[Scrivener] 1. Scrivener Introduction and review. The most popular writing software. In use for over 5 years.

Introducing Scrivener !

An overview and introduction of Scrivener as a whole app!

스크리브너(Scrivener)를 소개합니다! 이렇게 소개한다고 말하면 무슨 새로 나온 물건 같지만 이미 외국에서는 아주 유명한 글쓰기 앱입니다. 아마 우리나라에서도 맥이나 iOS 유저분들은 이미 많은 분들이 쓰고 계실 것 같습니다. 물론 윈도우 버전도 있고 안드로이드 버전도 개발 중인 것으로 알고 있습니다. 다만 윈도우 버전은 개발상의 문제인지 맥 버전과 비교했을 때 업데이트 차이가 좀 많이 났었습니다. 제가 이 리뷰를 처음 쓸 당시에는 PC버전이 좀 많이 좋지 않았지만 어느새 3 윈도우 버전이 나오고 많이 괜찮아졌습니다. 아니, 요즘은 오히려 맥 버전이 업데이트가 뜸하더라고요.

Table of Contents

• Introducing Scrivener !
  • • An overview and introduction of Scrivener as a whole app!
  • Scrivener has its own unique concept.
    • The concept is so unique that you may regret buying it if you don’t know what you’re getting into.
  • The app offers a lot of freedom, but also a lot of hassle.
    • In fact, there’s probably a reason why so few apps have this concept…
  • Scrivener is an excellent software for writing long documents.
  • The downside of Scrivener is that there are many substitutes and it is difficult to use.
    • The overall concept differs in many ways from today’s software.
  • I recommend that you try out Scrivener and purchase it yourself.
    • If you just buy it, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll become a nuisance…

Scrivener has its own unique concept.

The concept is so unique that you may regret buying it if you don’t know what you’re getting into.

저는 아이패드와 윈도우 버전으로 스크리브너를 제법 오래 사용하고 있지만 지금까지도 고민하고 있는 것이 바로 이 앱의 컨셉에 대한 것입니다. 즉 ‘왜 스크리브너를 써야 하는가?‘를 고민하고 있습니다. 스크리브너는 한글, MS 워드, 구글 문서, 에버노트, 원노트, 노션 등과는 다른 고유의 컨셉이 있습니다. 앞의 소프트웨어들은 문서를 작성하고, 그 문서를 저장하고, 그 저장된 문서를 어느 폴더나 클라우드 등에 모으고 정리하는 식으로 사용을 할 것입니다.

But Scrivener is a little different. The app first creates a project. In this project, you can store not only text but also reference materials and settings related to the text. The app can open PDF files in the document, not just attach images. With a novel, for example, you can create separate documents within the project for parts 1, 2, and 3 of the novel, separate documents for the main character or setting of the novel, or even a collection of references.

In addition, by compiling, all of the above documents and data can be combined into one document file. When you print a document that was separate from the novel, Episode 1, Episode 2, and Episode 3, you can print them together as one. So, if you open the screener file in the Windows version, there is a folder. On Mac, the file is one, but this is probably because the systems of Mac and Windows are different. The good thing about Mac is that it’s more secure, but the bad thing is that it limits what you can do, so it’s treated as if it’s a single file because of the file types supported on Mac, but on Windows it’s a folder because the system is different.

The app offers a lot of freedom, but also a lot of hassle.

In fact, there’s probably a reason why so few apps have this concept…

It’s a pretty novel concept when you look at it this way. But the part I kept thinking about was the “why”. Because even if it’s not necessarily MS Word, Evernote or OneNote is enough to manage your documents, and the features are not inferior at all. And Scrivener is a fairly heavy program in the Windows version, but I don’t feel slow at all while using the previous softwares. And Scrivener can also be synchronized via Dropbox, etc. But for synchronization, there is no other app like Evernote. I know a novelist who just uses Hangul(Korean Word Processor) when he works, and when I ask foreign novelists what programs they use, many of them don’t even use a scrivener. It literally feels like using things that suit their tastes.

I use not only Scrivener, but also Evernote and OneNote. To be honest, I don’t really feel like Scrivener suits me either. So, at first, I regretted it a little after purchasing it. However, I understood the concept of Scrivener by looking at foreign blogs and saw a lot of how-to guides, so I decided to give it a try. Now let’s start writing about the pros and cons of sifters.

Scrivener is an excellent software for writing long documents.

One of the benefits of a scrivener is the compilation capabilities mentioned above. If you’re writing a novel in MS Word, unless you’re writing it in one big chunk, you’re naturally going to have a lot of files for chapters or episodes, and the Scrivener is that those files are in one big project, so it’s easy to manage, and you can compile them into one long article. In Korea, when writing a web novel, it is common to publish it serially on Naver web novel and Kakao series(Korean Web Novel Site), so this point is not highlighted, but in many countries, it seems that there are many people who aim to make their own e-book and publish it on Amazon or Apple books. And I thought it was very suitable for making this compiling e-book.

