Annecdotist, yes, that's exactly it (though with my academic writing hat on, isn't "object relations" a silly name?" - but I've just looked it up and bingo! Makes so much sense. And yes, is very much what goes on in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy on this side of the pond, I get the impression). One thing I notice in teaching CW is how the personal-ness of writing really takes some students aback. They're genuinely accustomed to getting and coping with feedback in work or other situations, and are startled by just how visceral it can be to have your creative writing critiqued.

Ainsley, I think you've probably hit on one of its drawbacks (I started trying to mention them in the post, but even I know that a blogpost has to stop somewhere!) As far as I can see, the traffic is basically one way. Scrivener's intended for drafting, and the idea is that once it's how you want it pretty much, you export it by a process called "compile", into - say - Word, for final tidying up and final formatting. I think it preserves your things like italics, though the first time I did it I think I picked the wrong format to Compile too, and it replaced them all with underlining... Another reason to try first with something short! The tricky thing is bringing the doc back into Scrivener. Of course you can import a Word document, obviously, but it imports in a lump, as a single document. Great for cannibalising an old piece, which is what I've been using it for. But less good for a day-by-day toing and froing. Unless you have a new Word document for each little doc in your Scrivener setup and do it one by one, it doesn't slot the bits back into their individual places. Does that make sense? Scrivener will let you have a copy on more than one PC as long as they're yours - I have one on my main desktop, and one on my laptop (I loathe laptops, and only really was persuaded to buy one so I could run Scrivener on it...)

You're welcome, Bianca. That Agassi bio sounds interesting - he's such a bright bloke, I can imagine that what he has to say about such things is well worth learning. And after all, it was tennis that the original Inner Game ideas were worked out on. And those are closely related to this kind of issue.

Ophelia, you're very welcome. Glad it's been useful.

In my Windows version, "Customise Toolbar" seems to be in the Tools menu, not View, but then you're in. In fact, thanks Geri and John for making me get round to investigating it all, and fine-tuning both main and editing toolbars to suit me!

Thanks for that, John - very useful!

Geri, I don't know about zooming the overall appearance of the whole program, but you can certainly zoom for the text in documents - I like working at 120% or so, based on a 12pt actual point size, IYSWIM. You can set that as a default in "Options", too. The zoom is down at the bottom of that document window, to the left of where the word and character count is. And if you've got two windows open - the brilliant Split Screen, they zoom independantly. At a glance I can't see that you can change the sizes of things in the Binder, or the outliner, but you can choose font size for the index cards, to some degree. And in the Document Notes panels and things you can do whatever you like in terms of font.

You're welcome, Sandra! Isn't it odd how little sense advice often makes in the abstract - as you say, it's only when the situation is concrete, in front of you, and in a muddle, that the advice has some reality and applicability...

Thanks for the recommendation, Jo. One possible next project for me is a non-fic thing which I'm rather dreading, from the pov of just organising the material. Forgetting stuff is a crucial part of my process of fiction, so I'm willing not to be too ruthlessly organised. But non-fic is different!

Keith, that's fascinating. I haven't done that yet - don't tend to do a lot with images - but it sounds just the job. On timelines, yes, I can imagine that would be very useful. So far I've either had a very short, tight timeline, or a longer, looser one where it's less crucial: For the WIP I've just put the date in the title of the index card, and so they're there at my LH in the Binder... But you could, for example, put world events in the synopsis, if they needed tracking, or on a separate index card, just as I use some for other off-stage events - there's nothing to say all the cards have to represent actual text.

LoL Paul!

Sophie, that complicated kind of re-structuring can get one in such a tizz, and, yes, Scrivener makes it so much easier. I've just put Scrivener on my laptop, so I can work away from home (the project itself living in Dropbox), and the world is my writing-room...

There's something particular about commas in legal documents - can't remember what it is - but yes, it does show just how crucial punctuation is to things being clear. I think the Fog Factor is crucial - the trouble is that often it's judged as there being lots of long words, when it isn't that really, it's about how those words are piled together that makes all the difference...

Glad they were helpful - good luck with it!

Glad you enjoyed it, Edith. And yes, those bars just keep on rising... Good luck

Sarah, many thanks for linking to This Itch of Writing. It's good to know it's useful for people. I've also been trying Scrivener lately, and I think it's terrific, but I got a lot further, faster, once I'd invested in Scrivener for Dummies. The other thing I did, which might suit some others, was to use it first for writing a synopsis. That way I could work with each index card representing just a few sentences of the main text... And then with a different short project I wrote it all in one screed, and "split" it after I'd written it, to create the index cards retrospectively ... And once you've done those two things you've got the basic ways of using it nailed.

Yes, I agree - and it's always going to be a matter of taste. I'd understand anyone who likes a bit more air in their prose than there is in that Elizabeth Bowen extract, much as I love it. What does make me cross is how the macho "Anything which isn't pure bare bones is fancy/girly/vulgar/effeminate" always seems like a cool argument. It isn't. So often prose the writer thinks is direct and forceful is simply arid and affectless.

You're welcome, Debs! Good to see you here.

It does push you, doesn't it. And because I don't have an EFL background, I find myself coming up with my own ways of explaining how the stuff I know instinctively works. Non-standard, but it seems to work!

It's very like art therapy, as far as I can discern - but with dance, IYSWIM! Some lovely stories in the case studies.

Yes, sometimes its fascinating, these peeks into how other languages work. Other traditions, too: how much you can have your say, as a first year, about something that authorities write about; whether clear, plain language is a marker of clear thinking, or simply un-grown-upness...