The Pros and Cons of Scrivener as a Screenwriting Software

You might have heard authors talking about Scrivener on forum websites or Facebook groups, and you might be on the fence thinking whether it is appropriate for you a not.

Or perhaps this might be the first time when you are hearing about it. In any case, we will give you a comprehensive overview of everything you should know about the program so you can choose for yourself if it’s ideal for you or not.

What Is Scrivener?

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Scrivener is essentially a word processing tool made by Literary Latte. It was created in 2007 and has since been used by the writing community, which gave it an overwhelming response.

It was created specifically for writers who want to work on longer projects. The creators were searching for an approach to make it simpler for authors to explore and sort out their lengthy writing ventures.

The exceptional features and its design made it well-known, particularly in independent-publishing circles that create their own Final Draft.

Scrivener’s Pros

Here is a list of some of the pros of scrivener as a screenwriting software:

Easy Organization

Regardless of whether you’re writing fiction or a non-fiction novel, Scrivener assists you in arranging your work and research all in a single place.

You have the option to create folders in your documents where you can store your research files, assets, character studies, etc. All your data can be viewed in the same window you’re writing in, making the workflow really smooth.

Division Into Various Sections

Work on your book one section at a time and maintain a strategic distance from the anxiety of working on an entire book at one time. Scrivener permits you to make a new section for each thought, scene, or section in your book.

Separating your book into smaller chunks makes writing very easy to manage. You can undoubtedly go back to a part without looking through several pages.

The corkboard view mimics the appearance of index cards on a corkboard. You can utilize this feature to envision scenes, compose chapter outlines and get an overall vibe of how your book is looking.

You can even assign color codes to your index cards so you can effortlessly identify them by just taking a glance.

Formatting Templates

Scrivener has several formatting templates for various kinds of projects. Choose which project you’re working on and pick the best template. You also have choices like a novel with parts, screenplay, subheads, research proposition, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

Goal Setting

You can set daily writing goals in this software to help you stay right on your target. You can also simply keep an eye over your daily word count alongside the absolute word in your document.

Support For Multiple Formats

One reason why Scrivener is so versatile is that when you’ve finished writing, you can save your book in various formats like PDF, Microsoft Word Doc, ePUBs, or MOBI.

Ability To View Two Documents Simultaneously

Scrivener’s incredibly useful toggle split feature allows you to open a chapter that you are working on along with a corresponding research/character/picture in the same window. This makes the process of writing character portrayals and fact-checking very simplistic.

Consolidate Chapters Into A Document Easily

The process of copy-pasting a ton of information back and forth in a single word document and ensuring that it’s arranged accurately is a tedious task. By using Scrivener, when you are done writing various sections, you can effortlessly consolidate each of your sections into a final document.

By using the compile feature, you can create print-ready documents or save your book as a PDF if you are likely to publish it independently.

Scrivener’s Cons

Here is a list of some of the pros of scrivener as a screenwriting software:

Way Too Many Features

Numerous Scrivener users find the software to be really intimidating. It is so feature-packed that absorbing and remembering so much information can be very tough.

That being said, there are a lot of instructional videos that will teach you how to utilize the features, and you just need to learn a handful. These features will immensely be beneficial for you without going through the steep learning curve.

Limitations In The Compile Feature

If you want a “ready to publish” and an attractive document to upload to various digital book retail portals, you may need to utilize another software alongside Scrivener. The problem is that when Scrivener consolidates the data of your book, you get a very basic file. The design isn’t awful, but at the same time, it’s not very attractive either.

If you are someone who wants a perfectly formatted digital book, you’ll need to look somewhere else.

Distractive Interface

With endless features, it’s very easy to get caught up in the details, making it difficult to become involved with the creative writing process.

If you’re someone who loves to conduct intensive research and build a suitable world for your book, it will help you sort that out; however, it is also crucial to remember that you might get distracted and waste your precious time on this when you must be actually writing.

Doesn’t Work Properly With Dictation Software

In the event that you write your books utilizing dictation software, you may have issues with Scrivener. The two software don’t function properly together and tend to be glitchy.

The dictation software needs to use a different window to work within Scrivener, and when you move the content into the document, the formatting is frequently lost.

Poor Windows Support

In case you’re a MAC user, you’re safe, but Windows users will be disappointed in light of the fact that you can’t move your Scrivener documents to your smartphone or tablet if you want to work away from your computer.

Manually Enable Grammar Correction

Suppose you want to use a third-party application that helps you to correct your spelling, grammar, syntax errors. In that case, you have to manually enable them, which can be unwanted and obnoxious.

Prone To Freezing

Now and again, the program will persistently freeze when you are typing, which can be very frustrating and can disturb your writing flow. Yet, for the most part, it starts working after a restart. It requires a long time to close and open because of the huge amount of information it is backing up.