What writing program do you use?

MS Word 2002. I tried the newer versions but, for some reason, it didn't seem to have the...well, lack of a better word, "flexibility" of 2002. So far it's my weapon of choice when I clack away at a story.

I prefer Word, but I know people who swear by WordPerfect.

Word.

Word

I use Word too. So that's six votes so far

Re: Writing Program

Microsoft Word 2003--and I will be beta testing the next version. I also use Excel for some things that require making lists.

stace001 said:

A friend of mine recently asked me what kind of writing program I use to write my novels.

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I've used Word Perfect before, but I'm so spoiled on Word that I try not to use anything else.

I wonder what she needs help with that she can't resolve with a tutorial or the help search feature, or online help, or google, or...

I use Word just because that was what the firm I worked for at the time choose years ago.

There are some free downloadable program I've heard of (and they seem to get high marks); I don't use them so I can't give a recommendation either way.

ac

Word here too.

Word

OpenOffice.org, keep it updated the newest version is sweet. This is most likely the free proggy you were talking about.
www.openoffice.org

Word 2002.
From what I remember of LaTeX, it's a Unix-based command-driven program. A friend of mine used it for his engineering PhD thesis in the mid 90's. Apparently it's very good for tweaking page layout, particularly if you need to position graphs and tables.

I use Word although I used to use Word Perfect, and preferred it--it's just that the publishing industry standard now is Word so it's easier just to give in and use it.

There are many programs which claim to help a writer produce a novel or a script: I've reviewed several of them and I found them intrusive. They do give some help with plotting, characterisation etc.--but they don't help you get words down on paper which is the thing, really, isn't it?

Word XP because it's what I have and know.

CAVEAT: Never use the Master Document function of any version of Word.

Word

Word 2003 is my number one tool, though I also have WordPerfect 12, and the RC version of OpenOffice 2.0.

WordPerfect has a smaller footprint than Word 2003, and also has a much better grammar check program. It's a good deal, and I'm slowly finding myself using it more and more.

I keep OpenOffice only because I like to keep up with what's going on in the word processing world. It's Good Enough for most things, but lacks several of the tools I use with Word 2003.

Appaently, now that Google and Sun Systems have joined forces, it won't be long before all the OpenOffice tools will be available through the Google toobar.

"W0rd"

Open Office, Word, Abiword, paper and pen, depending on where I am and what's available.

Word. My daughter switched to a Mac some time ago and swears it is much better once you get used to it. I did try a Mac for a while but couldn't get into it.

I tend to use Word but in the past, I have also used a program called RoughDraft (http://www.rsalsbury.co.uk/rd.htm). It's a freeware program created specifically for writers. It's nice and simple. Makes it easy to just write and worry about things like spellcheck/grammar check later in the editing process. It helped a lot during Nanowrimo last year.

Word

zornhau said:

Word XP because it's what I have and know.

CAVEAT: Never use the Master Document function of any version of Word.

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I haven't had any problems at all with the Master Document function on Word 2003amd didn't with Word XP, either, once I updated that version. Before that, the Master Document function was junk. Since XP, however, I've used it routinely and haven't had a single problem. I'm not sure I trust it yet, but so far, so good. And Word 2003 makes it darned near impossible to lose a document of any sort.

IMO, Word has a great advantage of being common, and it comes in very handy with e-mail submissions and such. LaTex is nice if you want to put tons of formulas in, and edit your graphs as you go; for writing text, Word is perfectly adequate.

Software

The wisest thing to do is simply pick a word processor you like. I love all the editing tools Word has, the research features, and the fact that the latest version of Word lets me and an editor work on the same story at the same time, in real time. But I think WordPerfect is nearly as good in most ways, and better in some.

But Robert J. Sawyer, Roger MacBride Allen, Jeffrey A. Carver, Arthur C. Clarke, David Gerrold, Eric Kotani, Paul Levinson, George R. R. Martin, Vonda McIntyre, Jennifer Roberson, and a number of other pro writers still use WordStar for DOS. If my hands were still in good shape, I might still be using WordStar. For writing early drafts, it can't be beat.

I've met writers who still use Word 3.1, WordPerfect 5.1, and Works as their number one processor. I know several pro writers who use OpenOffice, and several who use StarOffice. Mac users have a number of word processors, and some swear by each of them. Name a word processor, and some writer is out there using it.

Fiction, as they say, is written with wetware, not software. As long as you like a word processor, and as long as it can save to Rich Text Format and/or to Word format, and as long as the program is stable, just go with what you like, what you need.

The latest version of Word saves me time on the final draft, and lets me work with most editors easier, but it's hardly necessary.

Most writers do use Word, and by a wide margin. But this is largely because Word is what they have available. WordPerfect is also popular, and very cheap, if you buy the Family Pack version.

But any word processor that lets you get the words down, and that doesn't crash constantly, is probably the one you should be using.

MS Word 2000 Professional. For no other reason than my ex was able to lay his hands on the software and gave it to me. Before that, it was Word '97. I don't see much difference. As James said, it's written with wetware not software, so as long as it gets the words on screen/paper. Before '97 I used pen and paper. I have to tell myself not to be distracted by shiny things and up-to-date features. Just write the book!

Jamesaritchie said:

I've met writers who still use Word 3.1, WordPerfect 5.1, and Works as their number one processor.

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[Raises hand and waves it about wildly]

Me me me!

I'm a WordPerfect 5.1 user. I got used to it in high school, when I borrowed my brother's tutor's startup disks. At the time, compatibility was a big issue--the computer at home was running Windows, but all the school computers ran Mac. WP51 format was the most portable thing I could get my hands on. The Macs could read it and save to it without losing my formatting.

Still seems like WP51 is a commonly convertible format. I'm used to all its F# keys, and I like the way a DOS word processor doesn't have any WYSIWYG nonsense to distract me from the words. It prints out basic manuscript format without any problems, too.

If I need to email a copy to people who maybe don't have the conversion files installed, I open it up in MS Word and save it as "Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 RTF", and that'll open on pretty much any version of Word on Windows or Mac. And it's RTF, so that's OK.