Favorite writing app/program?

[VallesMarineris]

I've used a number of word processors over the years. I discovered Scrivener several months ago and switched to it. I'm not going back. Here's why:

-- I used MS Word at first and for a long time. However, Word over the years had become so encrusted with features I never use that it became just too much trouble. And those "ribbons" full of icons for stuff I don't use can can take up a quarter of the screen. Annoying. I liken Word to an old freighter that's been modified and had equipment added on and the engine rebuilt so much that it's just not efficient anymore. Yes, it will haul your writing along and get you from Port A to Port B, but it's slow and you're going to waste time getting lost in the maze of commands and features.

-- I moved to Pages, the Mac app (I'm all-in with the Apple ecosystem). It's like a modern solar-powered electric cabin cruiser compared to Word. Smooth, pretty, easy to use, can read and write Word docs. Much more efficient.

-- But then I discovered Scrivener. All of a sudden I'm in command of an atomic-powered aircraft carrier. It's a better word processor than either Pages or Word (lots and lots of things you can customize to make it exactly the way you like to write), plus it's way more than a word processor. It has multiple ways to organize your text, your research, notes, links, images, everything. You can look at your writing as an outline or as index cards, with labels, keywords, bookmarks, etc., the list goes on, however you like to think about your work. You can write anything from a screenplay to an illustrated science textbook. And it will publish your work to any format: print, Web, epub, etc.

If you're writing a short story, Word will work, Pages will work better. But if you're creating a book-length work, Scrivener is the way to go. Cheap, too, for what you get.

Note that Scrivener is MacOS native. There's a Windows version, but it's always an update or two behind and lacks some features*. Super-fast and stable on my M1 MacBook.

Regarding moving between computer, phone, tablet, etc. I use the Notes app built into Apple products. Any time I get an idea, I type it into whatever I'm using at the moment. All the other devices sync the edit in real time. Very handy. I can write a whole scene if want, and it will be ready for me when I get back to my computer.

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*MacOS has basically all the word processor tools a developer could want built in, and the Mac version of Scrivener takes advantage of that. Windows, ironically, doesn't. Everything has to be created by the developer from scratch.

 

[AG31]

OfficeSuite Pro.

It's a no cost Word clone that works on my Kindle, and is compatible with the various Word formats, as well as Excel. It also got a pdf reader, but it doesn't do word-pdf conversions properly.

It's bare bones simplicity, minimum bells and whistles, which I like. On occasion, large files get corrupted, but I just send them to myself, download and save with another name, and keep going. That always removes the bugs, which is nifty (I have no idea how, but I don't care).

I don't even bother with back-ups - a Kindle is a completely solid state device, no spinning drives to crash or damage, so if the software works, it works.

I can't begin to comprehend how many transistors are on the chips to handle all that memory. In ten years, I've still only used ten per cent.

I'm not familiar with using a Kindle for anything but reading books and documents. Can you give me the menu steps to get to an environment where I could download something like OfficeSuitePro and have a keyboard I could use to run it? I looked around in the menu (it keeps changing!!!) and didn't see anything promising.

 

[BgDaddy33]

-- But then I discovered Scrivener. All of a sudden I'm in command of an atomic-powered aircraft carrier. It's a better word processor than either Pages or Word (lots and lots of things you can customize to make it exactly the way you like to write), plus it's way more than a word processor. It has multiple ways to organize your text, your research, notes, links, images, everything. You can look at your writing as an outline or as index cards, with labels, keywords, bookmarks, etc., the list goes on, however you like to think about your work. You can write anything from a screenplay to an illustrated science textbook. And it will publish your work to any format: print, Web, epub, etc.

If you're writing a short story, Word will work, Pages will work better. But if you're creating a book-length work, Scrivener is the way to go. Cheap, too, for what you get.

Thank you for the feedback. Google Docs has worked out okay for me for shorter stories, but as my latest gets longer, I wish I had a better way to view the pages and keep ideas sorted. I may give Scrivener a try!

 

[NoTalentHack]

ChatGPT, according to some.

 

[Devinter]

Thank you for the feedback. Google Docs has worked out okay for me for shorter stories, but as my latest gets longer, I wish I had a better way to view the pages and keep ideas sorted. I may give Scrivener a try!

Scrivener cannot be beat, but if you're put off by the rather steep purchase price, "Nimble Writer" costs only a fraction as much and still has a pretty decent amount of features for keeping track of character notes, locations, factions, plot lines and so on. It's also highly customizable and supports adding your on "addon apps" with a long list of options available, and has an amazing encryption system in case that's something you're concerned about. Means you can upload your stuff safely on the cloud without worry of theft, because nobody could open it without your special key.

Scrivener is straight up better if money isn't an issue, however. In my opinion, at least.