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N.E.Synner

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Hi all,
I'm sure this must be one of the most asked questions but I can't find any threads on it.
What program do people recommend for writing that's not too expensive?
All I have is word pad.
 

Maryn

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While many writers use Microsoft Word, there are two excellent free programs that mimic its older versions quite well. They are legal to use and I've written hundreds of thousands of words on each one. (I have Word but use it far less.)

They are Open Office (<--the blue font means it's a link) and Libre Office. They can be set to save a document in .doc format, like older version of Word do. Agents and publishers accept .doc stories and novels and can't tell what software was used to create it.

If you're not used to word processing software, there will be a learning curve, but there are tutorials and a Help menu with each.

Maryn, whose last sale was written using Libra Office
 

cmhbob

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Google Docs is also available. Some people report that it occasionally chokes on large documents, so be prepared to break your story up into multi-chapter chunks. The advantage to Google is that you can write anywhere you have internet access.
 
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Maryn

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Yes, there's Google Docs as well. If you install Open Office or Libre Office, you will not have to be connected to the internet to write, which may be a plus or may not be helpful at all, depending on all kinds of factors. (My internet went down today for several hours. The horror!) But if you're routinely online, any of those will be a good choice, and Google Docs will automatically have a copy that doesn't live exclusively on your computer.

Whatever program you use to write, be sure to use the internet to back it up, saving a copy of the most recent version in "the cloud," which means on a server other than your own computer. The free level of DropBox, which is an automatic backup system that loads every time you connect to the internet, holds at least a dozen novels, and I don't write short.

Maryn, who does go on...
 
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N.E.Synner

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While many writers use Microsoft Word, there are two excellent free programs that mimic its older versions quite well. They are legal to use and I've written hundreds of thousands of words on each one. (I have Word but use it far less.)

They are Open Office (<--the blue font means it's a link) and Libre Office. They can be set to save a document in .doc format, like older version of Word do. Agents and publishers accept .doc stories and novels and can't tell what software was used to create it.

If you're not used to word processing software, there will be a learning curve, but there are tutorials and a Help menu with each.

Maryn, whose last sale was written using Libra Office
Thank you, I'll try and download these tomorrow and have a play around :)
 

ChaseJxyz

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Microsoft Word is a part of Office 365, which gives you 1 TB of online storage and costs $6.99/mo. You can use it on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. You get Excel and One Note, too, which can help you organize notes/data. What I really like about it is that all my files are autosaved to the online storage so I don't have to worry about losing work. Also if I'm reading/editing away from my computer I can pull up my phone and check something very easily. You can also access/edit your documents in your web browser, kind of like Google Docs, so you can access your files on any device. But I also live in a place with good Internet/cell signal so connectivity is never an issue for me. Compare this to Dropbox, where you only get 2 TB of storage for $11.99/mo, it's a really good deal. Word definitely has trouble when you hit 150k words+, but so does Scrivener if you have it compiled as one thing.

Google Docs is free and the word editor is decent. I have friends that write exclusively in it because they can access it/write from their phones easily (but you can do that with Word, too.....). It's very, very easy to share your documents with other people and for them to leave comments/editing (Word has this, too, but there's a few extra steps and can be confusing for people not familiar with it) so if you plan on being collaborative, that is a good choice. There is a way to have your documents saved locally to your computer so you can edit them offline, but that takes foresight to do so, like if you're going to a cabin for the weekend that has no Internet.

It's been many, many years since I've used Open Office or Libre Office so I can't speak on them, also I'm exclusively on Windows. Personally, I use Word for shorter works and Scrivener for longer ones, as it's way too much program for something small. I actually wrote the 190k word first draft of my manuscript entirely in Word; I only got Scrivener because I knew rearranging scenes/chapters in Word would be a horrible time. But if you already want some way to back up your important documents/photos, then Office 365 really can't be beat for the value. I know I probably sound like a salesperson but I promise I don't have a vested interest in Microsoft or anything like that.
 
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