Writing-related software

[kcvale]

I downloaded StoryBox to try out before NaNo and was quite disappointed. When I opened the new project and started adding characters, outlines, etc. all it would do would have a pop-up box with errors. I'll stick with StorYbook for NaNo, but appreciate you pointing it out.

(as a side note, I too am a software junkie...that's why I just HAD to try it.)

Huh, I'm surprised and sorry to hear that. I've used it pretty heavily for about 2 weeks and have had no problems. I better back up my back-up back-ups, just in case. I really like Storybox, it's laid out like I work.

 

[psykeout]

FYI (for you and everybody else) : Scrivener is offering their beta for NaNo 2010. It's valid until the end of the year. Here's the link...

http://www.literatureandlatte.com/nanowrimo.html

Like I said, I liked the idea of StoryBox, but just couldn't get over the error boxes popping up.

 

[Scribhneoir]

No one seems to have mentioned StoryBase yet.

<snip>

There is also a book version of this software (called Masterplots? Masterplotter?), it is non-customizable and just provides a categorized list of a lot of plot events they found by analyzing a lot of movies.

Actually the book version of StoryBase is called Plots Unlimited and was completely copied (with very minimal updating) from William Wallace Cook's Plotto, originally published back in the 1920s.

I've played around on StoryBase.net and it's a fun way to kickstart your brainstorming, but I don't think I'd bother buying the software itself.

 

[Tirjasdyn]

I've been playing with the Scrivener for Windows beta. And I'm not very impress. At the time of it's release on Mac it was all they had at the time. That's not the case now and I find it lacking. Most folks who like it better so far have told me they like it because it's pretty...I guess that's something.

 

[RandomJerk]

So, I'm happy to see O mentioned, and kudos to the AbiWord reference!

I'm anxious to see how things will develop with LibreOffice. I've installed it, but haven't really given it a whirl yet. If you do, it's in beta still, so it may eat your hamster. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libreoffice

I've recently installed FocusWriter http://gottcode.org/focuswriter/
Looks really great, and I enjoyed using it for the little time I did.

I'm now working with TextRoom http://textroom.sourceforge.net/
Very similar to FocusWriter, very minimalistic. However, it has one thing that makes it perhaps the greatest piece of software, ever. Old-school typewriter sounds. Love it. I find it soothing. I'm odd, fine. You can shut it off, too. But I think your writing would suffer.

 

[psykeout]

I'm a huge fan of OO and will continue to use it. It's the main focus of how I write, as I use StorYbook just to organize the thoughts, characters, places, etc. LibreOffice looks almost exactly like OO, but I haven't looked at the website to find out the differences.

Got to figure out which one to play with during NaNo downtime.

 

[RandomJerk]

Right now, I don't think there's a ton different, past the splash and some visual differences. The difference is the Foundation itself, and what they can bring to the table. I believe all the plugins and whatnot are still just vanilla O packages, including the spell-checking. The vast majority of the code is the same, as far as I know. I think it will be quite some time before there's a major reason to choose one over the other. Oracle has been behaving quite poorly, and this may come to bite them in the arse.

 

[Manuel Royal]

I've started using FreeMind to outline my current screenplay. Nothing amazing, just a way to visually organize the elements of the story. Works for me.

 

[mfassett]

I downloaded StoryBox to try out before NaNo and was quite disappointed. When I opened the new project and started adding characters, outlines, etc. all it would do would have a pop-up box with errors. I'll stick with StorYbook for NaNo, but appreciate you pointing it out.

(as a side note, I too am a software junkie...that's why I just HAD to try it.)

I'm disappointed to hear that, too. There's a bug report button in the UI. Did you report the problem with the text of the errors? I work really hard to make sure these sorts of things don't happen, or if they do happen, they get fixed right away. Of course, if I never hear about them, I can't fix them.

 

[Nuklear1]

I am surprised to see that no one mentioned Dramatica Pro, unless I missed it somewhere. Not for sure if they still market it. I purchased version 4 about eight years ago. I found it to be to overburdening. Never really could get into the swing of it.

 

[sunandshadow]

I am surprised to see that no one mentioned Dramatica Pro, unless I missed it somewhere. Not for sure if they still market it. I purchased version 4 about eight years ago. I found it to be to overburdening. Never really could get into the swing of it.

I use Dramatica myself. It is very complicated, with a fairly steep learning curve, but that's because it's a whole theory of writing, not just a program built on a theory users are supposed to already be familiar with, such as the hero monomyth. It's also designed to let people approach it from several directions, which resulted in unintentional confusion because there isn't a single clear path for newbies to approach it from.

There's a new version of Dramatica due out this upcoming year, although I'll wait and see whether it actually has any new features or easier functionality before I get excited.

 

[kalencap]

Just started with Scrivener (for Mac) this month for the new project. Most of my writing-related time is focused on editing my wip, so looks like it will be a while before I really get the hang of it.

 

[cuallito]

Anyone know of writing software that will highlight or capitalize or do something similar the stressed syllables of words and sentences?

So: Tiger, tiger, burning bright/In the forests of the night

gets displayed as:

TIger, TIger, BURning BRIGHT/in the FORests of the NIGHT

 

[kafeinuhai]

Another vote for Scrivener for Mac, here. LOVE it. It did take me a while to figure out how I wanted to use it... but once I started creating my own templates and embedding all of my writing/editing notes in them (i.e., the top one thousand words I use way too much!), I really love it.

There are a lot of great features, it just takes a bit to find all of them. And the new version has rounded corners on the index cards. lurv.

 

[ejket]

OmmWriter

I've been trying out an interesting writing app (Mac only) called OmmWriter. It uses a simple, full-screen, distraction-free interface with relaxing music and sound-effects to create a zen-like productive atmosphere. As hokey as this sounds, it seems to work for a lot of people, including me. It's great for braindumping notes and first draft material, but not for fancy editing and formatting.

There's a free trial, but it only costs $5 at the Mac App Store.

 

[alleycat]

I've been trying out an interesting writing app (Mac only) called OmmWriter. It uses a simple, full-screen, distraction-free interface with relaxing music and sound-effects to create a zen-like productive atmosphere. As hokey as this sounds, it seems to work for a lot of people, including me. It's great for braindumping notes and first draft material, but not so much for fancy editing and formatting.

There's a free trial, but it only costs $5 at the Mac App Store.

That's sort of interesting.

I would try it just for the fun of it, but I use Windows.

 

[ejket]

That's sort of interesting.

I would try it just for the fun of it, but I use Windows.

http://www.ommwriter.com/en/frequently-meditated-questions.html

Now that OmmWriter Dana is complete, we have started work on the Windows version. Since we are not renowned for our speed of deployment we shy away from giving a launch date. When? We cannot say. But with patience comes virtue.

There's also at least one similar app native to Windows -- I saw a web page on it, but can't remember where. I'll try to find it for you. I think there's nothing quite like OmmWriter, though.

ETA: Okay, I found some alternatives for Windows, and I think the one I looked at before was CreaWriter.

 

[alleycat]

Just for fun, I usually try out any new writing software if it's not too expensive. I've never found anything to beat Word for actual writing, although I do like Page Four as a general organizational tool.

I think the worst piece of software I tried was one called NewNovelist. I poked around on it for a day or two and haven't clicked it open since.

 

[ejket]

Just for fun, I usually try out any new writing software if it's not too expensive. I've never found anything to beat Word for actual writing, although I do like Page Four as a general organizational tool.

One reason I like OmmWriter is that it forces me to turn off sources of competing stimuli -- or I should say that it makes me want to turn them off so I can enjoy the environment. Writing is a mind game, and these little things can make a big difference. And just as you can train a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell, I'm sure that you can train yourself to produce brilliant prose with ambient triggers

It's definitely useless as an organizational tool, though.

 

[DanielleSilverheart]

I have tried writers-crit program along with Masteredit. I seem to have an affinity for the words "that, "and", "was." Unfortunaly, now I know better..

 

[Tirjasdyn]

The PC version of Omni Writer is Focus writer. Zen writer is similar but no backgrounds.

 

[graceangela9]

Some writers love writing software. Others hate it saying that they are too complicated or that they encourage bad writing. There's always two sides to every argument but in order to be able to judge, you need to know what is out there and how effective it can be. So, over the next few weeks (months? years?) I'll compile a list of writing software available out there with a brief description of the features, price, a website link etc. Hopefully, this will prove to be a good reference for all those people who ask about (novel) writing software (I'll add more as I have time and find them - if you have any software that you use which is not in the list, feel free to let me know about it and I'll add it to the list)

Writing Tools
Book Writer
Allows you to have each chapter in a separate document but displays all the chapters in a treeview and allows you to open different chapters in different tabs.
OS - Windows
Document Format - RTF
Formatting - Yes. Full formatting options
Notes - No note taking, annotation tools
Spellcheck - Live spellcheck and thesaurus
Word count - no word count tools
Price - $44.95
Trial Download - Available via site

Rough Draft
A tabbed word processor with full styling options.
OS - Windows
Document Format - RTF
Formatting - Yes. Full formatting options
Notes - A sidebar which allows you to maintain notes
Spellcheck - Live spellcheck and thesaurus
Word count - Yes. Option to count current file or all open files
Price - Free/Donationware
Trial Download - N/A

WriteItNow
Java based software which allows you to maintain details about characters, events and locations in addition to the manuscript. Displays chargs of relationships. Generates characters, names and ideas. Tracks submissions.
OS - Windows, Mac OS X
Document Format - Internal database but outputs to RTF, text and HTML
Formatting - Basic formatting - bold, italic, underline.
Notes - An integrated Ideas tab which allows you to maintain notes.
Spellcheck - Spellcheck and thesaurus but no live spellcheck.
Word count - no word count tools
Price - $37.55
Trial Download - Available via site

yWriter
Stores a complete manuscript broken down into individual chapter files and allows chapters to be further broken down into scenes. Allows you to setup deadlines and monitor progress. Provides a graphical storyboard feature to be able to see events on a timeline.
OS - Windows
Document Format - Text
Formatting - No formatting
Notes - No note taking, annotation tools
Spellcheck - No
Word count - Provide word count by chapter and full document
Price - Freeware
Trial Download - N/A

Avenir
Left Margin
Liquid Story Binder
PageFour Notebook
SuperNoteCard
WriteWayPro
WritersCafe

Other Helpful Utilities
PlotCraft
Story Weaver

Character Pro
Idea Mason
Idea Tracker
Manuscript Studio
Story Wizard

I totally agree with you that there is always two sides of an argument so some people think that writing software helps them in writing and some say that writing software is useless.But i think that writing software really works and the software i have used are storybook,storymill and scrivener.

 

[dpaterso]

graceangela9, I appreciate you're interested in writing software, but replying to posts dated 10-14-2006 is taking this a bit too far, methinks. All your posts read like software spam but without any links.

-Derek

 

[adnan]

I've tried StyleWriter for editing/proofreading my WIP. It is good. It integrates into Microsoft Word as Add-In (I am using Word 2007).

So far, it looks quite good to me. It provides good guidance on style, word usage and grammar. And it made me realize that I am a very big fan of word VERY

It looks that it'll improve my style before I put it in front of beta readers in SYW threads.

 

[graceangela9]

graceangela9, I appreciate you're interested in writing software, but replying to posts dated 10-14-2006 is taking this a bit too far, methinks. All your posts read like software spam but without any links.

-Derek

You can't call my post as spam.I was just giving my view about the software so what if i replied older post.If i would be a spam i definitely give my link .I was just sharing which software is use.But my mistake is this i have quoted so older post .