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which software do you use? word, google drive?

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NickIandolo

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So the consensus here seems to be mostly Microsoft Word. And that makes sense because pretty much every workplace office environment on Earth uses Word. And it's pretty easy to get Word on both Window's PCs and Macs.

And from my own experience, I can relate to how frustrating Word can be at times.

I used to say, "Microsoft Word was invented to drive me crazy!"

And that's because when you start doing things like creating professional documents that have all kinds of specialized per chapter headers and footers, using styles, creating tables of content and indices, and adding graphics to your document, or other advanced features (including linking it to Excel), Word can drive you crazy! Especially, when you are using older versions that are full of bugs.

The new section break bug in Word 2007 used to drive me nuts!

But I needed to get that to work in order to properly format my non-fiction book that I was self-publishing. Thankfully Word 2010 for the Mac fixed that bug, but then turned all the documents into XML files! That messed up a lot of other things for me!

However, Word and I have a understanding these days and even when I use its advanced features (like for a recent Capital Expenditure Report I did for my company), it pretty does what I need it to do.

That being said, it is a bit overkill for writing a simple manuscript.

It's like Word sits between the simple RTF word processing apps and the advanced printing/publishing apps like Quark XPress and Adobe InDesign. I've actually created professional marketing collateral with InDesign but I wrote all of the copy with Word first.

Anyway, there also seems to be a lot of support for Scrivener. I've been interested in this program for a while but I'm also wondering if that is too much software for my needs as well.

I had a program that paid a lot of money for and barely, barely used called StoryView.

Back in the days when I was gung-ho for using software and the Internet to help me write my books I came across StoryView. And the funny thing is that I was also writing screenplays so I had myself a copy of Final Draft for the Mac. So in order to use StoryView on my Mac, I needed Parallels for Mac to get Windows XP to run on the Mac and then install StoryView which only ran on Windows XP!

What a waste of money!

Especially when I used StoryView like only a couple of times before just going back to Word.

Though I am a big fan of Final Draft. When version 8 came out, it had these great new features called Scene Properties and Scene Navigation. And I actually populated those panels with tons of data, as I was writing my scripts. And they were very helpful with characters and scenes etc. However, a screenplay is a completely different animal than a book.

With my books, I do like 5 drafts in Word. I rarely go into a previous draft and edit it. I just write it, then save, then duplicate the file, rename to "draft x", and then start from the beginning making changes 'till the end. Then I repeat the whole process, until I think the manuscript is ready for something.

Is that efficient? Probably not!

But I know that I would rather be writing than populating panels with all kinds character, plot, and scene data. I know it'd be helpful but I just know myself; I'd be doing all of that work instead of writing because I am a PROCRASTINATOR!

I admit it. I'm like Richard Castle. I'd be out solving murders instead of writing! Even his daughter Alexis said, "…Dad, when you have deadline with the publisher, that's when you write like crazy in a caffeine infused frenzy!"

Yeah that's me. I've gotta work on that.

Anyway, anybody else have experience with StoryView?

Also, Final Draft has a book/novel writing template. I've never used it because it seems to bare-bones for my needs. Anybody else have experience using Final Draft for book writing?

In the meantime, I'll head over to the Scrivener site and give it another look-see.

I do like the idea of using Google Docs to hold the files in the cloud, so you can work on them anywhere. I've gotta look into that too.
 

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Thank you everyone for sharing your experience!
 

ItsRachelConnor

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I use Google Drive so I can access my writing from wherever. I also use Workflowy for plotting and if I think of fun sentences or potential writing prompts on the fly. Workflowy helps with constructing blogposts too.
 

Chase

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I write with Corel WordPerfect. I've never found a better out-of-the-box tool for writers.

