Does any1 know any good programs for writers? Besides Word?

BlueLucario · Dec 7, 2007

Any1 know any good programs like Word and YWriters. I need a program that can revise your MS for you. Without constantly going back over and over to revise it and there ARE STILL ERRORS! It can save me alot of time.

does any1 know a good spell checker and grammar program. Word is really useless

ChaosTitan · Dec 7, 2007

If a perfect program existed, then errors wouldn't continue to find their way into published books.

Spellcheck and grammar checks are great, but at the end of the day, it's still our job as writers to know how to revise our own words. Just because "there" is spelled correctly doesn't mean you need that, rather than "their."

DeadlyAccurate · Dec 7, 2007

The problem is computers are really stupid. They do some things very well, but they are by definition binary. Everything is either on or off. So, a computer can tell you that the word "peir" is misspelled, because it's not a word at all. But it has a much harder time telling you that "peer" is misspelled when what you meant was "pier", because technically it's not.

Look at these two sentences:

My peer is falling into the ocean.
My pier is falling into the ocean.

In the first one I'm referring to my social equal. In the second, a wooden platform on a body of water. Which one do I mean? With context, you, the human, can figure it out. The computer cannot, because neither one is technically wrong. (Computers are getting smarter and this might one day not be the case, but for now it is.)

tjwriter · Dec 7, 2007

BlueLucario said:
Any1 know any good programs like Word and YWriters. I need a program that can revise your MS for you. Without constantly going back over and over to revise it and there ARE STILL ERRORS! It can save me alot of time.

does any1 know a good spell checker and grammar program. Word is really useless

You won't find a program to do the work for you. It's part of being a writer. It seems you have lots of questions. May I suggest you read the entire Learn Writing with Uncle Jim thread? I think you may find lots of helpful information in there.

BlueLucario · Dec 7, 2007

This sucks. It's really sucks to revise your pieces over and and and over. It gives you a headache and yet there are still mistakes caused by the revision. and the story gets worse everytime.

scribbler1382 · Dec 7, 2007

Take a deep breath, put the manuscript in a drawer and go write something else. When you're done, come back to it. Those things you can't see will jump out at you then. You're too close to it now. A beta reader is also great for this (get 3...get 4...hell, collect the whole set!).

Just a suggestion. Best of luck.

David I · Dec 7, 2007

BlueLucario said:
This sucks. It's really sucks to revise your pieces over and and and over. It gives you a headache and yet there are still mistakes caused by the revision. and the story gets worse everytime.

Huh? The story gets worse every time?

ColoradoGuy · Dec 7, 2007

BlueLucario said:
This sucks. It's really sucks to revise your pieces over and and and over. It gives you a headache and yet there are still mistakes caused by the revision. and the story gets worse everytime.

Ah. Then you need StoryChecker. It's between your ears, version 1.0.

Simple Living · Dec 7, 2007

I'm right there with you, Blue. I've absolutely had it with Word. I write my first drafts with pen and paper and do all of my edits and rewrites on the computer. MacWorld Expo is in mid-January and right after that, I'm switching to Mac. Permanently.

virtue_summer · Dec 7, 2007

There's no magic computer program. You have to suck it up and learn proper spelling and grammar. It may not always be easy but it's necessary if you want to be a writer. It's funny this topic came up because I just posted about this on my blog.

astonwest · Dec 7, 2007

David I said:
Huh? The story gets worse every time?

I know I've often felt like my story never gets any better, but can't say I've ever had one feel like it got worse...

Well, I've added some scenes which after I went back and looked at them, just plain sucked, so I had to pull them out again. Maybe that counts?

preyer · Dec 7, 2007

i take you mean microsoft word? what's wrong with it? it's got grammar and spell-check, and it even auto-corrects some of your words, not to mention it does the capitilaztion for you most of the time.

i've been meaning to download open office, which supposedly rivals word. it's free.

i'm not quite sure exactly what you mean by 'revise.' point out potential grammatical errors? misspellings? or actually correct your manuscript for you so you don't have to bother with it? (i'm waiting for the last one, too. that way all i have to do is sit a baby in front of the keyboard, let it bang away at random, and wait for it to 'write', with the programme's help, my next masterpiece.)

blacbird · Dec 7, 2007

Solitaire.

caw

blacbird · Dec 7, 2007

BlueLucario said:
I need a program that can revise your MS for you.

Whaaaaat?

Surely you are funnin' us pore dum fokes.

caw

L M Ashton · Dec 8, 2007

Um, in my experience, the grammar checker in Word sucks.

In the Tech Help forum, there are several threads about writer's tools, including some macros written by Fahim and Roger J. Carlson. Those macros can help a person identify adverbs, commonly used words, and so on. They won't correct a novel for a writer, but they are useful tools in identifying some potential problem areas.