When compiling, of course, you can’t just do it in random order. That’s why Scrivener makes it convenient to manage and organize the files within a project. We can make document management very easy by allowing you to describe or tag documents, and by making them visible in different ways, like cardboard. Personally, I think this part is better than other softwares. I think it’s a pretty good feature when writing not only novels but also scenarios and papers. I mentioned novels as an example earlier, but Scrivener is a very good program when you want to write anything long.

Another feature of Scrivener is its templates . Templates are commonly used in MS Word or PowerPoint, but there is a reason why I emphasized them as a feature of Scrivener. Usually, when we think of templates, we think of a template for a letter, a template for a presentation, or something like that, but Scrivener, as I described above, is the entire writing process in a single file, so a template is a kind of standardization of that entire process. It’s a bit difficult to use only words, but you can think of it as standardized so that you can work comfortably.

Many bloggers and writers use Scrivener. When I read how they use it, I think it’s really professional. Create a separate template as described above, classify the writings you have written by time, genre, etc., and put the materials you use appropriately. To be honest, it can be done with Evernote, etc., but I feel that it is a little more systematic .

Also, for example, these days, novel writing softwares are equipped with various miscellaneous functions that all support. It is often convenient to view multiple documents or documents and data at once by dividing the screen. For example, when writing a paper or translating. It also supports markdown syntax, but I don’t use it, but there are many people who use it subtly. In addition to this, there are many subtle features such as concentration mode or full-screen mode, number of characters counter, dictionary (Korean dictionary was not supported, but it seems to be supported based on version 3), spelling function (English), and scenario mode. It’s just a pity that Korean language support is relatively poor.

The downside of Scrivener is that there are many substitutes and it is difficult to use.

The overall concept differs in many ways from today’s software.

So far, we have talked about the characteristics and advantages of Scrivener, but in fact, there are also quite a few regrettable points. As I wrote at the beginning of the article, the downside is that there are many alternatives. First of all, this friend is a program that costs about 40 dollars at the time I bought it, and about 50 dollars now. The iOS version costs about 20 dollars. Of course, if you pay this amount of money, you can use a full-featured program, so it can be said that it is not bad in a way. Ulysses, one of Scrivener’s biggest rivals, used to be a one-time purchase software, but these days, it has changed to a subscription system.

그 외에도 인지도가 있는 수많~은 글쓰기 소프트웨어들이 구독제로 운영되는 경우들이 많습니다. 에버노트는 무료로 어지간한 기능은 다 사용가능하며, 원노트나 구글 문서 등은 그냥 무료 프로그램입니다. 그리고 이 프로그램은 세일도 잘 하지 않습니다. 저는 40% 할인한 약 24000원에 샀었는데 이 때는 무려 10주년 기념으로 세일한 것이라서 아마 어지간하면 세일 할 일이 없다고 보시면 되겠습니다.

Another representative disappointment is that the interface is a bit difficult to get used to. Of course, this is because it has many features of its own, so if you can use it properly, it may not be a drawback. But in fact, if you don’t watch tutorials or lectures, it looks a bit messy enough to want something like this. And, of course, tutorials and lectures are very long. There is a guide made by someone in Korea based on the Mac version, but the length is quite long.

And if you’re not going to look at the guide, you’re going to have to fumble around a bit. The app lacks some usability and the main screen is a bit ugly, so it’s honestly not software that makes a good first impression. Also, I briefly mentioned it at the beginning, but it’s a little disappointing that it’s a rather heavy program. This part has improved a lot since the release of version 3, but it’s unfortunate that the concept of a scrivener is somewhat outdated by the standards of the 2020s, so in some ways, it’s even more tasteless.

I recommend that you try out Scrivener and purchase it yourself.

If you just buy it, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll become a nuisance…

It was 2017 when I bought Scrivener. Scrivener was already 10 years old software at the time. That’s why I think it was probably quite innovative software at the time when Scrivener first came out, but now, as I said before, there are many alternatives. So did I, to be honest, I thought it was worse than I thought at first. However, as mentioned above, there are definitely people who are suitable for Scrivener, such as those who make e-books, those who write very long articles such as papers, or those who write articles with a project-like nature. Fortunately, there is a demo version of Scrivener, so if you are interested in Scrivener, we recommend that you try it for a while before purchasing it .

이 정도면 스크리브너에 대한 기본적인 설명들은 다 한 것 같습니다. 다음에는 제가 소유하고 있는 스크리브너 윈도우 버전과 iOS 버전 리뷰를 작성 완료했습니다.. 그리고 글 맨 처음에 적었듯 3 윈도우 버전도 리뷰를 적었습니다. 그리고 지금은 제가 나름 맥북도 구매한 상태라서 MacOS에서도 사용은 했봤습니다. 이에 대한 리뷰도 시간 되는 대로 적어보고자 합니다.