Scrivener or Microsoft Word? It’s a question every writer asks not long after learning about Literature and Latte’s fantastic novel writing application. Each tool has its advantages and disadvantages. As is the case so often with these types of questions, the answer is a solid “it depends.”
Organization
Scrivener’s strength lies in its in organizational capabilities. Its layout allows you to keep information on characters, and locations at your fingertips along with all your research. I love the ability to store entire webpages in the Scrivener project. The community has already developed a number of fantastic templates with all the folders already setup for you.
It can serve as an outlining tool as well as a writing tool. Moving scenes, or even chapters around is a breeze. If you name your scenes well, it’s simple and quick to get to the exact one you want to edit.
As an organization tool, Word can’t come close to what Scrivener gives you.
Winner: Scrivener.
Drafting
As a pure drafting tool, Scrivener’s focused mode provides a distraction free screen. The integrated tool for naming characters, including suggesting culturally appropriate names, is one of my favorites.
I find Word’s interface more familiar. Find and Replace over an entire manuscript is easier for me in Word. If I change a character’s name halfway through a draft, this is a lifesaver. Scrivener makes me do this scene by scene. Maybe there’s a way to do it over the whole manuscript, but I don’t know how.
Winner: Too close to call.
Learning curve
Most people have used Word since high school or earlier. Scrivener is a new program to learn and the learning curve is steep. I’m talking free climbing El Capitan steep. There’s a reason people like Joseph Michael can make a living selling courses to teach people how to use it. Joe is a fantastic teacher, and I recommend you check out his classes. Once mastered, Scrivener is a powerful tool, but getting there takes some time and effort, and maybe even a little training.
Winner: Word.
Formatting
In conjunction with the learning curve, formatting is trickier in Scrivener than Word. Agents, publishers, and contests have specific and stringent formatting requirements. You mess those up and you could get rejected before they read your first word.
Winner: Word.
Communication
You’re going to have to export your Scrivener document to a PDF or Word format to submit it to a publisher or a contest, or even to share it with a critique partner. Once you get it back, you’ll have to manually make those updates in Scrivener. This isn’t all that difficult when working with critique partners, but it can make a big difference when working with editors.
Most line editors and proofreaders use Microsoft Word’s Track Change feature. It’s a laborious process to update each little comma they fixed in your Scrivener project. You’re going to miss some which hurts the value of the edit you paid for. In Word, you hit “Accept Changes” and get onto the more important edits.
You’re going to wind up in a Word doc at the end. You might want to do whole thing in Word.
Winner: Word.
Extensibility
Custom tools like ProWritingAid take advantage of Word’s built in extensibility. What this means for you is those tools work seamlessly with Word. To get them to work with Scrivener, you have to jump through some hoops like I detail in this post.
Dropbox is another common tool for writers. In the past, I’ve had experiences where Scrivener and Dropbox didn’t get along well. I’ve lost work from it, and, as a writer, a moment like that stays with you for a long, long time. I’ve never had a single problem with Word and Dropbox.
Winner: Word.
Other contenders
There are a number of other tools like Google Docs, Novlr, and Open Office. All of them have their advantages. Google Docs and Novlr have the seamless Cloud integration, although now with Office 365 and OneDrive, Word has that as well. You can’t beat Open Office and Google Docs for the price ($0).
I don’t use any of those applications enough to give them a thorough inclusion here.
Mac or PC
My experience is with Word and Scrivener on a Windows PC. The Mac version of Scrivener has some additional features that Windows version lacks. The Mac version also gets updated faster and more frequently than the Windows version.
Scrivener originated on Mac. Word originated on the PC. They both show their roots.
Conclusion
Scrivener versus Microsoft Word is one of the more popular questions writers ask themselves. It can be a false dichotomy. It’s about using the right tool for the right job.
Take advantage of Scriver’s unbeatable organizational prowess in the early stages of your novel. For that alone, the license cost is worth it. Once you’re at the point where you want to share your work with critique partners, editors, contests, or agents, export it in Word and stay there.
Featured Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net