ooh, ooh, pick me!

[punkfluff13.livejournal.com]

so, i haff another query.
is it normal that i'm doing my writing between Microsoft Word and my notebooks...
is there a better computer program to be using for it, or is Word my best option?
this may seem odd, but it's something that bugs me a lot....

Comments

[thessalian.livejournal.com]

I use Open Office (http://openoffice.org-suite.com/2/index.asp?aff=101&camp=gg_oo_uk&se=google). It's free, has everything Microsoft Office has and is generally better for me on the whole. Not to mention it doesn't have that stupid freakin' paper clip.

toolage...

[bishopjoey.livejournal.com]

I don't know if such things are normal - I'm way behind and doing all my writing by hand. Maybe I'll transcribe in the new year.

OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org/) is a good option, and allows you to save to .doc output among other things.

There are also several book writing tools - I've played a bit with YWriter which is quite nice and has, among other things, html output.

good luck!

[starsandauras]

Personally, I love Microsoft Works Word Processor. May not have the green squiggle, but it does have the red one and in the end it's the only squiggle I despertely need. It should come on your system.

[eyeslikeplanets.livejournal.com]

Definitely! Glad I'm not the only one with a love for Works.

[beckyblack]

I'm a Works fan too. Loads quick, not overloaded with distracting features. I'm using Open Office this year, since that's what's also on my new mini-laptop, so it's just easier, but I've written a whole bunch of novels and novellas with Works, including two NaNo novels.

Its wordcount also pretty much matches up totally with the NaNo verifier.

[agdhani.livejournal.com]

I've used Word for years and really like it. So what if its an ancient copy (well...2003 at least, lol) I've never had a problem with it, its set up with my custom writing dictionary and my alternate keystrokes for my MC's native language, it saves every 5 minutes no matter what I'm doing, and it makes backup copies. I don't think I could ask much more of it :D

[rather-b-ded.livejournal.com]

I use open office but then again I run linux (ubuntu) But I really like it, does everything microsoft processors can do and is completely free....and free is usually good ;)

[neth-dugan.livejournal.com]

If you just write write write Word or similar is probably fine. If you like to make notes as you write and/or keep info about characters and places close to hand and easy to update then I'd suggest Jer's Novel Writer () which is free and actually designed to work for creative writing. Got loads of handy features that you can take advantage of or leave and it says more on the web page probably.

[purpleinkpen.livejournal.com]

*Innocent look* Me? Collect writing programs like a katamari?

YWriter is great, especially if you're someone who likes outlines and structure.

Papel is better for those loose cannons, since it's basically a pile of postits. But these won't fall off the wall and doom your brilliant ideas to dust bunny devourment.

Writer's Cafe is somewhere in the middle, stringing postits in an organised structure. It also has some really nifty features like a prompt generator and name generator that I get heaps of use out of.

I've heard good things about Scrivener and Q10 from friends and on the forums, although I've never used either personally.

That said, I do most of mine in Word. Sure, it's a nagging beast about spelling, would fail third grade English, and flies into hysterics over the tiniest thing, but... what was I saying again?

[randomdream.livejournal.com]

I like the sound of the name generator thing.

But do Papel and Writer's Cafe really have you writing your entire novel in post-it-like things? What is it, like moveable chapters?

[purpleinkpen.livejournal.com]

Papel Screenshot: http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/17/l_98cfb4bf8ba4455092476aab900a2575.jpg

Papel is... well postits is really a good description. You can arrange them in any pattern, and put any content you like in them. If you're the artistic sort, or just especially anal retentive, you can add or change the icons to look like anything you want. If you're a sci-fi writer, maybe you need a special icon for descriptions of alien spaceships. Or whatever genre specific note you need to make. It's very free form, very intuitive.

Writer's Cafe Screenshot: http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/47/l_48de4fe35c0a48d9bb911dbfa3f0c935.jpg

Writer's Cafe organises 'cards' in tidy rows and colums to create a flexible timeline and a bird's eye view of your novel. The block in the upper right hand corner of the screen is where you would type the scene that card represents. (Note: I've shifted things around to give a good view of the things in each part of the screen. You can make any of the sections bigger or smaller to suit you.)

[randomdream.livejournal.com]

OMG. I love the look of the Writer's Cafe timelines. You should see the bit of crap I have right now of sticky notes and line paper, that's all being held together with tape.

So... I googled them, and their website appears to lead me to kind of sort of believe this is free.... holy crap.

THANK YOU.

