I'd like to know what writing programs you've tried and liked or disliked. I've used MS Word for ages, even after shifting over to a Mac, but I don't like where they've gone with it, so I've been running an old version that is ready for burial now. I'm not looking to bash Word or MS. I'm just moving on to something else now and would appreciate everyone's input. I know I could use Pages and that it will export to .doc. I'm trying out Scrivener, Nisus Pro, and Jers Novel Writer--or at least I've got trial versions of them to play around with. I've got Mariner Write on my radar as well. I'm sampling by writing blog posts in them, and that's just not the same as a novel. Any red flags I should be aware of? I'd be glad to hear your thoughts about what's worked for you or about special features you particularly like or dislike with these programs. Thanks!
Writing Program Preferences? Looking for the Tool of Choice.
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Scrivener
That's really all I use at the moment. Simple enough. I like the cork-board for chapter listings and details. Add in kindle support and you're good. I mostly like the full screen expansion for typing. Though, I really hate the connection with wordweb (when you hit Ctrl + R-click, it's a guessing game to see if Wordweb can find the world). Something about the interface differences.
That's really all I use at the moment. Simple enough. I like the cork-board for chapter listings and details. Add in kindle support and you're good. I mostly like the full screen expansion for typing. Though, I really hate the connection with wordweb (when you hit Ctrl + R-click, it's a guessing game to see if Wordweb can find the world). Something about the interface differences.
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I wrote one novel with Scrivener (Windows version) and am starting two others. By now I'm comfortable with it, and it's helpful with the organization of chapters and scenes. But the ms still has to go through a better word processor to get it submittable. Or self-publishable.
Publishers have standardized on MSWord, with it's tracking and commenting, and while Pages does a fair job of coping with tracking and commenting, be prepared/resigned to shelling out for the current version of MSWord when you have a contract.
I like Mariner Write, quite a lot. I used it for a number of years, and still use it on a regular basis when I don't have to use MSWord.
Lately I've been using Pages for a lot of my writing that isn't Web/HTML based, but which does need footnotes.
I also like Scrivener. I've used it for my latest scholarly article because of the way you can collect assets/notes/research. I ended up writing the final version /submission edit with footnotes etc. in Pages.
Were I writing fiction on a Mac, I'd look very very closely at Bean. It's elegant, can handle RTF, has in some respects a better UI than Text, and it's free.
I like Mariner Write, quite a lot. I used it for a number of years, and still use it on a regular basis when I don't have to use MSWord.
Lately I've been using Pages for a lot of my writing that isn't Web/HTML based, but which does need footnotes.
I also like Scrivener. I've used it for my latest scholarly article because of the way you can collect assets/notes/research. I ended up writing the final version /submission edit with footnotes etc. in Pages.
Were I writing fiction on a Mac, I'd look very very closely at Bean. It's elegant, can handle RTF, has in some respects a better UI than Text, and it's free.
You say it has to go through a better word processor to get it submittable. What's wrong with it?
Awesome info, Medievalist. Yes, I'm aware of the standard and this is part of the problem. If I'm avoiding the latest MS Word for Mac then I don't want to end up having to use it later on in the process. I'd REALLY like to find a solid replacement, if possible.
I'd definitely like to hear, on top of general writing experiences, if people have been successful using a program other than MS Word with their professional interactions.
I'm a tech writer, writing about hardware and software for a couple of publishers, and have been doing this for a while.
My publishers are willing to try stuff, and I, and other writers, have tried to find alternatives to MSWord tracking and commenting.
It's just not really viable at the point where you have an editor returning a file to you. Too many tiny differences exist between MSWord and various open source alternatives, or even Pages.
Pages comes the closest, but it's still Not Identical.
I'd really and truly find something you can work with, that exports .rtf and/or .doc, and wait until you need to deal with a commented/tracked MS Word file from an editor—and then buy MS Word.
Maybe the alternatives will improve or surpass MS Word in the near future. Pages has increasingly gotten better about the tracking /comments support.
I use Word. I don't see the need for other programs. Hell, I used to write in notepad. Text. On a page. Typing.
Word I can format easily.
Word I can format easily.
Scrivener on a Mac has been fine for submission for prose without footnotes.
With footnotes, I spend about fifteen or twenty minutes tweaking the footnotes in word processor because they are a bit erratic in terms of footnote style as exported.
I have MS Word for compatibility when absolutely necessary. I just don't like spending more time in it than I have to. So I don't. Plus, it's not on my iPad anyway, where I do most of my writing these days, and I like the automatic iCloud backup Pages gives me.
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OpenOffice...
Not really by conscious choice. My computer crashed, I had to reinstall everything, and didn't have a reinstallation disc for the Word that came with it originally. So I downloaded the first free word processor I found.
It's, you know, fine.
I don't think it's very pretty, but I'm used to it, although there are some things that I find clunky (messing with page numbers and cover pages seems a lot more annoying and non-straightforward than it is in Word). You can save documents in .odt, .doc, export to .pdf, etc. I haven't had any reported problems with it in converting, although I hear tell of some formatting dickery that other people have had. (It does have a track changes thing, but I don't know if it converts well--if I need to use track changes, I usually go steal a friend's computer that has Word on it, as I'm scared )
*shrug* Dunno. It's free and it works okay.
