software for writing books

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by teh603

Did you ever have to deal with publishers who wouldn't accept printouts from any printers other than a daisy wheel typewriter-style printer?

At that time, when I had a number of prose poems and poetry published (in Fantasy Crosswinds, Nyctolops, etc.), it simply never occurred to me that I could even send out anything other than printed copies, which I mailed to those respective editors. This was back about 1983. I can't even remember if I had something called email!



Don

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by BookCat

How has this thread wandered down Nostalgia Alley?

Say, do you remember the time when everyone had to walk a mile to school in snow?


(Oops! Wrong thread.)



Don

[BookCat]

So have we exhausted the writing software?

Shame, I really liked reading this thread.

[Matth79]

Seeing "software for writing books", I can't help thinking of something where you'd give it a few details, then it would hourglass for a while and spit out something beginning "T'was a dark and stormy night"

Seriously, a quich search reveals some interesting items, such as:
http://www.novelist.ch/joomla/ Storybook, with free & Pro versions
http://www.storyhack.com/2009/12/07/...-texttree-1-3/ Getting a little old now, but looks an adequate outliner

[Metal Mick]

Hi Matth79, et al,

I took a look at Storybook several times, but it nagged me to upgrade to the Pro version, and though it has some nice features - and is available for Linux - it has no word-processing tools inbuilt. This means I have to toggle between applications to actually do the writing.

Also, the nicest features are in the Pro version which costs, and I thought other products offered more for similar money.

Cheers,

[teh603]

Originally Posted by BookCat

So have we exhausted the writing software?

Shame, I really liked reading this thread.

Two, three months. Then something new will be out, or there'll be a plain text editor for Android, or something like that.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by teh603

Two, three months. Then something new will be out, or there'll be a plain text editor for Android, or something like that.

There are already plenty of Word processors for Android, including MS Word.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by BookCat

So have we exhausted the writing software?

Shame, I really liked reading this thread.

You should be writing anyway!

[gmw]

I'm wondering if this post is likely to reveal me as being unduly thick ... but here goes:

I write software for a living (database stuff, payroll mostly but other things too). Part of writing software is writing manuals to help use that software. Being like many software developers, I've been slack in maintaining the help, indeed I haven't really touched it in a few years ... but just recently I received an update notice for the software I use to write it. I only just occurred to me that I could have tried using this software for writing my books. It would be overkill, but it just struck me that it would probably work - and for people wanting more sophistication for production of special ebooks (links and graphics and things) then such software could be worth a serious look.

The software I use (Help and Manual) is rather expensive compared to other book-writing software mentioned so far, and many others are similarly priced, though there must be some cheaper options out there these days (I started using H&M many years ago).

I think some of the specialised software already mentioned here is a better choice for normal novel writing, but for anyone considering their options such software as I describe above could be worth a look.

[Metal Mick]

Originally Posted by gmw

I'm wondering if this post is likely to reveal me as being unduly thick ... but here goes:

<snip>
I think some of the specialised software already mentioned here is a better choice for normal novel writing, but for anyone considering their options such software as I describe above could be worth a look.

No, GMW, you do not seem obtuse at all! Quite the opposite, in fact.

I took a quick look at "your" software, and it certainly looks to be quite powerful and perhaps in some ways overkill for writing a novel, and yet not so good in other ways.(WW for example has some fairly useful character creation stuff, and tools like timeline creation for story flow is in other software.)

Certainly, if I had H&M, I'd be inclined to try using it. There is probably no single piece of novel-centric software around that suits most people - I'd love a combination of WW and MyNovel plus things like curly quotes in the WP side of things and a few other bits and pieces. The guarantee is that others will have their own preferences in software.

Initially, I was taught to at least write the novel first and then massage it into shape afterwards. That lesson has to some extent stuck, but the way my mind works ensures that I need to set things up for later events as I go, and the specialized software aids with this. I'm around 1/8th of the way in now (first turning point) and think it's progressing reasonably well. I could easily have declined to purchase MN and stuck with my faithful wordprocessor, but structuring and working on the flow would have been less straightforward.

One great example is in the character bios: I feel obliged to use the facility in the software which has room for birth, death (often not needed), physical characteristics, favourite things, etc. I've added to this by using some of the aspects of character creation from WW. I feel I know the characters far better now than previously. Not sure H&M would do this for me, but it's hard to tell from screenshots.

Cheers,

[WatchAdam]

I'm partial to Scrivener for Windows because it keeps me organized as I write, but at the same time doesn't force me to outline every little detail before I sit down to write. I love the ability to jump around my novel without endless scrolling, or move passages / chapters without having to copy/paste.

It's not free, but cheap compared to a lot of professional software on the market.

[Metal Mick]

Hi all,

just FYI, I found this page:

http://www.novel-writing-software.net/

- I don't necessarily agree with all her reviews, but they are at at times quite detailed and for a list of these applications and a starting point it has merit.

Cheers,

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Metal Mick

[...]One great example is in the character bios: I feel obliged to use the facility in the software which has room for birth, death (often not needed), physical characteristics, favourite things, etc. I've added to this by using some of the aspects of character creation from WW. I feel I know the characters far better now than previously. Not sure H&M would do this for me, but it's hard to tell from screenshots.

Not that it would do it for you - as the specialised software does with specific fields for all the things they've dreamed up - but you could soon create your own templates for character topics ("topics" are online help versions of "scenes"), that carry whatever you wanted.

Because H&M is not designed with this in mind you'd have to create your own structure to a certain extent - but there would be nothing stopping you from creating effectively the same tree layout on the left as what you see in most of the writing software I've seen.

It's an interesting thought anyway, and for those with more "interesting" project requirements than a typical novel such software could be useful.

[eskimo49]

Originally Posted by slainte

Hi
Just wondering if anyone has used the various software which help with writing books such as story weaver and if so how did they got on? Also where to get the software for free.
Thanks

I use Open Office (don't see why I should contribute to Microsoft's profits), which works reasonably well. I also bought (yes actually used my own money) Pageplus X6 from Serif. One reason was because this version was suitable for writing e-books and can convert the book into E-PUB and Kindle formats, however it doesn't save in a format suitable for sending to Smashwords. I also found that deleting/adding a page from the middle also had a detrimental effect on the number of pages at the end of the book (removing some) which was a bit confusing.

I also use SIGIL and E-PUB Validator to check the suitability of the books formats (both available at zero cost).

What I would really like is the one programme where I can write my book, with 1 (and 1 only Master Copy) which can then produce transform the books into files suitable for all the major e-book distributors (Kindle, Smashwords, Lulu etc). At the moment I find this task impossible.

[Metal Mick]

Originally Posted by eskimo49

I use Open Office <snip>

What I would really like is the one programme where I can write my book, with 1 (and 1 only Master Copy) which can then produce transform the books into files suitable for all the major e-book distributors (Kindle, Smashwords, Lulu etc). At the moment I find this task impossible.

Hi Eskimo49, et al,

but +1 for the software that does it all. Why nobody has done this is a mystery, for it is a logical next step in the development process. I can't recall which, but I seem to think that one of the more popular applications mentioned here exports to a format or two.

The MN4 website claims a Kindle publisher is available as a plug-in, but after owning the software for nearly 2 months, the download page still says "temporarily unavailable".

Youtube has a few files that might be of value to Ooo users, one of which is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMxxhxL9Quw

- search for openoffice writing and you'll find several come up, but I haven't looked at them yet.

Cheers,