Bufty · Dec 8, 2007

Blue - I'm sorry, but if you wish to master the craft of writing, there is no shortcut or alternative to the hard slog of read, read, read, and practise, practise, practise.

johnnysannie · Dec 8, 2007

BlueLucario said:
I need a program that can revise your MS for you. Without constantly going back over and over to revise it and there ARE STILL ERRORS! It can save me alot of time.

Unfortunately, there is no easy way out. Part of writing is editing and revising. That means you check for your own errors until the work is as error free as you can make it.

What do you think those of us who wrote before the internet age using nothign but typewriters did? We edited, we checked, and we revised (and retyped) until we got it right.

farfromfearless · Dec 8, 2007

You need to walk away from your MS for a while. While there are some really nice programs out there that will assist you in terms of simply writing, there's nothing out there that will replace the creative and technical aspects of revising your MS. My suggestion for you (after you come back to your MS), is to print it out and start revising/editing it in small, manageable chunks by hand. Input the changes afterwards. Rinse/Repeat until you've gotten it to a point where it's presentable.

If you are looking for less "feature rich" software in the future, I've created a short list of Mac and PC applications that might be more suitable for you.

astonwest · Dec 8, 2007

blacbird said:
Solitaire.

I'm sort of partial to Minesweeper myself...or 3D pinball, depending on which machine I'm using.

kuwisdelu · Dec 8, 2007

Yes MS Word does suck. Terribly. But I'm going to be honest and tell you that what you need isn't a better word processor. If you want to be a writer, you're going to need to edit things like grammar on your own. Using a spellchecker can be okay to avoid simple things like typos where you spell "spell" as "speell," but it won't do you any good if you used "there" when you meant "their." As for grammar--computers will never equal a human. This is especially true of writers, because oftentimes writers will purposely use syntax that may not be grammatically correct, but is still what is best for the writing, such as bad grammar in dialect or the use of fragments. To affect the pacing. Like this. There are no computer grammar checkers with perfect grammar, and even if there were, it wouldn't help you if you were in a situation like this.

Thus, you will really either need to learn to check for grammar, usage, and mechanics errors on your own, or get used to the idea of asking another human to do it for you. Computers will never be able to. There are no programs that will "revise" your manuscript FOR you. However, there are plenty of programs that you can use as a writer to revise your manuscript, assuming you already know your grammar and usage.

kuwisdelu · Dec 8, 2007

Just to be clearer than in my previous post, which explains everything, I'll say what you should do in this post--

Learn to edit on your own. If it's grammar you're struggling on, find a good book on English grammar and mechanics. If grammar isn't the primary problem and you are also having trouble with the revision process itself, you should get more practice editing, but perhaps not your own things. Maybe put your own manuscript away for a while and head over to the Share Your Work forums and try your hand at editing some other peoples' work.

Also--for anyone else fed up with MS Word for other reasons and came to this thread with other problems in mind, I'll recommend OpenOffice.org. It's free, open-source software for Windows, Mac, Linux, etc., that replicates almost everything that Microsoft Office is supposed to do. Since it's free, there are obviously some aspects that aren't as good as MS Office, but there are also things that are even better. If nothing else, the price is right. I think it's certainly a better alternative for an upgrade than Office 2007. And if you're a Mac User, try NeoOffice. It's what I use, since the OpenOffice.org mac version uses X11, which I find very annoying. NeoOffice is based on OpenOffice.org code, but words natively on Mac OSX. Free yourself from the chains! Don't give in to MS Word.

willietheshakes · Dec 8, 2007

A.A.

Sorry, what was the question?

blacbird · Dec 8, 2007

johnnysannie said:
Unfortunately, there is no easy way out.

Correction:

Fortunately, there is no easy way out. If there were an easy way out, you'd never become a better writer. Stop praying for writing steroids, and go do the heavy lifting necessary.

caw

Mr Lucky · Dec 11, 2007

I've been using Scrivener on my Mac. It's a great way to organize thoughts, notes, reference materials, half-constructed scenes, dead-end ideas, and everything else that distracts you and threatens to bring the flow of writing to a halt. All these things are kept in easily accessible folders to the side of the main window, where you can quickly get to them for reference or inspiration, or need to file away a sudden idea that has nothing to do with the scene you're currently writing.

Ever forget what a character was wearing the last time they showed up in the story? Three clicks brings up a list of every scene a character appears in. If you like index cards and corkboard, it's got that too.

Avenir is another program that does the same thing in a different way.

Both export to MS Word where you can do final formatting.

maestrowork · Dec 11, 2007

I'm going to be blunt (again): You're the writer. Suck it up and just do it.

Does any1 know any good programs for writers? Besides Word?

Blood Elves FTW

Around

Absolutely Fazed

Emerging Anew

Blood Elves FTW

Write For You, Edit For The Reader

I've seen worse.

Always learning

2 WIP? A glutton for punishment

excessively spartan

crazy spec fic writer

Where have the last ten years gone?

2 WIP? A glutton for punishment

Revolutionize the World

Revolutionize the World

Gentleman. Scholar. Bastard.

Fear the Death Ray