I also have LibreOffice and use Microsoft Word for editing those clients who like the sidebar boxes. I'm trying hard to work with Google Docs, but so far only one client writes with it.
 

talktidy

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Scrivener, but so far I use only the blank document pre-set, rather than bugger around with the templates. Draft, research and trash folders. Much simpler. I create/import new sub folders within my draft and research folders as needed.

I like the app's scrivenings session, which splices everything in the draft folder into one virtual document.
 

tiggs

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I love Scrivener's organizational tools, even for short stories. I keep my files on Dropbox, so I can have multiple backups and access them from multiple devices.
I do the exact same thing. Scrivener's entirely changed the way I work. I love the snapshot feature.

I also use Scapple - a mind-mapping tool from Scrivener's developers to brainstorm ideas in - and Aeon Timeline to map out backstory events and dates. I embed both of them into Scrivener, so that everything's all in one place.
 

vicky271

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It depends on the stage. While I haven't stared writing yet, Word will be my go to program for when I get down to writing. Currently, I'm brainstorming. I'm using Pages for that. It's a good break from Microsoft Word.
 

MurderOfCrows

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Scrivener with comic templates is the way to go. Nicely built in, I can create issues, etc.

Scrivener for prose projects is different - I like a place to store notes/worldbuilding/etc but i haven't really done a lot of prosework in it yet. We'll see how that works out.

Word has been my go-to for nearly any long critique work though - track changes is the tool everybody uses now, and leaving notes on text, etc, are more valuable than anybody can know. So if something's going out to someone, it's going out in a Word doc probably.
 

Tottie Scone

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Word. I know it inside out, and I like the fact that its files can be read by most things (I keep a backup of all my writing on the SD card in my phone, so that if I have a sudden idea I can refer to the actual project and see how it might fit in).

I can identify with those who like plain text or RTF editors. There is something about the extreme simplicity of those that is appealing, like the digital version of a legal notepad and pen (which I also find appealing, but my handwriting is too appalling to routinely write on paper). I remember doing some of my earliest writing on an old BBC Micro in a plain text word processor. I remember the thrill of possibility of the blank black screen and white text. It was like I was looking at a world that was formless and empty and I could create anything.

However, I couldn't go back to plain text, as I use italics for thoughts and emphasis, and if I'm going to use RTF I feel like I might as well use Word and be done with it. It also allows me to drop images in when I'm outlining, which I sometimes like to do, and allows things like search/replace, automated page numbering, easy formatting etc.

I struggle to write on anything that doesn't have a conventional keyboard, as I type extremely fast and find even a laptop keyboard slows me down and pulls me out of the story. I couldn't imagine trying to write on a touchscreen! Just posting here from a phone or tablet is annoying enough.
 
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krjwrites

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Scrivener! It's invaluable for organizing research and wiki-style notes to myself. I write fantasy though, so I have tons of maps, timelines, culture sketches, etc to keep track of.
 

robjvargas

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One monolithic file here. I haven't used the "sectioning" tool in MS Word very much, but I'm going to practice on that. Once I get the hang of that, then I'm almost working inside a master document with a bunch of child documents embedded within.
 

Scribhneoir

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Scrivener and WordPerfect. I own Word, but I loathe it and use it only when I absolutely have to.
 

NickIandolo

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Unless you have Word 2011 or later, sectioning will drive you nuts.

What happens is that when you try to insert a new section between existing sections, everything gets screwed up: page numbers, subsequent sections, indices, headings, etc.

You have to perform this crazy work around (that I don't remember anymore but you can Google it) in order to make it work.

The best thing to do is plan out your final sections in another document long before you work on you book's document/file.

I used to say the MS Word was made to drive me nuts! Hahaha!
 

NickIandolo

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So I was about to download Scrivener, but before I went to their user forum (I do that with every piece of software and hardware I plan to buy). What I'm discovering there is that there has been a lot of technical issues with Scrivener on the lasted Mac OSes (Yosemite and El Capitain). These are resulting in big data losses, and that's something I'm not interested in.

Anyone else having these issues?
 
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