Dabble reviews how to#

The Story Notes section is where you can flesh out your characters and locations. The plotting tool lets you keep track of various plotlines, such as developing relationships, conflict, and achieving goals-all on separate index cards. Both apps give you somewhere for this research right alongside your manuscript.ĭabble’s navigation bar provides two research tools: a plotting tool and story notes. There’s a lot to keep track of when writing a novel: your plot ideas, characters, locations, and other background material. These give a useful overview of the entire document and allow you to easily rearrange the pieces. It offers two tools for working on your manuscript’s structure: an Outliner and the Corkboard. However, it uses them extensively for your research (more on that below). Each one contains a brief synopsis to remind you of its contents.ĭabble doesn’t display a summary of your manuscript on index cards. Using the Corkboard, the doc’s sections are displayed on separate index cards that can be reordered at will. Scrivener offers a second way to get an overview of your document: the Corkboard. Configurable columns reveal additional information, such as the status and word count of each section. Your outline can be displayed with more detail in the writing pane. Its navigation pane is called “The Binder.” It splits your project into manageable pieces, as Dabble does. Scrivener structures your document in a similar way but offers more powerful and flexible outlining tools. They’re listed in an outline in the navigation pane, known as “The Plus.” Elements can be rearranged using drag-and-drop. Doing so aids with motivation and makes it easier to rearrange the structure of the document.Ī Dabble project is split into books, parts, chapters, and scenes. One benefit of using a writing app over a conventional word processor is that it helps you break your large writing project into manageable pieces. Both offer distraction-free options that remove those tools from the screen when you’re writing. Both apps offer the tools you need to type and edit your manuscript. Scrivener’s distraction-free interface removes them. When you want to focus on writing, those tools can become a distraction. You can format your text with styles such as titles, headings, and block quotes. Scrivener offers a traditional word processing experience with a formatting toolbar at the top of the screen. Your document will automatically scroll as you type so that your cursor stays on the same line as you started. I mean that literally: as you type, other interface elements subtly fade away, leaving you with a clean page to type on. There is no special distraction-free mode in this app because distractions fade automatically. You can set format defaults using a form near the top of the manuscript. You format text by first selecting it, then clicking on a simple popup toolbar. There are no toolbars or other distractions. Productive Writing Environment: Tieĭabble offers a clean slate for your writing.

Scrivener offers more features, but you’ll need to do some tutorials to get the most out of them. Dabble’s interface is simpler but at the expense of functionality. That’s not to say there’s no case for Scrivener she’s convinced it’s better for those who are tech-savvy or would benefit from its more advanced tools. She found Dabble’s more intuitive design a better fit.

Dabble reviews how to#

Chyina tried Scrivener and grew frustrated when it wasn’t clear to her how to get started. Writers like Chyina Powell and Sally Britton agree.

Minus the Learning Curve” and criticizes other writing apps of being overly complicated and difficult to learn. Which app is easiest? Dabble claims to be “Like Scrivener. To make the most of its potential, you should take some time to learn about it before diving in.

Its features go a lot further than Dabble’s. It offers a large writing area with a navigation pane on the left, like Dabble, and a toolbar at the top of the screen. Scrivener’s interface is similar but looks a little dated. Dabble’s designed so that you can jump in and start without first watching some tutorials. The interface is immaculate its lack of toolbars is impressive. A navigation panel is on the left, and your goals and notes on the right. When you create a new project, you’ll see a writing area. User Interface: Tieĭabble aims to take the features other writing apps offer and make them simple and easy to digest. Scrivener: Head-to-Head Comparisonĭabble vs.