yWriter4

SLThomas · Aug 17, 2008

I downloaded this software a few days ago and I must say that so far so good! I'm not the most organized person, and I found that it really helps me. This morning I didn't have too much inspiration so I put all of my characters in the software. It made me think more about their goals and motivations, stuff that I didn't really think about but should have paid much more attention to. :snoopy:

And best of all it's free! I did run my anti-virus and anti-spyware on it first and it was all clear. I rarely download free software because I had a huge Trojan Horse in a P2P that messed up my former desktop computer a few years ago...One can never be too careful, right?

I found out about it from one of the threads in the Water Cooler, don't remember which one, so to whomever mentionned it, thank you!! And much thanks to the software designer as well! Does he post here?

Who else uses yWriter4? How often do you use it when writing your novel? Has it become somewhat indispensable? What features do you use the most?

Thanks in advance! :Sun:

S-L

FOTSGreg · Aug 17, 2008

Testing to see if my registration is now working (after nearly a year of visiting)...

I just downloaded the software and will be testing it out. I have a book that I'm finishing up the 5th draft for, 2 others WIPs, and several short stories that I'm working on organization of the data has been a problem (especially for one of the book WIPs which has lots of characters and differing POVs).

Hey, It worked!

Rae22 · Aug 17, 2008

I used yWriter2 some time ago, and ended up stopping because I was spending too much time playing with it and rearranging the few scenes I had, and not enough time doing any actual writing...

I did download yWriter4 the other day though, and if I can just locate a little willpower, I'm sure it'll be very helpful. I can see myself using the Character features quite a bit, though the Scene tools look to be the most useful.

FOTSGreg · Aug 17, 2008

I'm highly impressed with it so far. I recently had to go back into a 75k draft and rework the chapter sequencing to make better continuity sense and I wish I'd had this tool then. I can already see it's going to be a big help with a novel I've been working on for over 5 years that keeps stalling due to all the characters and things that are going on in it (multiple different viewpoints, scenes, characters, etc., of an interstellar war).

I thought about trying to use TurboNote, but it just didn;t do what I needed it to do in regards to writing character notes & such, but this program looks like it will do the job and, best of all, it's free.

Tiergan · Aug 17, 2008

I think a lot of people here use it. In fact I believe I read on another thread the person who wrote it is a member here. I don't know that for sure though.

I use it, everyday, as I am in the last stages of polishing. I find the storyboard a great instant look at where I am going, and where I have been. I can tell instantly if i have left a character alone for too long. I also like the percentage of words a character is in, how many scenes, and such. It let me know when one of my characters fell off track, I wanted her to be about 30% of the book, but she fell to 20%. The storyboard then helped me zoom in on which chapters I might want to work that character back in.

alleycat · Aug 17, 2008

SLThomas said:
I
I found out about it from one of the threads in the Water Cooler, don't remember which one, so to whomever mentionned it, thank you!! And much thanks to the software designer as well! Does he post here?

Yes, he does, using the name Spacejock. I don't remember seeing him around lately however.

bpmann · Aug 17, 2008

I'm on the yWriter mailing list... He's busy rewriting the program in a more modern version of Visual Basic and working on the latest Hal Spacejock novel.

Ugawa · Aug 17, 2008

Nyone know why it isn't working for me?

I have windows vista and i downloaded the new version, but when i download it and click run nothing happens

XX

bpmann · Aug 17, 2008

I believe you have to install it as the administrator... the discussion group, where you can ask Simon himself, is at http://groups.google.com/group/ywriter?hl=en

SLThomas · Aug 17, 2008

Ugawa said:
Nyone know why it isn't working for me?

I have windows vista and i downloaded the new version, but when i download it and click run nothing happens

XX

Is it possible that it's Vista preventing it from working? Everyone I know with Vista hate it. Out of topic for this thread, but I'll wait two or three years before buying a new laptop as I don't trust this first version...Maybe in two years all the Vista bugs will be repaired?

S-L, who enjoys her 2005 laptop even if the 2 key fell (it still works though!)

Bayou Bill · Aug 17, 2008

From a simple mind come a simple question:

Can the yWriter display colors be customized? I'm very hard-of-seeing and sensitive to light. I've screwed around with my PC's settings so that most backgrounds are black and the text yellow. This isn't a perfect solution, since I sometimes lose a bit of text plus the occasional buzzer and whistle, but it's better than getting headaches from squinting at the screen and then OD'ing on Tylenol.

MSWord, at least my old version, comes with an optional blue background. But I've found that to be the exception, not the rule. While the majority of programs, including MSWord, allow overrides of their color schemes, some insist it's either their way or take a hike down the old info highway.

If yWrite allows such changes, I'll give it a try. If not, I'll have to give it a pass. So any input would be appreciated.

