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View Poll Results: What writing software do you use? (Multiple Choice)
Standalone Word-Processor (Word, Pages, Openoffice etc) 35 61.40%
Specialised Writing Tool (Scrivener, Storymill, Storyist etc) 12 21.05%
Non-specialised or Mix (Word+Excel, Vim, Latex etc) 16 28.07%
I hire a typist and sit eating chocolates and dictating my prose. 3 5.26%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 57. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 07-24-2009, 08:11 PM   #16
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I use an ancient copy of Word 2000. I've tried a lot of alternatives but always end up back with Word. My favorite of all time however was Word Perfect. The visible interface was almost non-existent, just an almost entirely blank screen to type on. I sometimes miss the DOS days.
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Old 07-24-2009, 08:27 PM   #17
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Only just found this thread

I use Scrivener
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Old 07-24-2009, 08:37 PM   #18
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And now I am jealous of you
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Old 07-24-2009, 08:50 PM   #19
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So when your PC dies, get a Mac

Or get a cheap laptop and Hackintosh it.
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Old 07-24-2009, 08:53 PM   #20
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Hrm.... So. On page 1 - someone mentioned Write it Now. Can anyone else shed some more light on it
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Old 07-24-2009, 09:38 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jaxx6166 View Post
Hrm.... So. On page 1 - someone mentioned Write it Now. Can anyone else shed some more light on it
It is a $60 dollar program that contains all your writing snippets and bits in one integrated interface. Charater tabs to describe the people in your story, location tabs, events, notes, ideas, charts, pics, and of course Chapters.

If you demand swoopy application interface WriteItNow is a good deal. I own it, have used it, and keep going back to two other products: PowerWriter and yWriter. Can't tell you why, it works well and does exactly what the website says, and is stable, but just doesn't feel as right to me as PowerWriter.

I like PowerWriter the best just because it organizes those same things closest to the way I think. I like the blank page in the largest part of the window, a tree view of the book, acts, chapters and scenes in the left pane, and multiple tabs for the writer's paraphenalia across the bottom of the window. It has a good number of prep tools like WriteItNow (Premise, Synopsis, Characters, Plot Points, and Notes/Research). A useful feature is the ability to embed notes (e.g. "come back to this paragraph and write a long description about what the protagonist was feeling..."). I paid $100 for PowerWriter three years ago and there hasn't been a major upgrade but several small updates. Very stable and the only reason I keep looking elsewhere is that it stores all data in a PowerWriter database. It will auto-backup to another drive which I do, but as nervous as I am about losing my drivel, I still output an RTF file about once a week so that if PowerWriter never works again, I could move my work to about any other program.

You can't beat yWriter for value though since it is Free (Donations recommended since the author of yWriter is a Sci-Fi writer that uses it to write and publish his works, and improves yWriter along the way). Very full-featured and if it displayed the blank page while showing all the tabs for charaters, locations, items, etc., it would be my only creative writing tool. Truthfully, I sent Simon a small donation last year because I used yWriter during NaNoWriMo which was long enough to know it just doesn't fit me as well as PowerWriter does. simon keeps improving it (now version 5 and each was a major upgrade with small updates in between) and I keep downloading the updates and testing what he's changed about once a month. At some point he'll add enough features, or the features that fit me, and it will supplant my old PowerWriter fav. I look forward to this for one big reason: Simon uses RFT files as the individual documents to park data in this program, not a proprietary database. To me that's pretty big and if the Scene editor just acted a little more like a word processor, it would be the perfect tool for me. Many folks, including several puplished authors use it as their primary tool.

Hope something here helps.

Last edited by pking36330; 07-24-2009 at 09:47 PM.
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Old 08-05-2009, 03:35 AM   #22
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I am an all Linux user, and uses GEdit and OpenOffice.org
Gedit uses tabs and a full view. It highlights the current line, shows right margin, line numbering, dark background and much more.
I make one tab for each world/character, one tab for the plot overview and one for the single chapter.
I cut'n paste into OpenOffice.org for editing and continues there.

As far as I can tell, this is a nice way to write and it is low cost.
The great advantage is that you can use whatever crappy machine you have and install the software there. For my sake, I left the focus from software and hardware needs and could start concentrate on the important issue - to write!
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Old 08-13-2009, 01:07 PM   #23
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i was using textedit

but i just grabbed the 30 day trial of Scrivener, thanks for the heads up
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Old 08-13-2009, 05:14 PM   #24
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Just OpenOffice. I write on a 7" eee screen, so extras on screen = not appreciated Besides, I use the same software for work, so no brain drain in switching products when I leave work.

I can see that character bios etc could come in rather handy, though. Knowing me, I'd set up a database
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Old 08-13-2009, 05:24 PM   #25
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Well I tried scrivener and I'll be damned if I can figure it

took me 20 mins to change the font (and I like to think myself computer literate, being in webdesign and all)

just out of curiousity what would people suggest for formatting for easy conversion to ebook,

there's plenty of info on what's best for publishers (double line spacing and all) but what's best foe the likes of smashwords and the like
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Old 08-13-2009, 07:05 PM   #26
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I use Word (2003, not 2007, hell no) for most of my writing. Really, any old word processor will do - I tend to freeflow write - but I'm comfortable with Word's interface and am too lazy to try OpenOffice or similar. I prefer as few distractions as possible when I'm writing.

For my blogfic, I use yWriter. Because of the post-a-day format, it fits into the scene-by-scene breakdown perfectly. It's invaluable for keeping the blog organised on my end, and it works on my little 10" EEE PC.

Haven't tried Scrivener (I have a Mac at home), but maybe I'll look it up!

~Kess / Mel
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Old 08-13-2009, 07:08 PM   #27
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Old 08-13-2009, 09:47 PM   #28
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I can see that character bios etc could come in rather handy, though. Knowing me, I'd set up a database
You should take a peek at yWriter 5, the price is right (free, donations accepted). The author of the software, Simon, is an author and I'm pretty sure he doesn't write IN yWriter, he just organizes his novel there, including character, location, and items tracking and development. It will probably feel to you like a database with all the tabs, fields, windows and such, but it saves your content in RTF files. It is a very light program (much smaller than OpenOffice and not as resource hungry when operating), so I would think it might be a great fit for netbook use, though I don't own one and haven't tested it on one.

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Old 08-13-2009, 09:57 PM   #29
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Originally Posted by pking36330 View Post
You should take a peek at yWriter 5, the price is right (free, donations accepted). The author of the software, Simon, is an author and I'm pretty sure he doesn't write IN yWriter, he just organizes his novel there, including character, location, and items tracking and development. It will probably feel to you like a database with all the tabs, fields, windows and such, but it saves your content in RTF files. It is a very light program (much smaller than OpenOffice and not as resource hungry when operating), so I would think it might be a great fit for netbook use, though I don't own one and haven't tested it on one.
Oooh, could be! Thanks
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Old 08-13-2009, 10:20 PM   #30
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Originally Posted by pking36330 View Post
You should take a peek at yWriter 5, the price is right (free, donations accepted). The author of the software, Simon, is an author and I'm pretty sure he doesn't write IN yWriter, he just organizes his novel there, including character, location, and items tracking and development. It will probably feel to you like a database with all the tabs, fields, windows and such, but it saves your content in RTF files. It is a very light program (much smaller than OpenOffice and not as resource hungry when operating), so I would think it might be a great fit for netbook use, though I don't own one and haven't tested it on one.
I use yWriter on a netbook, and it runs fine. No problems at all.
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