|
|
Joined: 11/14/2012
Posts: 4
|
I've tried a few different programs, and the two I have really enjoyed are MS Word, and Celtx. They both worked really well, and combined would be the ultimate writing tool for novels. Celtx auto saves every few seconds, and allows you to access your novel anywhere from a cloud. MS has in the area of spell checking, grammar, and a much better spell check. This got me to thinking and wondering what others out there use to work on their novels, and which one they found to be the best.
|
|
Joined: 6/14/2012
Posts: 194
|
I think it will vary a lot from person to person. I started with a typewriter (yeah, I'm old) and then used WordStar (no longer exists; a DOS based software) for years. Loved it. Hated to leave it when it disappeared. It's only disadvantage was the inability to send filed via email--that wasn't even a factor when it was designed. It never lost files or parts of files; it was easy to format, merged documents seamlessly, and so on and so on.
I shifted to Word largely because my publisher couldn't handle WordStar documents, and secondarily because of the email thing--I had to send them disks. I'm not a fan of Word (to put it mildly) and the more they change it the more I hate it. But--everyone can deal with Word files, and they email smoothly, so (gritting my teeth every time Word makes something hard that WordStar made easy) I continue to use it...but an older iteration when I can stuff one onto a new machine. (The version of Word on my netbook is far worse than the one on the old desktop, for instance.) Word was not designed for fiction writers. But it can be, has been, and probably will continue to be used by us.
|
|
Joined: 4/30/2011
Posts: 662
|
I use a typewriter. Yes, a typewriter.
My brain doesn't like computers. The screen makes me blank out. I find a manual portable perfect for the creation phase. That said, I also use optical recognition software to convert the typed text into a Word document for the editing phase. It save a lot of time I would use for transcribing.
I also hand write passages when I don't have my typewriter. I like the feel of a pen running across a page. It's my second favorite thing next to putting down actual words.
|
|
|
|
MS Word, with all of Elizabeth's reservations (I used to use WordStar in CP/M  I also remember using typewriters and writing by hand.
It seems to me the writing itself is different, depending upon the medium used. Longhand, I regrettably wax poetic trying to capture all the meanings of a thought in a sentence. When using a typewriter, the story eventually diverges from my thoughts because editing is nigh impossible. Only a word processor allows me to change what I have written to keep up with a story that evolves as I write it. (Maybe, I wrote it wrong to begin with. But I prefer to think of myself as a painter using words as colors. Dab a little here, change the tone there....)
It will be interesting to see if great poetry is or was ever written on a computer, and I admire LeeAnna's linear ability to hold a story all in her head and then type it out. But I'm stuck painting words with a processor.
|
|
Joined: 4/30/2011
Posts: 662
|
Thanks for the compliment, GD. But I must admit that I try to at least have a rough outline before I start. I have a tendency to be wordy, and must apply a lot of self-discipline to keep it linear. I use a typewriter to keep the internet from distracting me aside from the fact that the more tactile experience of using a typewriter helps stimulate my brain.
I've actually been working on editing my first novel so I can begin querying, so I haven't touched a typewriter for a while. It saddens me. I have three new machines I've been itching to test out. All they need are new ribbons and a can of air, and they're all set. They're in beautiful shape.
|
|
Joined: 10/20/2011
Posts: 350
|
I generally use Word. But I also like to do it old-fashion and write it in a notebook. There's something about flipping through the pages I've written as well as looking at things that get crossed out, changed, etc.
|
|
Joined: 11/14/2012
Posts: 4
|
It's been awhile since I've really sat down with pen and paper, or anything outside of using a computer these days. I used to do a lot of outlining, but with the computer I can easily correct what I want to, when I want to. copy, paste, delete. I'll right down ideas from time to time, but mainly everything into the computer, and saved onto an external hard drive. on the computer it easier for me to get into an automatic writing sort of mode. I admire, and respect those who write their novels by hand. I need to get a typewriter, it has been awhile. Did a lot of writing on the one I had15 years ago. Non electric, heavy steel keys, was a beauty, wonder what ever happened to it..
|
|
Joined: 8/13/2011
Posts: 272
|
Personally, I use Open office at the moment. I started using it as I hadn't got a copy of Office with my PC, but I've really not had a reason to switch back. While it has its issues (most noticeably its insistence on using the open document format which I don't think anything else can read), I've found it's quite useful.
