# Writing Tools/Programs



## V_D_O (Oct 21, 2008)

Because, seriously, Notepad doesn't exactly cut it.
What programs do you use to write your stories? What sort of features does it have that make you use it over other programs? What sort of things does it do that you hate?

I've been using *Wordpad* so far, to create simple RTF files. I'll probably continue to use it for one-shots, but I can't manage anything big with it.
+: It's easy, quick, lightweight, and doesn't fill files up with invisible, unneeded control codes.
-: It's lightweight, and you need to swap out for another program if you want a spell/grammar check or word count or anything complicated.

*MS Word* is useable, but it's too bloated for what I want without enough new features to justify using it over Wordpad for much. I just open it to do a spell/grammar check when needed.
+: Many more features, like grammar and spellchecking.
-: Slow, fills RTF files with invisible control code that can double a file's size or ruin some document readers.

I tried a *Mind-mapping* program, but that had some issues. None of the programs I tried were very stable (nothing kills a good flow state like an unhandled Win32 exception), and they were bloated because they were meant to handle a completely different purpose.
+: Great at compiling concepts and ideas for grand, sweeping stories.
-: Not so great at staying open or doing things quickly.

Earlier today, I gave up on Wordpad because it wasn't going to be able to handle some longer tales I had planned and did some searching. My first find was *RoughDraft*, a free tool which looks good. I didn't spend much time with it yet, though.
+: Simple, straightforward. Several writing-oriented features, like a notepad for ideas and spellchecking.
-: Not sure.

Then I found *Liquid Story Binder XE*, and I'm impressed. $50, but there's a free 30-day trial and what I've seen on the first day alone is making me consider buying it.
+: There's so much stuff, I can't even list it here. Check the website for more details.
-: Overkill for short stories, one-shots, etc.


So what do you use? What do you like about it? What do you wish your programs did a bit better?


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## ArielMT (Oct 21, 2008)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AbiWord

http://www.abisource.com/

It's extremely light and fast, and it has a small library of plug-ins.  It's not as powerful as Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org Writer, but it's more powerful than Windows WordPad.


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## dietrc70 (Oct 21, 2008)

What version of Word are you using?  2007 is a major improvement over the previous ones, IMO.  It's what I use.  Probably the most important feature for me is reliability, being able to choose a font that looks good for long editing sessions, and the ability to easily zoom in and out for easy reading.  I also use foreign words and Japanese characters sometimes, and Word handles all of that very well.


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## V_D_O (Oct 21, 2008)

I'm using Word 2003, but only because it's what I've got on my laptop (where I do my writing). My Vista machine runs 2007, but it's not quite as portable.
I still haven't gotten used to the new interface. I've heard from the people who actually made an effort to use it that it's a huge improvement, but I tend to use my laptop more because it's handy.

I've never really needed anything more complicated than accented characters, but I can see how foreign language support could be a dealmaker for some writers.


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## ScottyDM (Oct 22, 2008)

A couple of years back I switched from Microsoft Office to Open Office. I had an idea to create a software package for a certain vertical market and OO is released under LGPL, meaning as long as I treat it like a library component I can resell it and close the source on my part of the package. I thought I'd better become familiar with its features and limitations. It is limited compared to MS Office. It's missing lots of things that almost no one uses (except maybe my wife), and the rest isn't always the smoothest UI (RegEx with no help files, anyone?), but it's hard to argue with free, open source, and multi-platform.

Which mind mapping program are you using? I use Freemind and I've never had any trouble with it. You need to have a clean and up-to-date install of Java (Sun is the white hot center of all things Java, so dump your MS version if you have one and get Sun's). Some mind mappers will let you do sort of free association between nodes, but Freemind uses a strict hierarchy paradigm. Freemind files are based on XML, so a strict hierarchy naturally fits the XML way. I do find it limiting when I want to show relationships between characters, but it works for every other aspect of gross (overall) novel planning. I have nine Freemind icons on my desktop right now for nine storyworlds--too many unfinished projects. 

