software for writing books

[frahse]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

ViaVoice is the sound of shattered hopes in the ears of legions of Linux users and the proof that when a company says they stand fully behind something they truly mean: "We won't screw them yet, we are still in the process of unbuttoning our corporative pants." This is why we linuxers still remember that name. Google ViaVoice+linux and you 'll see quickly.

There are many names like that. The best we can say about them is that they inure us against the next time we hear rich promises pouring from glib or glistening lips.

[silvi]

Originally Posted by gmw

I think if I had to use type-writer mode, or Write or Die, in order to write then I'd give up and find another hobby. Writing's something I do because I want to, not because I want yet more deadlines to meet, and that means getting involved in what I'm writing. When it's going well I have still managed to produce a reasonable volume over relative short times even using my continuous rewrite approach.

Although I agree that getting involved in your writing is the main aspect of writing a story, I think that Write or Die has its uses.
It has helped me produce a whole load of information about characters and plot, simply because I have to write them NOW.
I wouldn't use Write or Die to write a whole novel, because I type into it in quite random fashion and don't care about typos, POV's, etc. But as something to get the creative juices flowing at the beginning of a story, I find it invaluable.

[Metal Mick]

HI all,

about a week ago I bought a licence for LSB, and have no regrets. I had a good play with the demo for around 3 weeks and got stuck right into my writing.

Around 10k words in I decided 3rd person past tense was not hat I wanted and shifted to 1st person present tense. I'm now a bit over 30k words in. I discovered a relatively easy way to import my work into a new "binder"... after I did it "manually." Tarnation!

The way to use LSB is quite different, and the application can be confusing and intimidating, but also, there is a wealth of power there. One thing I discovered when I used the thesaurus was that it gave you alternative words in you sentence (something I had never seen before), and double-clicking on the sentence will replace the highlighted word.

I miss the text zoom feature of other applications and not being able to store URLs as active links to research pages (like in Write Way). I also miss the readability statistics. Unusually, I found the rtf files that LSB creates don't open that well in LibreOffice, looking rather jumbled, but do fine in WordPad. A select all and clear formatting command fixes this. No spell-as-you-go, either.

I really like the automatic curly quotes and the ease with which I can assign keystrokes to insert special characters. I discovered "line notes" - if you want to leave a memo to yourself in a section of prose this is an easy thing and they can be quickly stripped from the manuscript afterwards. The character generator is something I've been contemptuous of in other programs, but like it in LSB, and the dossier (character description form/area) is terrific.

There is a Yahoo! mailing list for support with some terrific people, but some of my messages just disappear and I am still on probation after a month so all my messages are moderated. My messages - around half - seem to disappear into the ether, so it can be several days before I know if my question or words of thanks gets through. According to Yahoo! there are a little less than 1,500 members on the list, although when I post a reply, the memebership message changes to show only 1100 and something. (Hmnnn.) That said, there were only around 50 messages for June and also July.

Overall, I recommend LSB but with reservations - you need to work at understanding how to get the best out of it. Do that, and you will find it has a lot to offer. There is an online course by a third party that I found, but I can tell you nothing of the syllabus, because it is made available after payment, as far as I can tell. Still, perseverance with the Yahoo! group and following the tutorials on the LSB website will certainly kick-start your familiarity with the program.

I've given some broad strokes about the application, but if you have any specific questions, ask away.

Cheers,

[HJ Hampson]

I tried the trial of Scrivener for Windows, but couldn't quite get into it. I am just planning a new book though so might give it another go. Otherwise it's a load of post-it notes and cards stuck on a wall for me!

I found Scrivener was a nightmare for screenplays though. I would always use Final Draft for those, and woe betide anyone who tries to transfer a screenplay between the two programs... not good at all.

A easy to use / view is
Focus writer use able on Mac/Windows/Linux
I use and find it great
http://gottcode.org/focuswriter/

[Alkinea]

I wrote a simple to use software to convert LibreOffice (or OpenOffice) to ePUB and Kindle (mobi). I'd love some feedback. You can test it here:

soft.alkinea.net

Of course, it's free.

Alki,
--
[Self-promotional link deleted - MODERATOR]

[Andanzas]

Has anyone here used Yarny? Looks intriguing. No need to install any software, you write right on your browser: https://yarny.me/

For now, Yarny needs an active internet connection to work reliably. Offline usage is one of those things we're hard at work on, but it's not quite ready.

[Metal Mick]

Originally Posted by Alkinea

I wrote a simple to use software to convert LibreOffice (or OpenOffice) to ePUB and Kindle (mobi). I'd love some feedback. <snip>

Hi Alki,

I tried this utility, and it seems to work well, though I have only tried it in epub so far and opened in Calibre.

My original test file had indented paragraphs, and Alkinea added to the indent dramatically, taking what was a 1cm indent and increasing it about threefold. I thought I'd slip in a drop cap on the first two characters of the opening paragraph - an indented quote ("Solace Conlon murdered..."), which is a reasonably hard task, and Alkinea pushed the "olace" a fair way to the right, about 12 characters.

When I have time, I shall read through your help files so I can use the application a bit better, and let you know how I went.

The application doesn't seem to offer quite as much as the plugin for LibreOffice "writer2epub". In LO, my indents were retained, although it too, had a bit of an issue with the drop cap, though not so much as Alkinea.

Still, it is a neat little application and stand alone: the LO plugin has taken charge of one of my toolbars, inserting its icons in there.

Many thanks for giving us access to it. I would not have known of it otherwise.

Cheers,

[teh603]

Originally Posted by Metal Mick

The application doesn't seem to offer quite as much as the plugin for LibreOffice "writer2epub". In LO, my indents were retained, although it too, had a bit of an issue with the drop cap, though not so much as Alkinea.

Still, it is a neat little application and stand alone: the LO plugin has taken charge of one of my toolbars, inserting its icons in there.

Does it embed fonts? I've got some FOSS fonts that are just begging to be used for chapter headings.

[Metal Mick]

Not sure which you are referring to, but both the LO plugin and Alkinea permit font embedding, as far as memory serves.

I need more novel (ie. finished!) before I investigate such applications/plugins more.

Cheers,

[Alkinea]

Originally Posted by Metal Mick

My original test file had indented paragraphs, and Alkinea added to the indent dramatically, taking what was a 1cm indent and increasing it about threefold.

It might be a unit thing, as I only work with inches. Do you have a simple file I could test? PM me.

[Alkinea]

Originally Posted by teh603

Does it embed fonts? I've got some FOSS fonts that are just begging to be used for chapter headings.

Yes, it can embed fonts.
Be careful though, as even free fonts can't always be embedded in ebooks. This is why I added the option to convert headings and drop caps into pictures.

[Metal Mick]

Originally Posted by Alkinea

It might be a unit thing, as I only work with inches. Do you have a simple file I could test? PM me.

Hi Alkinea,

sure I can. Give me a bit - it's night in Oz, when I write this, and I have a wife who wants my attention.

Cheers,

Michael P

[Freeshadow]

We are not in kansas anymore?
Dorothy!?

[Alkinea]

Originally Posted by Metal Mick

My original test file had indented paragraphs, and Alkinea added to the indent

This was a unit issue (cm instead of in) and it has been fixed.
You can try the new version.