Writing Software?

Any word processor should be able to handle all the formatting you need.

Format:

Courier 10 or Courier 12

One inch margins all the way around

Double spaced

Single sided

Ragged right (non-justified)

Running head with your name/title/pagenumber

Black ink, white paper.

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If the publisher's guidelines say different, follow the guidelines.

In terms of software that tries to help with brainstorming and plotting and things, I know people who swear by Dramatica and people who swear at it. I played with StoryCraft, NewNovelist, and StoryWeaver briefly.

NewNovelist uses the Jarvis method, a campbell heroic/mythic structure which requires a direct conflict between a protagonist and an antagonist, which is not what I write and thus useless to me.

Dramatica has a steep learning curve and is probably the most complicated piece of writers' aid software out there, but is still somewhat rigid. I like a lot of its theory but never was able to effectively use the program itself.

I would flee from any of them as if chased by a hundred very devils. They tend to want you to spend so much time writing down information on what you write, in such a restricted, formulaic, irritating way, that you either get fed up, or simply too bogged down to start the writing.

Sheet of paper. Cheap, effective, and you can draw rude pictures when good ideas refuse to emerge.

Dunno about the sheet of paper. Stack of file cards always worked for me.

Dramatica has been kicked around here and here.

I have used NewNovelist successfully. Yes, it does have it's own ideas about structuring a story, but they are easy to ignore if you wish. Personally I enjoy having a sort of framework to play off of, and it has sparked an idea or two.

But overall I'd say it functions for me mostly as an electronic stack of file cards. Cost more, keeps the cards a little more neatly sorted. Jenna did a review of NewNovelist on the main Absolute Write site that got me intrigued.

I played with yWriter, which was free. It looks more complicated to figure out how to use it, so I end up going back to plain Word.

Has anyone ever used a software program successfully for writing? Just curious.

I'm glad someone said something about those others and that Jarvius stuff. sp? I was reading it the other day and was itching to try it out.

software

Code_Name_Lady said:

I am a new member. I was wondering.

Does anyone use Writer's Software besides Word or another word processing program? What about manuscript formatters? Anyone use them? Any input would be appreciated.

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I'm old-fashioned. I only use a word processor because I have to, else my agent and editors won't take my writing.

But I've written stories with a goose feather quill I cut myself, using paper and ink I made myself. And most of my first drafts are written in longhand, though because of hand problems I recently had to switch from a very good ink pen to a Penmate Duo Expert Drafting Pencil.

I still think the best piece of writing equipment ever made was the Olympia model series "SG" manual typewriter.

All of which is to say that writing isn't done with software, but with wetware, and sometimes all the seeming advantages of word processors and writing software are not quite as advantageous as they seem.

I have PowerStructure, which is designed to test the strength of your story. It is neither a formatting program nor a writing one; you input characters, conflicts, etc. and it points out weak areas - like if you've let a character or conflict drift away. It includes an index card option (something I found useful when I tried Writer's Blocks) and options for evaluating your story against various structures.

When it comes to the writing itself, though, I use Word.

For TV writing (way back when), I used ScriptThing, though I hear Final Draft is better for film scripts (then there's Dramatica, MovieMagic, etc.) - screenwriting, especially episodic TV writing, is the area in which I think it's a huge time-saver to have a formatting program.

There might also be some suggesions in this thread on the Tech Help board:
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11686

Besides Microsoft Word, I use:

Visual Thesarus -- check out the demo here: http://www.visualthesaurus.com/online/

Inspiration -- flowcharting software
http://www.inspiration.com/

debraji said:

Visual Thesarus -- check out the demo here: http://www.visualthesaurus.com/online/

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Ooh! I'm a thesaurus addict

If you're on a Mac, this great wiki-notepad is brilliant for holding notes:

http://www.flyingmeat.com/voodoopad.html

I had to review a piece of writing software recently. It was so awful that I've blocked its name out of my mind.

It included character history generators - give it a few details and it'd make up nonsense about who the character had been friends with at school, what issues they had, etc.

But worse, there was also an idea generator, that simply came up with the most ludicrous suggestions. I'll have to go home and try it again just to report here what it tells me to do. I suppose you could use it as a brainstorming thing to help prompt your own ideas, but really, I don't think writers should need software for that.

Most writing software (the stuff that claims it'll help you write a novel, rather than word-processors/note pads) is just procrastination software in disguise.

Jamesaritchie said:

But I've written stories with a goose feather quill I cut myself, using paper and ink I made myself. And most of my first drafts are written in longhand, though because of hand problems I recently had to switch from a very good ink pen to a Penmate Duo Expert Drafting Pencil.

