Carl Hackman

Author of Gerald and the Amulet of Zonrach.

I’m a long time user of MS Word and wrote my first novel using that software. I have also edited my second novel with Word. When I signed the publishing contract for my debut novel, Gerald and the Amulet of Zonrach, I treated myself to Scrivener and I wish I had made the change a long time ago.

I have since reedited Jaguar, in Scrivener, which needed a lot of research to make it authentic. I love the fact that I can drag PDFs into Scrivener so that I don’t have to keep switching applications just to clarify a fact. The double pane format is a boon to me and it has become even more important with my third novel, Wilfred. I had to do a lot of research for the setting for this novel as it is set in Anglo Saxon, England during the 8th century. The only way I could create a realistic setting for my character was to put all my research in one place and Scrivener has made it very easy. I also had to create a lot of characters who needed realistic Saxon names. There again Scrivener made it easy for me. I never lose track of a character and have to wade through the MS to refresh my memory about features. I am currently writing the first draft of the next in the Gerald series in Scrivener.

All in all this is a fantastic tool if used in the way it was designed. It is perfect for writing those drafts required to get the MS ready for submission. Don’t forget you can also add a text document in there for your query and your synopsis, there is no need to have several Word documents open anymore. You don’t even have to export it to Word anymore as most agents and publishers want the query, synopsis and first few chapters pasted into the body of the email. Just copy and paste from Scrivener and you are good to go.