Word or Excel ?

[Vanny]

I personally write in MS Word....Which one do you thnk is better ? Ms word or excel?

[DeleyanLee]

Word.

Excel isn't for the composition of prose documents. It's a spreadsheet program. It's good for setting up calculations and formulas and tracking/reporting data.

The purposes and foci of the programs are completely different.

Excel also has a 250 word limit per cell, which is very infuriating and limiting, even when used to track and report data used for creative endeavors written in Word.

[alleycat]

Agree with Delayan. Excel isn't used as a word processing program.

You choice would be between Word, one of the freeware programs that are similar to Word, or one of the software packages made especially for writing.

If I were you I'd just stick to using Word.

[Kathleen42]

Use Word for writing and Excel for keeping track of agents and queries and submissions.

[alleycat]

Use Word for writing and Excel for keeping track of agents and queries and submissions.
And for tracking how much you have lost on your investments!

;-)

[Kathleen42]

And for tracking how much you have lost on your investments!

;-)

I stopped opening my RRSP statements when the recession hit. It was just too depressing.

[alleycat]

I stopped opening my RRSP statements when the recession hit. It was just too depressing.
Would you like some MCI shares to add to your portfolio? I'll sell you five hundred shares for, say, one penny.


;-0

[Matera the Mad]

One wonders if the question might have been misWorded.

[Stella Omega]

I have been using "scrivener" and quite like it. There's a very similar program for windows called "liquid binder"-- anyone messed around with these?

[mlazzer]

I never heard anyone using Excel to write in...

[Raindrop]

One wonders if the question might have been misWorded.
It's an Excellent theory.

[alleycat]

It's an Excellent theory.
Is that a Word to the wise?

[Madara]

I've tried to outline in Excel, but hate it. I do use it for initial character creation and keeping track of a cast of characters.

I've been writing in Movie Magic Screenwriter. I use to have a neat little macro for Word to allow screenplay formatting, but MMS seems to have more writing tools, even if the interface isn't as nice as Word.

[groovyville]

I use excel to keep track of all the publishers I have looked at and why or why not I should use them.

I also use it for storing contacts.

I would never write in Excel, I agree with those of you who believe this question was mis-worded.

I write everything in word

[Jackie B.]

I have been using "scrivener" and quite like it. There's a very similar program for windows called "liquid binder"-- anyone messed around with these?

I use Liquid Story Binder. It's the worst name for probably one of the best pieces of writing software around (equivalent to or right behind Scrivener.)

It can be overwhelming to people at first because there are so many features available, but what they don't realize is you only use what's useful to you and it's great. You can grow into it at your own pace, or use different features for different projects. Unlike other pieces of writing software, it's a set of tools, not a process or workflow instrument.

I wrote about it on my practice blog here (http://squigeepg.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/liquid-story-binder/). And there are screenshots! :-)

Also, forgot to mention. The developer is super-supportive of the writing community and is constantly enhancing the product based on user feedback and you can download and try it for free for 30 days.

[Rez78]

Moleskin;)

Word / Google docs / Open office and a few others depending on what I'm doing and what I'm doing it for.

There's a bunch of opensource word processors available out there but those are the most popular ones.

I'm actually finishing up a writer's resource book of sorts that should help a lot of folks here. Best of all it's free. Will let you know when it's done.

[Raindrop]

Is that a Word to the wise?
:D Quite right!


I use yWriter. I love it, and you can't beat the price.
I also use OpenOffice Write (similar to Word) and Notepad++.

I can see how Excel could be useful for outlines or fact sheets.

[Chase]

I've used them all monitoring college computer labs for decades, and WordPerfect is the best out-of-the-box word processor for writers available for PCs.

You know it's good, because every year, Microsoft has copied WP's latest improvements since the '80s. Microsoft then spends lots of money trying to make WP incompatible with its operating programs.

[Carmy]

I agree on all counts, Chase.

WordPerfect is the ultimate word processor. I believe it was the first one of its kind, and nothing comes close to touching it for being user-friendly and versatile.

It's unfortunate that most agents and publishers demand Word.

(Using Word under protest.)