[purpleinkpen.livejournal.com]

LOL. Yes, they have a free version, which is what I use. You can pay for more features, but it's so awesome without them I don't see the need.

Good luck with getting that taped together mess sorted and streamlined!

[randomdream.livejournal.com]

Actually, this is a little harder to figure out than I would have anticipated. I'm not sure if I ought to be spending so much time tinkering with this. Maybe if I'd gotten used to it before November.

Sigh. Thanks anyway. I'll try and figure it out after I make my wordcount goals each day.

[eyeslikeplanets.livejournal.com]

I do that too! I really had a thing for YWriter for a while, then there's the oldtimey yet somehow alluring yeahwrite! And sometimes I just need the dark simplicity of Blackword. But I don't yet have Writer's Cafe! To google! *zoom*

[purpleinkpen.livejournal.com]

LOL. Oooh, Blackword? I'd never heard of that one. Race you to Google!

[eyeslikeplanets.livejournal.com]

Blackword's pretty plain but at least it cuts down on distractions and I have this strange love for dark backgrounds when I'm typing. I think it's from a failed relationship with a typewriter in my naive young author days. *sigh*

[wfeather.livejournal.com]

What is most important is to use whatever feels best for you and/or is most adaptable to how/when/where you write. Myself, I do most of the writing in Word on my main laptop, but I also use another laptop from time to time, and do the writing there in EditPad; whenever I am done with a story in EditPad, I move it to the main laptop and put it into Word.

[in_excelsis_dea.livejournal.com]

I do most of my typing in Word, because of the use of italics. But yesterday I did over 2000 words in Notepad. I have Microsoft Works installed as well, but I never use it- it saves as .wps which is pretty much worthless, imo. I much prefer Word or Notepad. Only thing about Notepad is that you have to add in the html yourself, because it doesn't do italics/bold/underline, and you need to copy/paste somewhere to get a word count. But sometimes it just inspires me, for some reason.

I've tried yWriter, but since I don't really outline, I didn't like it as much. There's also Wordpad, but I use that for Uni, so I don't like using it for NaNo.

[pet-lunatic.livejournal.com]

Another vote for OpenOffice here, but if you want to send it to somebody for reading/editing or something and they use Word, I'd recommend saving it it Word format before you do! They don't always mix well, as I've discovered to my detriment (and the frustration of my advisor, lol).

writerly wish list

[randomdream.livejournal.com]

I am exactly on your same page. I feel like Word is so inefficient when it comes to organizing a novel.

I know everyone is different, but aren't there things we'd all benefit from? I want something that will keep track of chapters for me, and a table of contents, and an index (that would be SO handy)... something that will allow me to bookmark certain passages (I know Word has that feature, but it sucks) and make notes. And if I decide to add a chapter in between two others, or delete an entire one out of the blue, I want it to adjust accordingly. I don't want to have to go through Word and re-write all my chapter headings.

Am I just whining here, or do other people find Word to be deficient in these areas as well? I've never had the money for writing software, but even if I did I'd have no idea which one to pick.

[wispofcloud.livejournal.com]

I use Q10 which I just learned about on October 31. I love it, though I would only ever use it for NaNo. It is a full screen editor, and you can mess with the settings to change the background and font color, have it state how many words/lines/paragraphs/pages you've completed, set a word goal and it will tell you what percent you have completed, use a spell check, or use a timer. Once you figure out how to work the settings (it took me forever to learn that F1 is your best friend with this program) it is pretty user friendly.

However it works with Windows. And like I said I only really like to use it for Nano because I can just sit down and write and there are no distractions. For any formal papers or shorter projects that I work on I usually use Microsoft Word 2003

[curioushamster.livejournal.com]

Seconding scrivener.

I've tried a lot of programs and almost settled on StoryMill at one point. StoryMill is good and fits the way I write. But it crashed on me once, making me lose about 200 words and I chucked it.

I've settled on scrivener because of it's other main feature - it does a save every second or so.

Paranoid? Who? Me?

[bardiphouka.livejournal.com]

I use Open Office at home and Googledocs at work. But then I am a strong supporter of free..and a believer in not having too many bells and whistles.

[nanonano.livejournal.com]

I vary between Word and Rough Draft. I love the long empty sidebar in Rough Draft you can use for notes, character lists, word counts, glossary. Plus it's tabbed which is useful if you work in multiple documents/chapters.

[flavour-of-nano.livejournal.com]

I use a notebook and Open Office. I like MS Word more than Open Office to be honest, but they're pretty similar and Open Office is fairly straightforward to use.