How successfully can Scrivener facilitate the productivity of a self-confessed procrastinator
By Emily Foundalis
I told a writer friend a while back that the beginnings of a short story collection were forming in my mind, but I postponed starting it because I’d experienced burnout with my last failed project. ‘You should try Scrivener,’ he said to me, explaining that it’s a word-processing program dedicated to longer projects. So, I bought the program, but I wanted to know if Scrivener could successfully motivate my procrastinating self to transform this green project from a mere idea to something concrete.
Things were off to a shaky start with the interactive tutorial. Both the anticipated learning curve and the program’s suggested tutorial length (advertised as a little over an hour, so that would translate to two hours for me) created enough dread that I avoided the program for two solid weeks post-purchase. However, I soon realised that my initial trepidation was unfounded, even though the tutorial did take close to two hours.
While the tutorial could have benefited from more screen grabs of the tools it was alluding to, the interface itself was reasonably straightforward and painless. Here are the features I utilised for my collection thus far...
This review is an excerpt. To read the full piece, pick up a copy of the October 2022 print version of Ellipses for free at either the RMIT Student Union in Building 8 on Swanston St or the lobby of Building 94 on Cardigan St.
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