One feature I'm quite fond of it's auto-saving. I've lost count of how many times it's recovered documents after unwanted shutdowns/ poorly thought out restarts. It's not entirely perfect (I lost half a chapter a while ago when my batteries died halfway through a save), but beyond that it's generally done everything I wanted.
|
|
|
|
Like you all, I started with long hand writing, then jumped to a portable typewriter for college. Then computers became more common and I ended up using Multimate / Wordstar / Word Perfect / Word - both MS and Open Office versions. Now I have my latest laptop machine which uses Word 2010. That said, I still have a 1930's Underwood I liked to use when I am writing the voice of my hard boiled detective (from my short story days.) If someone could only invent an app mimicking the clack clack clack sound when I use my laptop. It would be better than Bailey's in coffee.
|
|
Joined: 11/14/2012
Posts: 4
|
Since the time I've posted this I have been doing free hand for coming up with ideas, etc. It had been awhile since I had put pen to paper, and it felt good. though the real writing will always be done on the computer. more comfortable with the idea of being able to save my work. In the past I lost a lot of poetry, and some short stories that I had done, somebody took the book it was in.I defiantly will not make that mistake again.
|
|
|
|
Pen and paper!
|
|
Joined: 4/4/2013
Posts: 18
|
Scrivener. I can compile into Word, or .epub, or .mobi, or print, or .rtf, or nearly anything.
And I use Aeon Timeline to track, you guessed it, the timeline.
And I use Scapple when I need to work with less structure or layout plot actions in a more visual manner.
|
|
Joined: 11/14/2012
Posts: 4
|
Was just talking to a friend the other day that I wished MS word had a way to track certain parts of my story. I may have to check out Aeon Timeline...
|
|
|
|
LeeAnna: I was delighted to learn that you use a typewriter and that you also write with a pen. Novels composed with pen and ink develop an inherent loveliness no computer could ever equal. The first drafts of my six novels were composed with pen, second-drafted on a typewriter, finalized on the computer. Those first two stages inhibit one's misguided penchant for editing on the fly, a bad habit that is responsible for a lot of bad writing. The time lag between writing and editing may well be the most important component of successful writing. That first draft should proceed without ever looking back and trying to fix something before the second draft begins. Fear of writing badly drives one to edit on the fly, when in fact the bad writing must, in the manner of a Dempster Dumpster, be disgorged completely before the editing and polishing begin in the subsequent drafts. In a sense, the first draft becomes a barf bag, an essential process facilely disregarded by the cold-blooded efficiency of the computer. \\
|
|
|
|
My preference is a pen and paper. However, due to a massive cyst imbedded in my dominate hand causing tendonitis and excruciating pain every time I do pretty much anything with it, I'm unable to. So I use either Open Office or Word to write and plan the novel, Aeon Timeline to work on well, timelines, and Scrivener to edit and revise. When I'm sharing something I upload it to Google Drive.
There are a lot of novelist programs out there they say are designed for writers, but I guess I was trained with a piece of paper and a pen/pencil, so a word document works best when I'm writing. It's simple, I get what I need down, and I can do formatting and stuff later. I don't change fonts, I don't do special indents, just single spaced, Times New Roman, size 12, one inch margins. I feel when I'm writing, when I'm dealing with all this cool writer stuff put in these programs it just distracts me.
|
|
Joined: 4/30/2011
Posts: 662
|
@DJS: I agree that the typewriter does keep me from editing on the fly, something I'm known to do. I'm getting ready to start my second on an obnoxious, yellow Smith & Corona Electra. I finished my first one on that machine, and I was going to move onto another, but I found out the vet who gave it to me has brain and lung cancer, so I'm going to write the second one on it in his honor. There is even a picture of him giving it to me in the bowling alley I work at, so it only seems right.
|
|
|
|