Why Scrivener Isn’t the Answer You’ve Been Looking For

As a writing coach, it’s a rare week that goes by without someone asking me whether or not they should purchase Scrivener.

Here’s my response:

Scrivener is a fantastic program for writers and novelists. In fact, a mobile app version was just released that makes it an even more useful writing tool for authors on the go.

So, just to be clear: Scrivener is a top notch writing program.

BUT…

It’s not the magical solution to your writing woes that you’ve been looking for.

Neither is Write Way Pro or Final Draft.

Software will have zero impact on whether or not you write a great book.

There is no one tool or one technique for writing a masterpiece. There is no secret answer for you to uncover or tool for you to purchase.

As Seth Godin recently put it, “There isn’t a magic formula, the perfect combination of tools to use or to avoid. What matters more is the decision to matter.”

Hemingway wrote his unforgettable novels and short stories while standing up at a typewriter.

Jack Kerouac typed On the Road as one long unbroken paragraph on a 120-foot scroll.

Virginia Woolf wrote To the Lighthouse with a pen and paper.

Shakespeare crafted his plays using a quill made from goose feathers dipped in an inkwell.

The Marquis De Sade wrote 120 Days of Sodom in tiny letters on a 12 meter roll of paper while imprisoned.

John Milton composed Paradise Lost by memory and then dictated it to friends.

Truman Capote wrote Breakfast at Tiffany’s using a pencil while always lying down on a couch or bed.

Vladimir Nabokov wrote using 3 x 5 inch cards, paper-clipped and stored in boxes.

There is no “right answer”.

There’s no “secret technique”.

Writing software isn’t the solution.

Each of these master writers found a system that worked for them, given their unique circumstance, and put it to work.

You need to do the same.

grey backKevin T. Johns is an author, writing coach, and ghostwriter. He has helped hundreds of writers from around the world get ideas out of their heads, onto the page, and into readers' hands. Get your free copy of his short guide for authors below.

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