Not really by conscious choice. My computer crashed, I had to reinstall everything, and didn't have a reinstallation disc for the Word that came with it originally. So I downloaded the first free word processor I found.
It's, you know, fine.
I don't think it's very pretty, but I'm used to it, although there are some things that I find clunky (messing with page numbers and cover pages seems a lot more annoying and non-straightforward than it is in Word). You can save documents in .odt, .doc, export to .pdf, etc. I haven't had any reported problems with it in converting, although I hear tell of some formatting dickery that other people have had. (It does have a track changes thing, but I don't know if it converts well--if I need to use track changes, I usually go steal a friend's computer that has Word on it, as I'm scared )*shrug* Dunno. It's free and it works okay.
Scrivener and MS Word. Love Scrivener for writing, and I polish in Word.
You really will need Word if you start to sub. I just don't think anything else is perfectly compatible when it comes to using track changes and comments.
You really will need Word if you start to sub. I just don't think anything else is perfectly compatible when it comes to using track changes and comments.
I haven't used iCloud but I like the idea. Sort of. My info saved by someone else is a little weird, but auto-backups is the way to go.
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Same here. I've been using Scrivener for a few years now, and I have no idea how I ever wrote first drafts without it. It's especially helpful for organising multiple POV characters.
However, I export into Word for editing. I like to see the manuscript as a whole document while I'm fiddling (and in the format my agent/ editor will use).
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I can't speak for the Mac version. I use Scrivener on Windows.
Little things. It does not support a format, for example, in which the first paragraph is zero indent and subsequent ones in the chapter or scene are indented.
Scrivener doesn't have the equivalent of Word's character-based styles. Some publishers want things italicized, others want the same things underlined. So, I use Word to make those adjustments.
If you are maintaining one text baseline for all your formats (mobi, epub, doc, pdf, txt), you'll prefer to have these things adjust themselves automatically. But it doesn't work that way.
Scrivener does not have the equivalent of Word's VB macro scripts, so you have to manually go through your manuscript and tweak it for such things. In Word, I can write a macro and just run it. And I can build a different template for each publisher's submission criteria.
Scrivener doesn't have a single keystroke for the em-dash (that I've found). So I use a double dash and later use Word's find and replace to convert that to the em-dash. (Scrivener doesn't have a global find/replace that spans the whole document. You have to do it a scene at a time.)
So I export from Scrivener to Word to do the polishing.
They're gradually getting some of these issues addressed and some of the epub problems too. They are responsive to user comments, provide workarounds when they can, and maintain a wish list.
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I don't know if this works for Windows, but this is how I do Find/ Replace in Scrivener for OSX:
1. Select all your scenes in the binder at once
2. Make sure you're looking at "scrivenings" view (ie. all the selected scenes should show up as one long text document for editing)
3. Press "Command + F" (or "Control + F" in Windows, I'm guessing).
A Find/ Replace window should appear. There's an option called "Search Entire Document." Since all your scenes are currently open at once, it should let you replace all through the manuscript.
Hope this works!
Great details! Thanks, Al. I also appreciate the fixes thrown in there by Skye and Kuwisdelu.
I'm encouraged by all the Scrivener love out there.
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It does. Thank you.I don't know if this works for Windows, but this is how I do Find/ Replace in Scrivener for OSX:
1. Select all your scenes in the binder at once
2. Make sure you're looking at "scrivenings" view (ie. all the selected scenes should show up as one long text document for editing)
3. Press "Command + F" (or "Control + F" in Windows, I'm guessing).
A Find/ Replace window should appear. There's an option called "Search Entire Document." Since all your scenes are currently open at once, it should let you replace all through the manuscript.
Hope this works!
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Dryad, you might want to look at yWriter5 too. It's very much like Scrivener, and is free.
http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html?yWriter5
http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html?yWriter5
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I use WordPerfect.
Now and forever.
MS Word (particularly tracking and comment) is a tool of Satan.
Now and forever.
MS Word (particularly tracking and comment) is a tool of Satan.
I don't think it matters what you actually write with. I write most first drafts using pen and paper, and when forced to compose on the computer, I use Q10.
But I always keep MS Office handy, and every final draft goes through it. It simply has all the tools needed, and then some. I've tried pretty much every writing program out there, and Word will do what any of them can do, and more. Word is the publisher's choice of tools, and the only tool I've found that allows me to work on a manuscript in real time with an editor.
I hated the new version of Word when I first used it, but after actually learning how to use the new version as well as the old, I find it's much, much better. It simply takes some time to learn, just as it took time to learn how to use the old version of Word effectively.
But I always keep MS Office handy, and every final draft goes through it. It simply has all the tools needed, and then some. I've tried pretty much every writing program out there, and Word will do what any of them can do, and more. Word is the publisher's choice of tools, and the only tool I've found that allows me to work on a manuscript in real time with an editor.
I hated the new version of Word when I first used it, but after actually learning how to use the new version as well as the old, I find it's much, much better. It simply takes some time to learn, just as it took time to learn how to use the old version of Word effectively.
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