From Draft to Final–Apps I Use

​Author2Author Quill & Grit: How I Do It

Hey fellow writers! ✍️ I’m excited to share my “apps I use (my buddies) for writing” workflow—what helps me from first draft to final export. Whether you’re drafting your next thriller, urban fantasy, or romantic suspense (yes, I know you are 😊), these tools are the ones I lean on every time.

1. First Draft: Speech, Typed, or Handwritten
For that raw, “get‑it‑out” stage I reach for either:

• Dictate Pro – I dictate my ideas on my iPhone app (especially when I’m in the car, out walking the dog, or have sudden inspiration). It’s voice‑to‑text, so I can keep the momentum going.
• Alternatively, I’ll type directly into whatever conventional tool I’m comfy with.
  At this stage I’m not worrying about perfection.
• I use a Remarkable for handwritten scenes. The device will change handwriting to text which I can then email to myself as text or pdf.
  
  
  

2. The Big Move: into Scrivener – Drafting, Rearranging, Outlining
Once the draft is down:

• I import (cut/paste) it into Scrivener.
• I give it five stars for outlining, moving scenes around, and pacing with easy word‑counts. Scrivener makes it super simple to drag‑and‑drop scenes/chapters, shuffle them, restructure as needed.
• I use the “binder/corkboard” view (if you like visuals) or just the list of scenes: great for tracking where the tension climbs, where the romantic suspense heat kicks in, where the world‑building pauses.
• Word count targets? Yep — Scrivener supports that, which helps me keep good chapter lengths.
  
  

At this stage I’m refining structure more than polishing language. I’m rearranging, pacing, making sure the plot beats (and sub‑plots!) land clean.

3. Initial Line Editing: ProWritingAid
Once the structure is solid, I move into the first round of editing with ProWritingAid.

• I give it three stars for consistency and ease of use. It’s good—but it’s not flawless, especially in big manuscripts.
• What I like: general grammar, punctuation, word flow
• It integrates with Scrivener which is helpful, but some recent upgrades with more direct integration have slowed it down
• What to watch: for very large manuscripts it can slow down or feel a bit heavy. But even sometimes in shorter scenes in Scrivener, it will moodily decide if it’s going to work or not
• My workflow: I run it chapter by chapter (or scene by scene) rather than dumping the whole book in at once. That gives me actionable feedback without getting overwhelmed (usually).
  
  

At this stage I’m hunting down line‑level issues: repetitive words, passive voice creeping in, filler words (“just”, “very”, “that”, etc).

4. Ongoing Edits in Scrivener
After line editing with PWA, I focus on additional clean-up:

• Use Scrivener’s search/find tools to locate repetitive words across scenes (e.g., “just”, “looked”, “felt”) and squash them.
• I also track passive verbs and filler words more manually, since nothing replaces the “read it out loud” trick (which I virtually always do).
• Because the book is in Scrivener, the flow — scene order, chapter order — is still easy to adjust while editing.
  
  

5. Export to Word for Beta Readers & Dev Editor
Once I feel the manuscript is solid:

• I export from Scrivener to Microsoft Word (.docx) — the format most beta readers and developmental editors prefer (see blog on beta readers and editors for more details)
• I send it out for feedback (structure, character arcs, pacing, etc).
• When I receive their suggestions/comments, I bring them back into Scrivener (a manual merge). This keeps everything in one master project, so I don’t lose track of the versioning.
  
  

6. Final Export & Formatting: Back into Word → then Vellum
The last stage: polish and publish.

• After implementing feedback and doing final tweaks in Scrivener, I do one more export to Word for the final edit with a paid line editor.
• Then I use Vellum for formatting: I give it five stars for ease of use and exporting to ePub, mobi (Kindle), and print‑ready PDF. Yup, it’s that slick.
• Why Vellum? Because it handles interior styling, drop caps, table of contents, preview for devices, and print layouts—all with easy templates.
• Final step: I reread in Vellum (ebook + print layouts), make any final tweaks, then output the files for upload (epub, PDF, etc).
  
  

In Summary
Here’s the flow in bullet form:

1. Dictate, handwrite, or type first draft (raw, energetic).
2. Move into Scrivener — organize, outline, move scenes, set word‑counts.
3. First line edit with ProWritingAid — consistency, repeater words, style polish.
4. More in Scrivener — ongoing edits, context, pacing, scenes.
5. Export to Word → send to beta/dev editors → get feedback → bring back into Scrivener.
6. ​Final edits → Export to Word → then Vellum for final formatting → output ePub/mobi/PDF → publish.

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