Writing-related software

IMHO graceangela9 isn't going to last long around here.

Say goodnight graceangela9. You're going away now.

Manuel Royal said:

I've started using FreeMind to outline my current screenplay. Nothing amazing, just a way to visually organize the elements of the story. Works for me.

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I've used FreeMind for years and found it very helpful in organizing and brainstorming. Most of my stories started in FreeMind.

Thanks so much for all of your input folks, I have been using Microsoft WordPad and can not double space, or figure out how to do page numbers and headings without totaly messing everything up. Now I at least know where to start looking to get some decent software, also a new computer wouldnt be a bad place to start.

I sampled WriteWayPro, and that was okay. What I didn't like about it was the word processor lacked. Now I believe they are coming out with a new, updated version, but I haven't looked into it.

Then I went to new novelist and it was more organized, in my opinion, and had more features. So I invested in that and used it for a while. I liked it, and was rather disappointed to find out that they don't make a mac compatible version. So when I got my MacBook Air, I had to discontinue use of it.

I haven't tried any other writing software, but if you don't have the money to invest in any, I think Word and a good beta will do the trick. If you save your chapters individually in a folder, not only will word catch more errors-since it won't be so junked up with 80+K words-but Word can be used for much more than writing your chapters.

Hope that helped.

For structured poetry and song lyrics, I'd suggest Verse Perfect. It's free and uses online dictionaries additional to its built in one for spelling--it has a live thesaurus and rhyming dictionary (plus roundex table for partial rhymes), it counts your lines and syllables and has verse form templates, a trainable pronunciation manager and is compatible with speech to text softwares. For an everything-in-one-window type interface, it's not overly cluttered and features can be enabled/disabled to suit the user.

The s-counter is a bit off sometimes and can be unreliable, probably because it relies on spelling instead of phonetics, and it hasn't been actively maintained since 2007. A metrical foot overview or even a reference table overlay would also have been a nice extra, but as far as applications aimed at poetry, and free, it does the job rather nicely. There is an associated forum of users whoo create and share their own verse form templates and a user manual in case anyone gets lost.

theresa.mcclinton said:

I sampled WriteWayPro, and that was okay. What I didn't like about it was the word processor lacked. Now I believe they are coming out with a new, updated version, but I haven't looked into it.

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Is there a word missing in your first sentence? What was it that WriteWayPro's word processor lacked? I've checked out the application on their website a couple of times and was interested in it. I'd like to know what you disliked about it.

Keep in mind that every writer is unique and has unique needs. What works for one may not for another, and vice versa.

I've tried all the software help tools and in the end returned to using Word and a fact organizer I created. (I'm a software engineer of long experience. It was actually easier for me to whip up a customized version rather than use one someone else had created.)

ETA: Here's an author's overview of the above (plus ywriter, which I also love): http://kaitnolan.com/2009/07/16/from-pantser-to-plotter-my-conversion-part-2/[/QUOTE]

Hello!

Question.....Where does MS Word rank?

Michael "O" said:

ETA: Here's an author's overview of the above (plus ywriter, which I also love): http://kaitnolan.com/2009/07/16/from-pantser-to-plotter-my-conversion-part-2/

Hello!

Question.....Where does MS Word rank?

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Word is pretty much standard.

Michael "O" said:

ETA: Here's an author's overview of the above (plus ywriter, which I also love): http://kaitnolan.com/2009/07/16/from-pantser-to-plotter-my-conversion-part-2/

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Hello!

Question.....Where does MS Word rank?[/QUOTE]

[/QUOTE]

MS Word is a wordprocessor. The programs discussed on the website are writing programs. yWriter is quite nice, though glitchy on my system. I use one called PowerWriter.

The "Quote" thingy won't work on this post. I've tried it six times now and it still came out like this.

i have been using MS Word for my main outline and OneNote to organize ideas etc.

you can also get from http://www.openoffice.org a free open source word processor.

if you have not tried OneNote i would encourage it. think of it like a large notebook. have an idea make a page write it out. i have been using it to save also stories from the web, news articles, and history facts.

i would like to know if anyone has tried "Dragon" software and if so the pros and cons to it.

thanks

I'm going to stray from the beaten path and suggest that a full-featured text editor like Vim or Emacs may be appropriate for some people. I use Vim and like it a lot.

Vim makes it easy to move sentences and paragraphs around with simple keystroke commands. It is easy to deal with multiple files in Vim. You can organize your project into as many files as you want, and insert files in your document wherever you want with a simple keystroke command, without having to open the inserted file first. You can "fold" your documents into chapters if you want, which makes each chapter (or scene, paragraph, whatever) appear as a single line on the screen. You open and close the folds with a keystroke command to work on them. Folding is great for high-level organization. You can also mark, using all the letters of the alphabet and more, different places in your document, there are movement commands to get you to the beginning of the document, end, mark a, mark b, next paragraph, etc. There are too many more useful features here to list. No matter what you do to the document, it is still a plain text file in Vim, ready to format later. The learning curve for Vim is steep, and the documentation is scary, because Vim was made for computer programmers, but writers only need to learn a very small subset of what Vim can do to be productive.

I've gotten away from the Words and OpenOffices of the world as much as I can, although I do use OpenOffice quite a lot for some jobs. My rule is that formatting a document is the absolute last thing that I want to do, because undoing improper or unwanted formatting is such a pain in the behind. Modern word processors are designed to trap writers into unwanted formatting. So I write with a text editor, and format later. Vim is faster and easier than a word processor anyway.

Vim will be the first choice of only a very few people, but for those who can get past the initial frustration and learn enough to be productive with Vim, it is awesome. Best.

Is Scrivener a good piece of software?

ScottJohnson said:

Is Scrivener a good piece of software?

