as retreading old ground is because I firmly believe that all these people making comments to our original poster, as described above, are all arse hats.
It is, perfectly valid to say, “I like this tool, this tool is good, but it does not suit my needs/workflow as well as this other tool.”
For instance, I accept that Scrivener is ‘dope’ as we said in the nineties. Or ‘Goated’ as they say in the modern parlance. However, I still use Ulysses instead.
Personally, my reasons are probably a little simpler than the reddit poster but just as valid.
- I like to switch between iPad and Mac, and despite the claims made by Scrivener mobile, it’s not as seamless as Ulysses, which just uses iCloud, and it works like magic.
- I don’t use the notes or research features in Scrivener, I prefer Apple Notes. The reason is that I can edit small ideas on my phone with ease in a format I am familiar with.
- Scriveners export tooling is terrible. To be blunt, its compiler is crap (I’ll die on this hill, if I have to!)
- I prefer the ultra-minimal interface of ulysses.
- Ulysses has built in proofing tools (LanguageTool premium is baked into it)
Now, I realise that to the hard-core Scrivener user/fan/nutter this seems mad because I could just use Scrivener and apple notes _and then _export to Vellum for my final compilation.
But, at that point Scrivener makes up such a small part of the workflow, why not use something i prefer anyway?
The argument is that Scrivener is a one-time payment, whereas ulysses is a subscription. Yes. And, I agree that subscriptions are the worst way of paying for a product, but I do use it every day. Heck, I wrote this very post in Ulysses then exported it to the website (Micro.blog based) with a single click. Unlike Scrivener, Ulysses gets regular update and additional features. Not that Scrivener needs more features, but the point stands.
Anyway, not I have defended my original case, I have to tackle the issue I wanted to moan about.
Do not ever assume someone is less skilled than you just because they prefer different tools.
If you assume someone is ‘wrong’ or simply under educated because they don’t use Scrivener, when you are saying that every writer in history who chose to ‘just use Word’ is incorrect. Be sure to let them know the next time they are doing a reddit AMA. I doubt Brandon Sanderson want’s to learn scrivener after making millions of dollars using Word and wikid-pad. Will Stephen King switch? Will George RR Martin move away from whatever archaic DOS based madness he uses just because reddit thinks Scrivener is best? No.
The art is in the words, not the work. The work is in time spent writing. No one ever got a Nebula for having a really nice Scrivener setup.