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[BookCat]

Originally Posted by Hitch

It doesn't look remarkably different than anything else, from Novel Factory to Power Structure to Scrivener to Dramatica Pro and ad nauseam. I mean, seriously, how many different ways can you see/say the same thing?

Anybody here think it's special? I'm genuinely curious. If something gains popularity, I need to stay up with it for all the obvious reasons.

Hitch

Bibisco is very basic and simple to use which may be an advantage some people. Various software you mention is more complex. If you've learned how to use Novel Factory and/or Scrivener, stick to those. Power Structure doesn't appear to be sold anymore. I have it but rarely use this because it's so finickity. I've never tried Dramatic Pro.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by BookCat

Bibisco is very basic and simple to use which may be an advantage some people. Various software you mention is more complex. If you've learned how to use Novel Factory and/or Scrivener, stick to those. Power Structure doesn't appear to be sold anymore. I have it but rarely use this because it's so finickity. I've never tried Dramatic Pro.

To me, DP is a bit...foofy. Not to any good reason. Of course, I find Scrivener a lot of foof, for what it does. I mean, people love the "corkboards" and all that and that's nice. If it works for them, I certainly don't begrudge it. It just doesn't float my boat. I've tried Plottr, which to me, is much ado about nothing. I have it; I have a lifetime license, but...I mean, where's the beef? If I could use it and then export it in a usable format to something OTHER than Scrivener, that would be great. (Like YWriter, which is still my rave fave). I have Truby's software, too, but it DESPERATELY needs updating. I mean...it's like, 1998-ish and it struggles to work on anything after Win7.

I just like simple stuff that WORKS. I downloaded Bibisco, because it appeared to have a lot of behind-the-scenes functionality that I like. I like tracking action/reaction (which I can do in YW, happily) and all that. the only thing I don't love about YW is that I can't segregate acts. That's about it. I can do chapters and scenes, which is fantastic and track people places, objects and IT will put together a character timeline for you (which nothing else does), which is awesome sauce, but I do wish I could designate ACTS somehow more...IDK. Sure, you can make empty chapters and mark them that way, but I like having the various segments visible to me.

And there's always good old Word. Using heading styles, you can easily make Acts, Chapters and scenes, and use the Nav Pane to drag-drop 'em around. Hell, it's where Scrivener got the idea!

I buy this crap mostly because we get files output therefrom, to use to make books, but if I were seriously writing, I can see how this crap would SQUIRREL! people away from getting any SQUIRREL! real work done.

Hitch

[Dr. Drib]

There is a Power Structure update info page:

https://www.powerstructure.com/

New owners, etc. This does not benefit me, however.

I have a Mac Air (2020; M1; Big Sur)

The new owners are revamping the product, and it has yet actually to be released, although there is a cloud-based version available.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

There is a Power Structure update info page:

https://www.powerstructure.com/

New owners, etc. This does not benefit me, however.

I have a Mac Air (2020; M1; Big Sur)

The new owners are revamping the product, and it has yet actually to be released, although there is a cloud-based version available.

I think that they emailed me and basically thought I should buy it AGAIN. Yeah, no thanks.

Hitch

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

There is a Power Structure update info page:

https://www.powerstructure.com/

New owners, etc. This does not benefit me, however.

I have a Mac Air (2020; M1; Big Sur)

The new owners are revamping the product, and it has yet actually to be released, although there is a cloud-based version available.

Weird how this works. One of the products I used for a long time, when I used Windows, was ScriptThing for DOS and Windows, and then (eventually) Movie Magic Screenwriter after they sold the product.

When they sold it (around 2000) one of the new products they were touting was PowerStructure (also PowerWriter, but I think that came around a little later).

This was just a small outfit started by screenplay writer named Ken Schafer, who was also a programmer. The original name was Script Perfection — I think they changed the main name to Write-Brain after they sold off ScriptThing. I think they managed to hold on to PowerStructure until about 2018 (looks like of the other products disappeared along the way). Now I don't know who owns it, you've got to wonder if it will ever actually make it to market.

Small world sometimes.

Some antique websites associated with this company...

https://web.archive.org/web/20000229...erfection.com/

https://web.archive.org/web/20010201...erfection.com/

https://web.archive.org/web/20010201...ite-brain.com/

[Dr. Drib]

^

I purchased Power Writer for my desktop Power Mac (6500 ?) back in 1999 or 2000. It cost $99 and I really loved it at that time.

[BookCat]

TBH I don't really like Power Structure enough to update it especially as the update won't work on my Windows 7 pc.
The newer UI looks a bit like WriteItNow, which I have and rarely use.
I'll stick to my old version of Scrivener for now.

Does anyone else seem to collect writing software which they hardly use?

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by BookCat

TBH I don't really like Power Structure enough to update it especially as the update won't work on my Windows 7 pc.
The newer UI looks a bit like WriteItNow, which I have and rarely use.
I'll stick to my old version of Scrivener for now.

Does anyone else seem to collect writing software which they hardly use?

Yeah, me too!

I seem to carry on an internal dialog, one that eventually convinces me to buy the damn thing!

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Yeah, me too!

I seem to carry on an internal dialog, one that eventually convinces me to buy the damn thing!

OMG, me too. I seem to be a total sucker for writing programs, even though I don't use them. I evaluate them for my customers and in some cases (Yeah, Scrivener, I'm lookin' at YOU!), you get packages, zips, or at least, exported files for formatting.

Hitch

[gmw]

My internal dialogue is about writing my own writing software (obviously the world needs yet another ) ... but I have so much other work on that it's still a long way down the queue.

Of course such plans means I am perfectly justified in collecting existing software to see what works and what doesn't as I plan for my own.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by gmw

My internal dialogue is about writing my own writing software (obviously the world needs yet another ) ... but I have so much other work on that it's still a long way down the queue.

Of course such plans means I am perfectly justified in collecting existing software to see what works and what doesn't as I plan for my own.

Let me know if you ever make one. ;-)

Hitch

[gmw]

Yes! That's three. Success if guaranteed.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by gmw

Yes! That's three. Success if guaranteed.

Hitch

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by gmw

Yes! That's three. Success if guaranteed.

Four! I am an unrepentant software geek. Have you ever used quoll writer? It's actually pretty good!

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

Four! I am an unrepentant software geek. Have you ever used quoll writer? It's actually pretty good!

Make that five -- and now I have the Linux beta of Quoll Writer. I must have about 20 ways I can write screenplays — but I basically only use Emacs with Fountain-Mode now.

And I have about 10 general word processors and several text editors (which is what I mainly use for general writing — Jstar being the main one).