I've downloaded and played with Cmap a bit, but haven't used it for any projects. It's got some slightly scary license language, but as long as your use is noncommercial it's free to download and use. What I have tried successfully: putting a Cmap file inside the Freemind hierarchy (opens in two windows, obviously).

Something that's been fantastic is Microsoft Encarta. I have the old 2001 edition on a single DVD. A paper and ink dictionary can be a drag because it takes so long to find anything--Encarta is instant. There's also a built-in thesaurus, including a related synonyms feature. Fabulous! The encyclopedia sort of sucks--the Internet is soooo much better, but sometimes I find myself with my notebook up where there is no Internet access and I must attempt to muddle through. The Atlas is pretty darn good. I wonder if you get the whole thing as a download for that price, or if you need Internet access to use parts of the tool? My 2001 version is 6.0 GB.

I've been experimenting with using the spreadsheet in Open Office for more detailed planning, such as chapter lists and even scene lists. Works good if you want to dip into that sort of detail before you start writing.

As an experiment I ported the scene list from OO spreadsheet to Microsoft Project. My thought was that project planning software has all this cool time line stuff, but I found it to be massively complex with the totally wrong focus. If you were making a movie and your characters were played by actors, plus you had a crew, and all needed to be fed (for example) then all that extra complexity would be worth it. NOT recommended.

I also tried porting the same scene list to OO database, which worked much better than MS Project. However, it was more effort than OO spreadsheet and I haven't gone back to explore the full advantages of OO database.

I've played around with an online character creation tool (yea, gotta sign up for a membership to use it), and it was surprisingly helpful. I've done character outlines freeform in OO writer, but it's like staring at a blank page. The character form asks leading questions and helps you think of stuff. I've played around a bit with trying to put the online tool's functionality into OO database, but that's like a development project. Long term it'd be worth it.

Well, I'm aware there are integrated packages for fiction writers that have character creation tools, outlining tools, etc. I've poked around but haven't been impressed with the ones I have tried.

Last year for NaNoWriMo the company that manufactures a little notebook-like "computer" had a special deal for "NaNoers". I think they let you try it for free during November (probably needed a credit card). The device was an Alphasmart and can only do word processing, but it's portable and runs for a month on three AA cells (one of the joys of a tiny screen with no backlight, and no hard drive). Sort of Wordpad functionality, but to go. And unlike a pad of paper and pencil, you can upload your text file to your PC for final edits and playing with the formatting.

Weird tools: I've used CAD software to design a house where many scenes of one of my novella's took place. Kinda helps keep left and right straight when characters leave one room and walk to another. CAD software is a touch extreme, but I had it already. And I've used something called Leveller for map making when I designed a world for a series of novellas. Yea, Leveller is a touch expensive for only map making (crayons work too). But you're modeling your world in 3D, which is fun and awesome. I've got v1.6, but I think the newer versions can wrap your map around a sphere. Leveller is primarily an editor, and as an editor it works about 100x better than Terragen. However Terragen does better at procedural textures and rendering.

Finally, there is a whole forum on this subject over at the NaNoWriMo website.

Scotty


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## M. LeRenard (Oct 22, 2008)

OpenOffice for me.  Essentially because it's much easier to turn off all the goddamn accessories than it is in any Microsoft product, but it still has a convenient interface for bolds and italics and underlining and such things.  I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I absolutely can't stand it when I'm typing and that f***ing little red or green line appears underneath a word.  So in OO, I can set up a nice page layout, have all the handy little trinkets I've come to enjoy, and not have to have the computer tell me that I'm writing a sentence wrong every three minutes, despite that there's nothing wrong with the sentence.
I turned off everything like that in Word, but there are still things happening (some of the bloody autocorrect bullcrap) that I've tried to get rid of, and have had no such luck (it doesn't help when you de-check every single box under the autocorrect menu and it's still autocorrecting certain things).  So I use OO because it actually is possible to turn off anything that's not typing letters onto a page.  It has its issues, yes (like the dictionary it uses for spellcheck... not that great), but it's still handy.  Plus, you can save your file as anything you'd ever want when you're done.  That's neat.


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## GraemeLion (Oct 22, 2008)

I use linux, so my writing tool is .. a blank console running vi or nano.  That's it.  No distractions, nothing but.  

