Jennifer
I use both DT and Scrivener. It seems to me that they are different tools with different purposes. Although DT has writing tools, Scrivener’s are a lot better (examples: Scrivener’s saving routine, its full-screen—cleverer than DT’s—its dual-pane for writing and editing), and although Scrivener can store research material, DT’s database management tools are self-evidently better than Scrivener’s. (And very large quantities of research can certainly slow Scrivener up.)
Of course DT can be used for writing—as, say, the historian Steven Berlin Johnson famously does—and, equally Scrivener can be used for storing quantities of research material, but it seems to me slightly perverse to do so. In the two roles that are central to composing long-form documents, research and writing, I’d prefer to use the right tool for the right job. Horses for courses, as the saying goes.
So, as, I suspect many people do, I store my research in DT and then drag key selected pieces into Scrivener’s research folder—the work of a moment. Scrivener’s dual-pane view then allows me to draft with the research alongside.
I do have one or two other applications for outlining—again, a different job—and in addition up till now I’ve used MacJournal for “snippet collection”. With DT’s new Sorter taking over this role, I think I’ll concentrate more on Scrivener and DT. They are two excellent tools for specific jobs and as far as I know have no exact equivalents elsewhere.
H
Edit: here’s a simple workflow I’ve developed for long articles, based on something Steven Berlin Johnson wrote. Obviously its usefulness depends on what you’re writing and how much research you’ve gathered:
- gather your research in DT
- develop your outline in Scrivener’s Draft folder, with each section a sub- folder
- copy that outline into Scrivener’s Research folder, so each section is a sub-folder
- drag-and-drop the relevant key pieces of research from DT into the appropriate section sub-folders in the Research folder
- review and move around as required to ensure the outline flows
- get writing!