Bayou Bill

dpaterso · Aug 18, 2008

I've got my Windows background set to eggshell green which my tired eyeballs like lots, and this shows up OK in yWriter4.

I went into Preferences and changed this to high contrast white on black (ugh!) and restarted yWriter4, and the colors showed as expected. Back to my old colors again... whew!

-Derek

Telstar · Aug 18, 2008

I dont like it, it confuses me. I prefer to stick to Word and OneNote.

Shadow_Ferret · Aug 18, 2008

SLThomas said:
Is Everyone I know with Vista hate it.

Except me.

But I hate all those writer "help" programs. I'd rather just write then have to deal with that learning curve. I think my computer is loaded with several that I downloaded, tested, and gave up on.

I'll stick with Word and Excel.

Bayou Bill · Aug 18, 2008

dpaterso said:
I've got my Windows background set to eggshell green which my tired eyeballs like lots, and this shows up OK in yWriter4, e.g.

I went into Preferences and changed this to high contrast white on black (ugh!) and restarted yWriter4, and the colors showed as expected. Back to my old colors again... whew!

-Derek

Sounds like it's a go. Thanks, Derek.

Bayou Bill

Tirjasdyn · Aug 18, 2008

Shadow_Ferret said:
Except me.

But I hate all those writer "help" programs. I'd rather just write then have to deal with that learning curve. I think my computer is loaded with several that I downloaded, tested, and gave up on.

I'll stick with Word and Excel.

It's not a writer help program...is a word processor that breaks up novel writing in sections. Ie scenes, chapters and notes. It has places to keep info if you need it.

No actual help in writing...that's all up to you.

Shadow_Ferret · Aug 18, 2008

Tirjasdyn said:
It's not a writer help program...is a word processor that breaks up novel writing in sections. Ie scenes, chapters and notes. It has places to keep info if you need it.

No actual help in writing...that's all up to you.

I didn't mean it helps you write, I simply meant its somehow supposed to make the process easier. And Word does all that, too.

Nakhlasmoke · Aug 18, 2008

Ah I started using ywriter a few months back LOFF LOFF LOFF it.

I run it using wine on ubuntu, and it's perfectly fine.

It's a handy little organiser, for sure.

tehuti88 · Aug 18, 2008

No link...? :/ All the praise made me curious!!

It isn't one of those programs that says it's free but then when you download it, it's just a trial version that either 1. stops working after so long or 2. has only limited features and/or you can plug in only a certain amount of information before you have to upgrade? A while back I came across a really interesting-looking program that sounds a lot like this (based on what I've read) but like most such free programs, I think you could only enter like one plot or a few characters or something, or maybe some features weren't enabled, and for someone who writes as much as me, that wouldn't be very useful. I gave up searching for cool free writing programs because all the "free" ones seem to be bait-and-switches. (I. e., not really free at all.)

Not that I'd need such a program, but I do love fiddling around with things.

*thinks* Then again, if the download is really huge I guess it's a moot point as I'm on dialup. Ah well. It sounds intriguing, at least.

Nakhlasmoke · Aug 18, 2008

It's on writer Simon Haynes's site

and it's small and really free.

http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter.html

plus he writes funny skiffy, and is an all round cool guy.

Donkey · Aug 18, 2008

Thanks for the link. I was reading through the thread, waiting for someone to ask or to post it, just to save time. Of course it was the last two posts. lol.

Quiet Melody · Aug 18, 2008

I downloaded it a while back. I haven't had the chance to really use it much but from what I saw, I liked it. I like the scene and character features

spacejock2 · Sep 7, 2008

alleycat said:
Yes, he does, using the name Spacejock. I don't remember seeing him around lately however.

Spacejock2 - I can't remember or recover my password for the Spacejock account ;-)

L M Ashton · Sep 7, 2008

Another endorsement for Simon Haynes (spacejock2) and his incredibly useful and fully free software (I use his yTimer program pretty much every day) AND his fun and absolutely entertaining Hal Spacejock books - if you have an opportunity to read them, DO! And yeah, he's an all-round actually nice guy.

Hi Simon!

spacejock2 · Sep 8, 2008

L M Ashton said:
Another endorsement for Simon Haynes (spacejock2) and his incredibly useful and fully free software (I use his yTimer program pretty much every day) AND his fun and absolutely entertaining Hal Spacejock books - if you have an opportunity to read them, DO! And yeah, he's an all-round actually nice guy.

Hi Simon!

Blush.

And everyone can read the first novel in the series because my publisher agreed to give it away as a free download:

http://www.spacejock.com.au/Hal1Download.html

(End mini plug)

Someone mentioned I'm working on a new yWriter, and that's correct. It's yWriter 5 and you can download a beta test version here:

http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html

You can install it on the same PC as version 2, 3 or 4 - none of them overlap or steal each others file extensions, folders, etc.

V5 is definitely shaping up as the best one yet.

Cheers
Simon

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