Shawn P. B. Robinson

A while back I wrote a blog exploring the benefits of yWriter and Scrivener (along with some other writing software). Both these programs are excellent tools for writing. You can check out that blog here.

Before we dive in, let me say this first: I love both these programs. I’ve used them both a fair amount (yWriter more) and they have been very helpful!

I have, however, found this difference: Scrivener seems to be better for writing novels and yWriter works extremely well for writing blogs.

Scrivener and Novel Writing

The benefit to Scrivener is the HUGE amount of features. I will admit, I have not used them all. In fact, I have barely scratched the surface. Scrivener has so many features that you have to work hard to learn them all and there are even courses you can buy to enable yourself to make full use of Scrivener. It has a massive amount of features!

Fortunately, it is also very simple to get yourself up and running with it (if you aren’t trying to use every possible feature). There is a little guide that comes with Scrivener and I recommend you wander through it first thing.

To me, Scrivener’s layout is perfect for writing fiction. You can skip around to a scene in a chapter and scroll through your writing. You can start typing immediately in the text window on the right hand side of the screen which is great. It is both simple to use and looks great. The way it is laid out, you can simply move around and add/edit your text without having to open a separate window (like yWriter).

When you start, you can lay out your outline, chapter by chapter. Scrivener’s layout keeps things organized and you can move scenes and even chapters around as you adjust your story.

If you’re writing a novel, go grab a copy of Scrivener. It runs at $45 a copy for version 3 with Mac or version 1 with Windows at the time of this blog (the Windows version currently comes with a free upgrade to version three when it comes out sometime in 2018).

If you’re going to grab it, google Scrivener coupon codes. You can typically find a code for 15-25% off. You can also often get a coupon code with NaNoWriMo for 50% off, but you kind of have to write a novel in 30 days to get one of those codes and NaNoWriMo doesn’t take place till November.

If you’re writing a novel, go get yourself a copy. It’s worth the investment.

yWriter and Blogging

While I use Scrivener for writing stories, I use yWriter for my Blogging. I write all my blogs in yWriter and then post them from there. You can certainly use Scrivener for blogging, but I find that the layout of yWriter works extremely well for blogs.
Since I’m blogging about Self-Publishing, my topics are often split up into categories such as Writing, Editing, Publishing, Marketing, etc. These I treat as chapters in yWriter.

When you set up a chapter in yWriter, you can then set up scenes for each chapter. This is, of course, similar to Scrivener, but the difference is in the way the screen is laid out. Each chapter becomes a separate section and each scene (listed in a separate window) can then be treated as its own document. To edit a scene in a chapter, you actually have to open a separate window in yWriter (one of the reasons it’s so great for blogging).

I, personally, find this very helpful for organizing my blog posts.

While Scrivener treats the book all as one file, just separated into chapters and scenes, yWriter treats each chapter as a separate section (almost like a separate book) and each scene functions as its own document. Because of this, Scrivener flows so well for Novel writing where you want flow, but yWriter works beautifully for blogging where you want separation.
As you write a blog, you will typically have your topics broken up into categories. You also want each blog to be treated as its own file. yWriter naturally does that very thing.

For example, I have a section set up for all my blogs on the Publishing topic (called a “chapter” by yWriter). Within the Publishing chapter, I have 27 blogs (7 of which are posted, 5 are at varying levels of completion, the rest are ideas or plans). I find the blog (scene) I want to work on, double click on it and it pops up in a window for me to edit.

When I want to switch my focus to another blog topic, such as “Editing,” I head over to the “Editing” section where it neatly lists the 13 blogs I have laid out under that topic. In that topic (chapter), I have 9 blogs posted at the point of writing this blog and 4 partially written blogs.

One of the downsides to yWriter is that it does not have a great spellchecker. Since it works so well for me for blogging, I put up with that. When I am ready to post, I copy the blog post over to MS Word quickly and run a spellchecker there. It catches a lot of the problems and away we go!

One of the other benefits of yWriter is that it is free. There is an option to register your product. This costs a bit of money and is for the purpose of supporting the author. I’ve done this and I encourage you to do this as well if you find the software helpful, but try it out for free first. The registration cost is minimal ($15-$25).

Recommendation?

So, there you have it. I would recommend you use Scrivener for novel writing as it has a lot of great features and it helps you to organize the book in chapters and scenes quite well. Due to its clean look and the flow of the workspace, it fits well with a novel which should flow from one chapter to the next.  I use Scrivener for writing all my books.

I would recommend you use yWriter for blogging as it divides up the chapters and scenes in a clear and separate manner. Because of this, it allows you to keep your entire blog organized and in one place while keeping your individual blogs separate.

In my previous blog on yWriter and Scrivener, I mentioned a little bit about MS Word. I would recommend you use MS Word for the setup of your book. It allows you to format your book in a professional manner as well as save it to a PDF for printing. For more information on this, check out this blog on Setting up Your Book: The Basics.

Happy writing and blogging!

Shawn

Hey, I’d love for you to sign up for my newsletter to keep up on what’s going on with my books: