What software do you use for writing?

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Max Vaehling

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I used to use WordPad as an easy and simple alternative to more complex editors like Word and OpenOffice, but that was years ago and now it seems to have just as many functions as Word did when I abandoned it.

I love Scrivener for keeping track of complex projects. I used to use CeltX and yWriter and CueCards for that, but nowadays it's pretty much all Scrivener for me. I even used it as a standard text editor (for simple texts) for a while, but it's actually a little too heavy for that. Even in full-screen mode, the possibilities it offers sometimes distract me fron writing. So now I've re-installed Q10, a very simple blot-out-your-whole-screen text editor that's really just for typing. Because I sometimes need something simple, un-distracting to drop notes into.

As for exporting into POD and ebook formats, Scrivener offers some neat ebook-ready options but I wouldn't trust it for print jobs just yet. For those, I alternate between an old copy of InDesign (mostly when I'm working with collaborators bvecause they all have it) and Scribus when the project allows it. Some printers frown upon Scribus because its color management takes some setting up and the kind of people who gravitate towards Scribus over InDesign tend to not know about these things, but once you've directed it to the right profiles it works just fine.
 

TrinaM

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I'm a big fan of Evernote for writing. The interface is clean and I can write wherever I am. Exporting takes a bit of getting used to, but its native export format is HTML. Since epubs are HTML I've had good experience copying and pasting into Sigil. I'm a big fan of lists, and hyperlinking lists to other lists (like lists of characters, lists of scenes, etc.) helps me keep everything organized. There are a lot of tutorials online and some free templates for writers.
 

Sabih888

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Yeah Word is good enough for me. It works well and has enough things that u can use it with ;) .
 

anaemic_mind

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I started off with a combination of Word for the actual MS and OneNote for research, mobile writing and note-taking. But was curious about Scrivener seeing people talk about it so downloaded the trial for the April NaNo camp. Found it worked well and after a scary and annoying loss of writing when OneNote sync failed on my laptop, switched to it completely and bought it with my camp win discount. It's handling my behemoth 300K WIP very nicely so far and I'm still finding useful bells and whistles as I use more of it.
 

insolentlad

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Ages ago, I started with Word Perfect (if one doesn't count typewriters and dedicated word processors before it!). I still consider it to be the best for office use (Word has too many compromises to make it easy for casual users) but no longer write in it. For some time, OpenOffice has been my go-to. Libre is probably just as good but I feel they have added too many bells and whistles to it recently.

Why OpenOffice? Less odd code to cause problems later on, mostly. Word is terrible in this respect. OO does what I need—well, usually—and can go all the way from notes to a finished, print-ready PDF. And, of course, it is free. I've tried Scrivener and other programs of its ilk and found them simply unnecessary. That may be due to my personal work flow so maybe they work well for others.

Incidentally, I have fairly recently taken to using Notepad++ for jotting notes and and that sort of thing. Nothing I would directly transfer into my manuscripts but info I want to save. Very useful to me but, again, that may be my personal work flow.
 

mselephant2015

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Wow. I never realised there were so many options. I've been using Word for the past so many years but I started off, back in 2005, on Word Pad. I liked the simplicity of it! Shame about the formatting...
 

editor17

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After an unfortunate incident involving long time nerve damage, a glass of iced tea, and a fried something or other, I have a new laptop.

I've always used Word for writing. I like it, I'm comfortable with it, but now I don't want to pay to purchase it (or anything else) again.

Does anyone use Google Docs for their manuscripts? Pages? Thoughts/help?

Thank you!


I use word97 and excel from that time period.
If I got a new computer I would get libreoffice which has the equivalent programs free for linux based systems; and maybe win too.

I refuse to use cloud storage or aps. Lost things there before and feel much safer making my own backups. Plus it is so much faster on my pc than the cloud.
 

editor17

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only if you dont back it up

Thank you, that is very helpful!

I've actually not worked with any type of cloud type thing before, but it does seem to make sense at this point. *eyes busted laptop with all the files trapped in it*


I have lost data in the cloud. And it is too slow for my taste.

Why not just back up to an external usb HD andor a memory stick. Make two copies and alternate using the media so you always have a recent BU even if one of those items fail.
 

insolentlad

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I have lost data in the cloud. And it is too slow for my taste.

Why not just back up to an external usb HD andor a memory stick. Make two copies and alternate using the media so you always have a recent BU even if one of those items fail.

I've learned the hard way to back up very frequently, not only to a separate drive and another computer, but also to set up my word processing program (Open Office) to create a back up copy elsewhere on my work PC each time I save.
 

Al X.

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I completely understand you. To avoid such incidents, I use cloud storage. But for the preview, it's easier for me when the files are stored in PDF format. Therefore, when downloading back from the cloud, I convert them through www.onlineocr.net to the WORD, and I do not feel any problems =)

I do not understand the logic behind this. A Word file is degraded after being converted from PDF in terms of format. Why wouldn't you just keep them in Word format then make a PDF copy when you need to do so?

For ebooks and self published POD versions I always use the Word version as the master document. I normally use Onedrive as my working directory so I can edit in multiple locations using multiple devices, with local backup.
 

Unpolished

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I like vim, it's free, lightweight, available everywhere and my fingers know where everything is.

Also grep, personalwiki on android, and currently hunspell.
 

AW Admin

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I like vim, it's free, lightweight, available everywhere and my fingers know where everything is.

Also grep, personalwiki on android, and currently hunspell.

emacs all the way!

I'm kidding; I've used both, depending on what boss and colleagues preferred.

I do a lot of Web writing as well as most of my HTML/CSS in Bare Bone's macOS text editor, BB Edit.
 

AW Admin

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I've learned the hard way to back up very frequently, not only to a separate drive and another computer, but also to set up my word processing program (Open Office) to create a back up copy elsewhere on my work PC each time I save.

Consider once a month or so, or at least every time you have a major stage completed, using an off-site backup either in the Cloud or by emailing files to yourself and leaving them on the email server (say gmail or hotmail or whatever).
 

AW Admin

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I have lost data in the cloud. And it is too slow for my taste.

Why not just back up to an external usb HD andor a memory stick. Make two copies and alternate using the media so you always have a recent BU even if one of those items fail.

Because you always need an offsite backup; people lose data in fires, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes.
 

maggiee19

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I am using LibreOffice right now and I downloaded a trial of Word. When my tablet gets here, that is getting repaired, I'm going to download Word on it because it's free. I wish it were free for computers, too. I am typing my NanoWriMo novel on LibreOffice though.
 

Al X.

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I am using LibreOffice right now and I downloaded a trial of Word. When my tablet gets here, that is getting repaired, I'm going to download Word on it because it's free. I wish it were free for computers, too. I am typing my NanoWriMo novel on LibreOffice though.

Just be aware that advanced formatting (styles, auto generated TOC's, e.g.) don't carry over well when using both to edit the same document.
 

Luke_s

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I usually write by hand, then type it up at a later date. I like the old school feel of putting pen to paper and letting the ink flow.

However, my typing up is a super modern approach. I use Dropbox integrated with my office 365 subscription. This allows me to open the document in any web browser and continue with my work, whilst having a secure backup at all times.
 

GreenPumpkin

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For me it's a little different, I have a couple of writing programs that I use, but for actual writing I use Scrivener.

For everyday writing I use a combination of Google Docs and OneNote (Like Evernote, but better). I love how both are online and so, while you use them, there is always a backup. However, I don't know how I feel about posting my work up online...
I do use a Dropbox folder to back up all my Scrivener files. I love Dropbox! Since I have the app on my phone, I can re-read what I have written and make notes on what needs to be edited out later on when I'm on my Laptop.

I thought about using WordPad while ago because I just didn't want to add unnecessary programs, but I never really decided on it. I could never see my word count, and to me, that is an important feature. It helps give an idea as to where I am within a story, and also helps me set a limit.

These are all the programs that I use:
- Scrivener (Novel writing, note taking, research, and overall outlining. It does it all!)
- Google Docs
- One Note
- Dropbox (Not for writing, but it helps with the process.)
- WordPad (I tried at one point to use it because it was beautifully clean and minimal. Now I rarely go on it.)
 

DMcCunney

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I'm contrary. I use a plain text editor.

Word processors are essentially two things in one package: an editor to let you create and revise text, and a formatter to let you determine what the text will look like on a page. Back in the day, those were separate functions, performed by different programs. On Unix, for example, you normally used the vi editor to create and edit text. In you needed to format it for printing, you embedded codes that would be interpreted by the nroff program which would send the appropriate sequences to your printer to do things like text attributes.

My end product is a file, not a printed page, so how it looks in print is usually irrelevant. My concern is that it says what I want to say and gets my point across.

I do make use of Google Docs in cases where I'm collaborating with others, but the reason is that the document is shareable with others.

On the rare occasion I care what it looks like on a page I have MS Word and Libre Office Writer.

But when I do care about the appearance on a page, I'm normally doing DTP, and the output will be a PDF file a printer can feed to an image setter to make plates from. The DTP program expects Word documents as the source of text boxes, but I'm normally assembling and designing publications primarily written by others.

(For those curious, I use Notepad2-mod, from https://xhmikosr.github.io/notepad2-mod/. It's based on the Scintilla edit control, which brings code folding and syntax highlighting in various programming languages to the table The win here is that it can be set to replace Windows Notepad with a registry hack, and invokes instantly.)
______
Dennis
 
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