ConnectedText vs. Scrivener

Posted by Franz Grieser
Mar 16, 2012 at 11:06 AM

Dr Andus wrote:

> ...
> Because Scrivener’s tree hierarchy is constantly in your
>face, it exerts some pressure on you to have to keep the entire structure and the
>hierarchical relationships constantly in mind. And naturally as the content
>changes, the hierarchy might become irrelevant, in which case it demands to be looked
>at. CT’s wiki logic in this sense is more easy-going, because by packing away a
>document it is sunk into an invisible depth, from where it can be recalled, however the
>overall structure doesn’t become a constant, nagging thing. So in this sense I can see
>how writing in CT can be a liberating experience.
> ...

We seem to have different approaches:
* I use Scrivener (or an outline in Noteliner plus Word documents, if my publisher needs Word files) for writing non-fiction (and fiction) that will be printed or published electronically and is hierarchical in nature.
* I just give ConnectedText a try as a knowledge base for 2 projects. Here hierarchy is less important for me, I hope to find connections between topics that may not be visible when using a tree structure and folders for organizing material.

Why I prefer the tree in Scrivener (or in Noteliner/Word): My writing projects usually are organized top-down. In the end, the books/textbooks/articles will be printed/presented and read in consecutional order. Having the tree visible keeps me focused. When I rearranging chapters or sections this is immediately visible in the tree (ok, in the Noteliner-Word combination I have to do the rearranging manually). This way I know what information the reader already has - and what I might need to add. And, what is important from an economical point of view: I will not start writing a chapter/section beforeI know where in the hierarchical tree it fits - this way I avoid writing stuff that might be nice and interesting but won’t end up in the book/article. Off course, this does not mean that I do not throw out sections when I realize later that they do no longer fit in or that I have tool much text.

Franz