[Vanny]

I cant think of writing in excel - i dnt see HOW u can but some ppl on this site said they write on excel - so I jst wanted to knw :)

[dpaterso]

If you linked to a thread or quoted part of the conversation so we could see what context this was said in, then using Excel for some aspect of writing (character lists, plotlines) might make sense.

-Derek

[drksideofthemoon]

I agree on all counts, Chase.

WordPerfect is the ultimate word processor. I believe it was the first one of its kind, and nothing comes close to touching it for being user-friendly and versatile.

It's unfortunate that most agents and publishers demand Word.

(Using Word under protest.)

My first WP program was Wordstar by Micropro. This was back in the mid 80's.

[blacbird]

I cant think of writing in excel - i dnt see HOW u can but some ppl on this site said they write on excel - so I jst wanted to knw :)

A digression from the thread topic, Vanny, and I recognize that you're new here, but please -- spell out your words normally. This is a writer's site.

caw

[Madara]

Although I use Word. I have used Word Perfect. The owned the word processing market for some time, but failed to evolve. Remember the stupid function keys? You had a little cardboard cutout to place on your keyboard. I believe Open Office works every bit as well as Word Perfect. Both should save in DOC format.

[stephenf]

I like word perfect,it seems easer to use, if you just use it as a word processor.But word is a lot more sophisticated if you can to learn how to use it properly.

[Andreya]

I have been using "scrivener" and quite like it. There's a very similar program for windows called "liquid binder"-- anyone messed around with these?
Stella, what do you like about them? (In what ways are they better - or worse - from Word?) Are they compatible with Word or such?
Jackie B, just saw the link!

So it's mainly for fiction writers, not for articles or screenwriting?

I only experimented with free Open Office (I think that's the name, it's a free Linux product) once for a bit.. You can make pdfs in that, or 'Word' files.. (was just warned that Word files may look different on another computer in Word then..)

I really liked old WordStar too.. :)
Still have it on the ancient computer, not sure if it's still working? :)
I don't think it's compatible with anything else (Word) though?

[DWSTXS]

Word. I do have to disagree though with the idea that excel cells have a 250 word limit. I have dozens of excel documents that have hundreds of cells with more than 250 words.

[watercayman]

I've used Word on all my projects, but now going to look into Liquid Binder thanks to the notes above.

I've been using MSVisio for outlines - able to stick boxes of text on the screen, move them, and connect them. Not bad at all.

[Daveh]

A digression from the thread topic, Vanny, and I recognize that you're new here, but please -- spell out your words normally. This is a writer's site.

caw
Sense of humour failure! :D (I believe Vanny was trying to illustrate how one might write in Excel)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have used many editors & word processors over the years (about 40 of them). I think the first real word processor was Wordstar, followed by IBM Displaywrite and Word Perfect (under DOS, not Windows). WP for DOS is till brilliant for many things and nothing touches it for speed, even on an old 486.

The Outline facility in Word is pretty good - been using it for years for... outlining :) Go to the View menu and select Outline. It's essential to read the help on outlining before trying to use it or you'll waste a lot of time. If you also set up the "Bullets and numbering" to just insert chapter numbers & headings you can put a blank page at the front of the document & use "Insert" -> "Field" to automatically generate a table of contents.

I agree that the right tool to use is what is appropriate for the job in hand. I often use Notepad (or Linux Pico) for churning out lots of words where there is little or no dialogue. The simple interface and lack of distracting "features" makes it easier to concentrate on just writing.

Most of the apps/applications/tools (no difference from the user's PoV) made specifically to support writing have a free trial although some of these are so hobbled as to be useless for really trying them out. All of them have their good and bad points and you should choose what you're most comfortable with.

[Jackie B.]

Stella, what do you like about them? (In what ways are they better - or worse - from Word?) Are they compatible with Word or such?
Jackie B, just saw the link!

So it's mainly for fiction writers, not for articles or screenwriting?

Sorry, Andreya. I haven't logged on in awhile. No, Liquid Story Binder can be used for all types of writing. It's really more of an organizational tool. There are writers on the LSB board that use it for non-fiction writing, articles, research, academic papers. It's not the best software for screenwriting (although it has some rudimentary formatting for it.) For that, you'd want something like Final Draft ideally, which is what the pros use.

Hope this helps!