Quote:
Originally Posted by Lima Bean
It's practice that helps me to write a better novel, not the word processor. I'd rather spend my time writing the next book than learning a new word processing program. For the time being, I'm sticking with Word.
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One of the problems with Word - and most other general word processors - is that they offer too much. They get the humble fiction writer into trouble. Besides the distraction of functions and features you not only do not want but should definitely not be using, there is the constant temptation to use things that seem useful but will only cause difficulties later.
The object of a modern dedicated fiction writers interface is, or should be, to keep the writer away from such distractions and to make it easier to use the result to produce publishable material when the time comes.
Of course there are counter arguments:
You already know Word, so why bother learning something else that simple does less?
When it comes to producing the final output you will be going over and over it anyway, so what harm is there in being forced, then, to clean up all the crud that crept in during creation. Even simply retyping it is not that big a deal, if it should come to that.
As always, writers will do what they feel most comfortable doing. And some will just enjoy the distraction of having yet another word processor they can try ... and blame it for their lack of progress.
