This section could be anything from a blank page to a single sentence to a few paragraphs to an entire chapter - whatever works for you. (If you prefer, by the way, these same 'cards' can be edited and moved around in the Outline view as well.) In addition to the title and synopsis, each card is associated with a given section of the actual draft you're building. These cards live on a 'cork board' and each can be moved around, nested, put into folders, and so on, very much like real index cards, but with a big bonus. Scrivener makes the anarchic approach to writing a little less chaotic by letting you create any number of 'index cards' which contain a title and a short synopsis of what that index card is meant to contain. Yes, it would be more tidy if we all followed the mandate of our elementary school teachers and wrote perfect 5-paragraph essays straight from a completed outline. You do a brain dump, then type a little, then research a little, then type a little more, then move a bunch of stuff around, then groan aloud, then 80% start over and so on until something is done. If you write like I do (and I pray that you do not), you have a messy approach to drafting that is iterative, intuitive, and far from linear. Personally, I like the excellent fullscreen mode, built-in (round-trip) outliner, tricked-out Inspector, and all-in-one form factor, but my favorite feature (which can be hard to explain without actually using the app for yourself) is Scrivener's use of the index card and corkboard metaphor.

Scrivener's product page has also been updated with a terrific explanation of why this app feels so different. Scrivener, a full-featured writing program that I've been raving about a lot lately on MacBreak Weekly, has now reached the 1.0 milestone and is available for purchase from Literature and Latte.

Scrivener macos