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I own Scrivener, and I like it a lot. I'm actually a bit surprised not to see it in the first post. But you don't need to take my word for it -- they've got a fully-featured demo, so you can try it out for yourself.

ScottJohnson said:

Is Scrivener a good piece of software?

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You either love it or hate it.

1. Download the free 30 day demo.

2. Depending on your learning style, watch the videos or go through the tutorial.

videos: https://literatureandlatte.com/video.php?show=v154

I've got a new computer (Windows 8.1). I have notepad and word pad but I'm not happy using them as there is no word count or spell checker. I have Final Draft 8 which I have used for scripts. Is the novel or manuscript layout in this version of Final Draft good for a UK based writer?

Also, I have used MS Works Word for my writing on my old computer but now there's a problem. There is no MS Works on my new 8.1 so I cannot open anything without getting all that mumbo jumbo letters throughout my work. Sorry for not giving the correct info - I'm not tech savvy.

hunnypot said:

I've got a new computer (Windows 8.1). I have notepad and word pad but I'm not happy using them as there is no word count or spell checker. I have Final Draft 8 which I have used for scripts. Is the novel or manuscript layout in this version of Final Draft good for a UK based writer?

Also, I have used MS Works Word for my writing on my old computer but now there's a problem. There is no MS Works on my new 8.1 so I cannot open anything without getting all that mumbo jumbo letters throughout my work. Sorry for not giving the correct info - I'm not tech savvy.

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If you want just a word processor, there are quite a few nice FREEBIES out there. And they can open .doc and .docx files. Here is one: http://www.abisource.com/

Sorry, don't know anything about Final Draft.

This is a very interesting collection of information and notes. I have primarily used word processors (MS Word, and Pages) on a PC and Mac. I recently switched over to using an app called Storyist for the iPad, and for the iPhone.

I like the way it groups things together, so I can build out character dossiers, and other descriptive information. I can flip between the novel I'm writing, the character dossiers, and other primary notes that I find help keep me organized. It has Chapter and section navigation, and is very intuitive overall.

Does anyone else have experience with, or use apps on mobile devices to do their writing?
I wanted to get an idea about what others use, because I am a bit of techno-geek, and am always interested in finding out about new or different tools, especially with the rise in devices.

BryanT said:

This is a very interesting collection of information and notes. I have primarily used word processors (MS Word, and Pages) on a PC and Mac. I recently switched over to using an app called Storyist for the iPad, and for the iPhone.

I like the way it groups things together, so I can build out character dossiers, and other descriptive information. I can flip between the novel I'm writing, the character dossiers, and other primary notes that I find help keep me organized. It has Chapter and section navigation, and is very intuitive overall.

Does anyone else have experience with, or use apps on mobile devices to do their writing?
I wanted to get an idea about what others use, because I am a bit of techno-geek, and am always interested in finding out about new or different tools, especially with the rise in devices.

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I really love Scrivener on OS X and iOS.

And Bear.app on OS X and iOS has been really useful for shorter pieces.

AW Admin said:

I really love Scrivener on OS X and iOS.

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I have used Scrivener in the past, and did a trial of it several years ago for writing in my tech blog. It was a toss up for me between the 2 of them. I will have to take another look at it.
One thing that I did learn from the Scrivener appstore video was how to use the index card view. So, that's cool. It really looks like the 2 apps are very similar.

Do you use the Scrivener Research part? That's one of the items that was highlighted in their video. It doesn't appear that Storyist can do that -- but I suspect I could.

AW Admin said:

And Bear.app on OS X and iOS has been really useful for shorter pieces.

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Bear app! Wow! I just looked it up and had to download it. It works with the apple pencil, so if I get a wild hair and want to try to draw something while I am writing, that is a huge plus. It looks like Bear doesn't have the (writing) organizational capability that both scrivener and Storyist have.

what kind of shorter pieces do you use Bear for (or have you used)? -- the only issue I have with Bear, so far is that the Pro version is a subscription. Nothing wrong with that, it ensures continued development, But by and large while it is a cool app, I can see why you say it is best for shorter stuff.

BryanT said:

what kind of shorter pieces do you use Bear for (or have you used)? -- the only issue I have with Bear, so far is that the Pro version is a subscription. Nothing wrong with that, it ensures continued development, But by and large while it is a cool app, I can see why you say it is best for shorter stuff.

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I write online help systems, many of which used proprietary tools; Bear is really useful for drafting short Help segments, in part because the Pro version supports very clean HTML export as well as Markdown, both of which are used by many Help systems.

I also use Bear to draft Blog posts, exporting the HTML to wither the CMS or to BBEdit if I need to tweak the HTML/CSS or include JavaScript.

Bear is not, at all, comparable to Scrivener.

AW Admin said:

I write online help systems, many of which used proprietary tools; Bear is really useful for drafting short Help segments, in part because the Pro version supports very clean HTML export as well as Markdown, both of which are used by many Help systems.

I also use Bear to draft Blog posts, exporting the HTML to wither the CMS or to BBEdit if I need to tweak the HTML/CSS or include JavaScript.

Bear is not, at all, comparable to Scrivener.

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I can definitely see the pluses for that kind of work. I hadn't considered Bear for its HTML / CSS markup capabilities but that does sound like a great use of the tool. I will tuck that away for future reference since I also write technical blogs (but haven't done one in quite some time) -- and there is nothing quite like writing something in a browser window only to find that your login has expired and you lose everything you have written because of it. I think that's the reason that i looked closely at Scrivener several years ago.

Thanks for sharing how you use the tools that you write with!

Bryan

As of 1 May 2017, WriteWay Professional is free. The developer has decided to move on to other things (probably retirement). Support will still be available to a limited degree.