Folks have mentioned using the writing app Scrivener, or asked others whether they should use it, on and off over the years in this forum. It now has a podcast, where they talk to a range of writers from different sectors, and ask them about their writing in general, and then about how they use Scrivener specifically in the second half. At half an hour a pop, it’s pretty good, whether you use Scrivener or not.
Podcast:
Scrivener overview:
I am currently using Scrivener to organise my WIP.
What am I doing: I’m programming in Inform 7. I don’t write any code in Scrivener. What I do in Scrivener is have a ton of cards and folders with ideas and unused dialogue. I also collect history and backstory there, so I don’t forget things about the world I’ve made. I use its corkboard feature to track / arrange the game’s chapters. I’m also making it a bit of a central repository, so if I have an email conversation about something to do with the game, I’ll move it into Scrivener so I can get to it in one click, or find it with a global search within one app.
I also use the app as a straight up word processor sometimes when working out conversations. When I just want to write dialogue and am constantly editing it, this is easier than working in the IDE. Once it’s in some kind of form, then I translate it into Inform 7-ese over in my project.
So I’d say gradually, it’s become a fundament of this project. But this is a very large project.
Anyway, the podcast is pretty good.
I’m aware that Scrivener has always suffered a bit from a ‘How exactly should I use it?’ question. That question remained with me for awhile until I tried using it for this project, and worked out how I would use it with this project. There are whole elements of it I’m not using at all, but that’s okay. I might not need them, or might later find I do. In this way it reminds me of a giant music software like Apple’s Logic. There’s a mountain of tools in there, and not everyone needs them all. I’m almost never recording live instruments or takes; I’m notating and tweaking by hand. Others are the opposite: They use Logic to record bands, and never touch the piano roll or synths.
-Wade