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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Scriveners export tooling is terrible. To be blunt, its compiler is crap (I’ll die on this hill, if I have to!)
4. I prefer the ultra-minimal interface of ulysses.
5. 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.

I write, and honestly, I think I write pretty well. I’ve written five novels (all available, for free, via the ‘My Writing’ button at the top of my website.) I am specifically commenting here on AI as a writing support tool.

AI has been a hot topic for a while now among creatives, hobbyists, opinionated internet dwellers, and news outlets. There’s absolutely an AI debate going on, and as with any transformative new technology, it’ll take time to figure things out. I think it’s been so high-profile partly because—for the first time since the internet arrived—we’re seeing a tech shift that could genuinely reshape a huge number of jobs in a way that most people understand with ease. I am not in any way against talking about interesting and probably important topics such as this.

But I’m not here to sell you on how amazing AI is, how bad it is.

There’s just one thing I want to say. There’s a lot of online noise right now in writing spaces—people loudly dismissing AI’s usefulness or demonising it in ways that are, frankly, a bit silly.

Recently, I’ve been trialling the Ulysses writing app (in fact, I’m writing this very post in Ulysses.) Whenever I try a new tool, I like to poke around and read up on it. That curious mood inevitably sends me down the rabbit hole of checking out other writing tools too. Which, of course, leads me to forums. And that’s where, today, I found myself growling at my screen.

I must’ve read a dozen posts where people ask if a given writing app has “AI baked in” like that’s a dealbreaker.

Now, remember—I’m a writer. I say that not as someone who wants to write a book someday, or who calls themselves an “aspiring writer.” I’ve written books. Plural. So I speak from an actual experience of spending thousands of hours using writing tools and software.

And let me tell you: I have never—not once—seen a writing tool force AI on a user. That would be ridiculous. Most writing apps don’t even enforce spell checking! Why on earth would they force AI on you?

Yet, every one of these forum posts is followed by comment after comment from people moaning about AI and declaring that they want nothing to do with it. And hey—fair enough. I would rather not read AI-written books, or AI-edited ones, or anything AI-outlined either. I want human voices telling human stories. But…

AI is a fantastic spelling and grammar assistant. It can proofread and suggest corrections in a way that’s really no different to Grammarly, LanguageTool or ProWritingAid—but it also allows conversational feedback, and it explains the reasoning behind its suggestions. Used sensibly, it’s no worse than the proofreading tools that have been baked into Word for decades.

So let’s stop pretending that avoiding it is some kind of noble statement. Plenty of writers don’t use spelling or grammar checkers—or only use them at the very end of a draft. I respect that. What I don’t respect is when people claim that “all good writers turn off grammar tools.” That’s just nonsense.

Personally, I welcome a bit of support when I make a typo or mangle a sentence like I’ve forgotten how English works. I use ProWriting Aid, rather than Apple Intelligence, but that will likely change one day.

Most software that offers writing support will gradually start to use LLMs. ChatGPT might become a universal spell checker. Apple Intelligence might finally start doing something useful. And if you’re unwilling to coexist with these tools, you may well be making life harder for yourself. Though, I agree it’s important to do so in a way which does not erase your voice as a writer.

You don’t need to check whether a tool has AI “baked in.” Just don’t use the AI features. Turn them off.

If, for some mad reason, AI ever does become mandatory, you can always go full George R. R. Martin and fire up WordStar 4.0. No one’s coming to insert Grok into the past on you!

Use it or don’t. But please — stop shouting into forums about how evil AI is. You’re not changing anyone’s mind, and you’re just irritating the people who are actually getting on with writing.

Edit: To be clear. I am talking about using AI as an editing/writing support tool. Not people who use AI to write scenes and entire posts. screw those people.