software for writing books

[jaxx6166]

For Grammar checks, I use Grammarian Pro - I think it's Mac only, but for like $29.99, it was a steal.

[MrPLD]

I'm probably a bit late to this thread but I'd like to throw in what we used for developing our publications which allowed us to export to almost any format required;

We use Ubuntu Linux as our OS and all the writing is done using a lesser known program called LyX ( http://www.lyx.org ). For those of you from the 1990's era, you'll get the feeling that LyX is somewhat like WP51 (though not as difficult to get started in ).

With LyX, we just write and it manages things like hypenation, kerning, margins, widows-orphans, and all those "little" things that collated together turn your hard work into a genuine masterpiece. For novels, we suggest the "memoirs" package.

For eBook generation, we export from LyX to HTML and then import that via Calibre (of which most of you already know and use).

For graphics/artwork we use Inkscape and sometimes GIMP (if we're working on raster images).

Thanks,
Paul.

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Interesting title this thread has - less generous folk (like me) may wonder mmmm

"Software for writing books ...." instead of the more correct

"Software for writing books on (/in) .... "

Geoff, as one of the Tahitian TESOL students I used to tutor would have cautioned you most emphatically, "You must never end a sentence with a proposition!"

[GeoffC]

Oh ! Botheration ....

..... and then I look, carefully, at the sentence admonishing me....

[Billjr13]

MS Office Word 2007, but I see that Scrivner is working on a windows version that will be out 2011, with the Beta starting in October this year. I thisnk I will give it a look.

[mjhudston]

I use office HD to actually write on the iPad and my stuff is stored on my MobileMe workspace, so I can access it anywhere. However what I am looking for is a plot management app so I can keep track of my characters locations etc!

[DavidRM]

I use The Journal for all my writing: short stories, novels, blog posts--even work/project/personal journals.

As I'm the designer and developer of The Journal, this should shock no one.

I hadn't heard of Snowflake before. I'll have to check that out.

-David

[James_Wilde]

Originally Posted by MeiLin

If you're a Mac user, I cannot recommend Scrivener enough. There is a trial version, but the software itself isn't too expensive. It's the best money I ever spent, myself. http://www.literatureandlatte.com/

Hear, hear. It's so good it would be worth buying a Mac just to be able to use it.

But if you don't want that, and/or don't want a Mac, get LibreOffice (the entirely free, non-Oracle offshoot of Open Office) from documentfoundation.org and use the Master Document functionality. I wrote my first novel that way, and then discovered Scrivener, where I'm working on my second.

[James_Wilde]

Originally Posted by Enchantlee

I like open office but the only problem with it is the spell checker and that it doesn't have a punctuation checker like Word does. Most of the newer computers don't come with word, I don't know why.

What's the problem with the spill chucker, Enchantlee? I never have a problem since I d/ld the UK English bits and pieces.

[DavidRM]

A relative newcomer to the writing software scene is StoryBox. It's about to go to v1.0 (and up in price) after being in beta for about a year. It's Windows software with some Scrivener-like features.

-David

[BookCat]

Has anyone else tried Papel? It's for brainstorming and also a place to keep those odd ideas. Great and simple to use, especially if you adapt it and are graphically minded.

http://papel.en.softonic.com/

[Metal Mick]

Hi all,

I haven't used any of these before, but the thread piqued my interest.

Some of the suggestions here have had a lot of work done to them and it shows in the attractive UI.

I wanted to try Contour (not mentioned here), but it wouldn't install - I just got a "package unzipping" message or similar, and then nothing. So far I have yWriter, Storybook, WriteWay, and StroyBox that I am having a play with.

yWriter so far has me a little more hooked than the others, because it allows me to import an image of the location I am writing about - whether it be a map, a landscape or a room. Though it doesn't allow me to edit the imported text as far as I can see, which would make it unsuitable for me.

I like those applications that allow me to write and edit within it, rather than just import "completed" prose. (From experience, I regard very little that write as "finished.") There are limits to how strong the editing tools need to be, but as somebody who sets up his pages with paragraph styles routinely, I would probably miss this feature. And what if the importing didn't include links back to the original file?

I haven't looked at how easy or otherwise it is to get the finished text "out" of these applications - if I want to get the manuscript to a publisher, for example - but I shall at some stage.

Overall, I can see why these can be of use, but as yet none has become my preferred option, but we shall see as time passes.

Cheers,

Michael P

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by Metal Mick

Hi all,

I haven't used any of these before, but the thread piqued my interest.

Some of the suggestions here have had a lot of work done to them and it shows in the attractive UI.

I wanted to try Contour (not mentioned here), but it wouldn't install - I just got a "package unzipping" message or similar, and then nothing. So far I have yWriter, Storybook, WriteWay, and StroyBox that I am having a play with.

yWriter so far has me a little more hooked than the others, because it allows me to import an image of the location I am writing about - whether it be a map, a landscape or a room. Though it doesn't allow me to edit the imported text as far as I can see, which would make it unsuitable for me.

I like those applications that allow me to write and edit within it, rather than just import "completed" prose. (From experience, I regard very little that write as "finished.") There are limits to how strong the editing tools need to be, but as somebody who sets up his pages with paragraph styles routinely, I would probably miss this feature. And what if the importing didn't include links back to the original file?

I haven't looked at how easy or otherwise it is to get the finished text "out" of these applications - if I want to get the manuscript to a publisher, for example - but I shall at some stage.

Overall, I can see why these can be of use, but as yet none has become my preferred option, but we shall see as time passes.

Cheers,

Michael P

yWriter lets me both import and edit text, so I'm not sure why you're having the problem. The only thing I can think of is if you're trying to edit the text in the content tab at the bottom right of the main window. However, if you double-click on a scene in the scene list above, it will open an editor window where you can edit and compose text as desired.

Hope that helps.

[Metal Mick]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

yWriter lets me both import and edit text, so I'm not sure why you're having the problem. The only thing I can think of is if you're trying to edit the text in the content tab at the bottom right of the main window. However, if you double-click on a scene in the scene list above, it will open an editor window where you can edit and compose text as desired.

Hope that helps.

Hi Lemurion,

have checked it out, and you are right - I was trying to use the "content" tab. your suggestion worked like a charm.

Many thanks,

Michael P

[James_Wilde]

Originally Posted by Metal Mick

I haven't looked at how easy or otherwise it is to get the finished text "out" of these applications - if I want to get the manuscript to a publisher, for example - but I shall at some stage.

Overall, I can see why these can be of use, but as yet none has become my preferred option, but we shall see as time passes.

My experience, fwiw, is that the actual writing takes a lot longer than the conversion to e-book, so much longer that the conversion process has to be relearnt every time. So it's the writing phase which needs one's attention. You have to be comfortable with that.

Then most text handling programs can export in a variety of formats, .doc, .rtf, .pdf, .html, hopefully also .odt, and at that stage one can select the choice that best fits one's conversion method and the vague memory of how one did it most successfully last time.

Hence my plugs for Scrivener and LibreOffice. They're creative tools which can feed technical conversion tools later.