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Have you tried parchment? If it's well-made, it's lovely to work on, though it would have to be for final drafts. For first drafts, probably a wax tablet.
I'm curious, do you cut the slit in your pens? There's been a discussion going on about how necessary it is, and I suspect it isn't for the broad-nib, but perhaps it is for the fine-point?
Sorry, I'm OT. Quills would count as hardware.
-Barbara

Has anyone tried StoryBase? I looked at the book it's based on and was totally confused by the organizational system, but it seemed like it might work better as a program, if you could plug the names and other details of your own characters in. I don't know anyone who has it though, and there isn't a free demo, and I won't pay almost $100 for a program I don't know whether I'll like.

batgirl said:

Have you tried parchment? If it's well-made, it's lovely to work on, though it would have to be for final drafts. For first drafts, probably a wax tablet.
I'm curious, do you cut the slit in your pens? There's been a discussion going on about how necessary it is, and I suspect it isn't for the broad-nib, but perhaps it is for the fine-point?
Sorry, I'm OT. Quills would count as hardware.
-Barbara

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Actually, I have used parchment, and have made it, as well. But making parchment is both difficult and messy, so when I still need parchment, I tighten my belt and buy it. Sheepskin parchment is what I normally buy.

!00% cotton "imitation parchment" is also wonderful stuff, and I used it for the occasional writing project.

But because editors can be picky, for final drafts I usually used ordinary 20# 100% cotton paper in my manual. This is still what I use, even with a modern printer, and it isn't terribly expensive, especially for something that's ten times as strong as cellulose, and is naturally acid and lignen free. It's archival quality, and has a rating of several hundred years. This is the brand I just switched to. http://www.staples.com/Catalog/Browse/SKU.asp?BCFlag=False&PageType=1&SKU=117390

As for quills, it has been my experience that a good quill needs the slit, whether the quill is reed or goose feather. Even steel nibs need it. While this isn't the actual instruction sheet I used, it's identical in every detail so may be taken from the same book. http://www.regia.org/quill2.htm

A good quill should also be cut with a pen knife. No exceptions.

In a way, making the ink is the fun part, and India/Chinese ink, which is carbon based, is my favorite for general writing, but iron gall is also very cool because of it's historic links.

Shelby Foote has used a steel nib dip pen for writing all those massive civil war tomes, so I'm not alone in using one. Though for dip pens, you can't beat a high quality glass pen.

I haven't tried a wax tablet, but I'm pretty sure one couldn't possibly be inferior to a word processor for writing first drafts.

If he's using Word, remind him about the Outline View. It's useful, even if nobody seems to know about it, and to a large extent will do most of the job on its own.

I use Power Writer by Write Brain. It's extremely configurable, albeit a tiny bit buggy (though mostly in superficial ways.) It's downloadable as a functioning demo.

Power Writer aims to be an all-in-one writing package, integrating a word processor, an outlining tool, and—its most successful component—"Story Tools." It's a very good attempt, and succeeds best in its structural and organisational efforts. The Story Tools includes categories such as Chapters, Plot Points, and Characters, each of which has configurable subcategories (e.g., "Characters" includes Motivation, Physical Description, and Fatal Flaw.) For my word processor, though, I stick with MS-Word.

I get the most use out of Power Writer's configurability. I read a lot of books on writing, and I add the advice I come across to my custom Power Writer template. Now, when I go to "Characters" and select my custom category Markers, I have the following notes: "Markers are easily identified signals that reveal social or cultural class, heredity, or upbringing."

Power Writer may appeal to you if you're methodical, detail-oriented, and—as Kurt Vonnegut describes the two kinds of writers—a basher rather than a swooper.

What I use

I use software called Write It Now. Although it has character generators, etc., I've never used any of those things. It might seem silly to use something different for writing purposes, but this software helps to organize my thoughts and characters, among other things.

It has tabs across the top for the synopsis, chapters, characters, ideas, and a bunch of other things. It outputs to Word, so you can print it with the right margins.

So why don't I use Word? I don't feel like I can organize my ideas using Word or any other word processor. Probably sounds lame, but it works for me, and I guess that's the main thing.

BTW, it has a nice interface and doesn't cost a heck of a lot of dough - US $44 for the CD (which I decided to spring for) or 38 Euro/20 pounds. You can take a trial run of it (although you have to include your name and email first). It's here if you're interested: http://www.ravensheadservices.com

They're located in Scotland and are actually pretty good about getting back to you via email if you have problems.

Richard said:

If you're on a Mac, this great wiki-notepad is brilliant for holding notes:

http://www.flyingmeat.com/voodoopad.html

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For those of us without a trust fund to get a mac:

http://www.jhorman.org/wikidPad/

Best of all, the windows version is free.

I finally got a chance to play with StoryBase today, and it's COOL! It's a category sortable, keyword searchable database of plot points (which it will plug your characters' names into for you). Using this to toss together a rough plot otline actually seems like fun rather than the agony plotting usually is for me. Yay!

Used Storycraft...

I used Storycraft succesfully for my first novel. It is getting published in Holland in about 3 weeks from now. I love this program and was suprised to disover that Newnovelist had stolen the whole idea...

I also tried out lots of other prgs. and must say that dramatica pro frustrated me the most, to much filling in the blanks, to little real writing. My head is to full with own ideas and twists to use this kind of programs.