ChapterMuse

Fifteen years in Scrivener: first impressions

MMarcus Delaney-Webb1 wk ago3 replies0

A colleague shared a post and, against my better judgement, I installed the trial. Some first impressions from a Scrivener lifer, for what they are worth.

What I like. Muse is explicit that it will not write my prose. That was the entire reason I tried it. I have no interest in a machine finishing my sentences, but I will happily let one ask me an awkward question about my own book. The Split editor, two chapters side by side, is also exactly how I revise.

What I miss. There is no bringing a Scrivener project in directly. You export the manuscript from Scrivener as a Word file and import that. It worked, and the chapters came through intact, but it is the manuscript only. Fifteen years of synopses and notes stayed behind in the binder, which I suppose is precisely what I asked for.

Too early for a verdict. I shall report back if I'm still here at the end of the month.

3 replies

  1. Also ex-Scrivener (plus World Anvil for the world stuff), so this is close to home.

    Same experience with the import: exported to DOCX, came in clean, and my chapter headings turned into chapters without me doing anything. My research folder I moved over by hand into the Research Center, which took an evening but was a good excuse to throw half of it away.

    Genuine question: what did you use the corkboard for? I'm still working out what replaces it for me.

  2. Index cards for every scene, in order, so I could see the shape of the thing at a glance. Old habits. I gather the Outliner is meant to cover some of that. I haven't given it a fair go yet.

  3. CColm Reddan1 wk ago

    Word man myself, twenty years of it. One file, my wife's tracked changes on top. It got slow.

    The Split editor sold me too. I keep the interview chapter open against the one where he lies about it.

  4. HHal Brennan1 wk ago

    Never used Scrivener, so I can't compare. I came from a card index and a shoebox.

    What I will say is that having my grandfather's diary scans in the Research Center, pinned to the chapter they belong to, is the first time my research and my draft have lived in the same house. Before, they were in different postcodes. Measure twice and all that, but I'd rather do the measuring in one room.

  5. @colm_reddan The interview against the lie is a lovely use of it. I shall be stealing that for the chapel scenes.

  6. Give the Outliner a go with the scenes expanded under each chapter. It isn't index cards, but you can drag a scene into another chapter and everything else keeps up. I'm still undecided whether I miss the cards or just the idea of the cards.

What this place is

The forum is free, the writing studio is the reason it exists

ChapterMuse is a desktop app for writing novels. Not a folder of documents and not a browser tab: one room holding the plan, the cast, the places, the research, the draft, the revision history and the finished files, all of it on your own computer. Rename a character in chapter one and the profiles, the prose and the exports follow.

It runs on Windows and macOS, works with the network off, and is bought once rather than rented: £24, £36 or £48 for a lifetime licence. AI runs on credits you only buy if you use them.

Your book is a file on your own machine. Nothing to renew, no outage that can reach your draft, and it still opens if we disappear.

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