Of course, that's for writing.  For plotting I'm currently using (and liking) the snowflake method to generate a nice big spreadsheet.    I use OpenOffice for the spreadsheet.  I've also been known to use Freemind to kind of flesh out characters, scenes, dialogue, what not.

Short stories tend to go straight to outline without any snowflake rigmarole.    Occasionally ,  I'll do the outline in Nano or vi and bypass openoffice.    I do not use spell checkers or grammar checkers at any point of my editing process.  At the very, very end, I will run it through a spell check.

Then, I format the thing in lyx for pdf generation, txt, and convert it to lrf for anyone who wants to read my stuff that has a Reader.

Oh.  I'd also like to note, I use my Reader and a notepad to do some of my editing work.


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## V_D_O (Oct 22, 2008)

ScottyDM said:


> Which mind mapping program are you using? I use Freemind and I've never had any trouble with it. You need to have a clean and up-to-date install of Java (Sun is the white hot center of all things Java, so dump your MS version if you have one and get Sun's). Some mind mappers will let you do sort of free association between nodes, but Freemind uses a strict hierarchy paradigm. Freemind files are based on XML, so a strict hierarchy naturally fits the XML way. I do find it limiting when I want to show relationships between characters, but it works for every other aspect of gross (overall) novel planning. I have nine Freemind icons on my desktop right now for nine storyworlds--too many unfinished projects.


I've tried Mindjet MindManager and a few random tools I'd downloaded for a Software Engineering course, but I ended up deleting those because they were too lightweight for what I was looking for. The issue might be with me, instead of the mindmapping software- Even when I used it, I always found myself displaying things as outlines, with huge lists of short notes or single, long notes that didn't fit very well in the given space.



ScottyDM said:


> Something that's been fantastic is Microsoft Encarta. I have the old 2001 edition on a single DVD. A paper and ink dictionary can be a drag because it takes so long to find anything--Encarta is instant. There's also a built-in thesaurus, including a related synonyms feature. Fabulous! The encyclopedia sort of sucks--the Internet is soooo much better, but sometimes I find myself with my notebook up where there is no Internet access and I must attempt to muddle through. The Atlas is pretty darn good. I wonder if you get the whole thing as a download for that price, or if you need Internet access to use parts of the tool? My 2001 version is 6.0 GB.


Wikipedia/tionary and Google have been my main research tools. Nowhere near as accurate as the real things, but guaranteed to be able to find what you're looking for, if it exists.



ScottyDM said:


> As an experiment I ported the scene list from OO spreadsheet to Microsoft Project. My thought was that project planning software has all this cool time line stuff, but I found it to be massively complex with the totally wrong focus. If you were making a movie and your characters were played by actors, plus you had a crew, and all needed to be fed (for example) then all that extra complexity would be worth it. NOT recommended.


My second major project has a lot of characters all running around the countryside doing different things, frequently with each other in various combinations. I'm going to need to have some way of keeping their interactions in order, so a multi-character timeline would be very helpful. More focused works probably don't need that much.


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## Shouden (Oct 22, 2008)

I use my trusty Pages that comes with Apple's iWork. But.....you have to have a Mac to use it, so......I hate AbiWord and Open Office, but that's my opinion.


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## kitreshawn (Oct 23, 2008)

I use Open Office sometimes, but normally I use LaTeX.  Since it is a markup language LaTeX is actually surprisingly good for writing.  Just doesn't have a spell check in most cases, but that is minor.


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## Poetigress (Oct 23, 2008)

I've never had any big problems with MS Word -- I use the 2003 edition, and so far I've been able to turn off all the features that drive me up the wall.  I'm not much of a computer geek, though (there's an understatement), so I'm actually pickier about the pens and notebooks I use to write my longhand first drafts.


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## Gren (Oct 23, 2008)

I use Scrivener, but unless you have a mac, that's not going to do a whole lot of good. I also make use of LaTeX for doing some reference materials and background stuff, but I don't actually write stories in it.


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## Frasque (Oct 24, 2008)

I've been using Roughdraft for years now, it works great for me.


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