Writer's Software

[TyrannicalFox]

Call me curious, but I'm keen to know what software you use to create your artefacts of wonder? I'm just delving into the world of Scrivener on trial before I splash out for the full license, having always been a standard MS Word writer. I'm really liking it so far, especially and ability to create a template - although I'm yet to find a useful erotica-focused template.

Do you guys have any other suggestions? I've had a look at Novlr too, but I'm keen to stay away from the monthly subscription models and leave those to Netflix!

Any suggestions would be greatly received, and I'll be very curious as to why our favourite software has earned that accolade?

 

[KeithD]

Word, my brain, computer search, and a couple of shelves of writing guides.

 

[Handley_Page]

Word 2003.
Frankly, I'd prefer Word 97, but one has to use the given. . .

 

[SimonDoom]

I write everything on MS Word.

 

[JanusGoneAwry]

I've got 2 novels in the works and I use Scrivener for them. It does a good job of organizing all of the various artifacts in one place so I can get to them easily while writing but for the Lit stories I use iA Writer instead of Word. I have found that its simplified interface provides me with a terrific UX and it works the same on all of my devices so regardless of where I'm writing it's very consistent.

FWIW I seriously dislike the UI of Word on Apple tablets but that is, as they say, a personal problem.

My 2 cents

 

[ElectricBlue]

OpenOffice, which is a Word clone, because it's on my Kindle and doesn't cost me a cent.

 

[TadOverdon]

I use Word - Word-97 format documents work easiest at Smashwords.

To post here I have to go through and insert html tags and ascii codes for bolding, italics and things like em dashes and daggers.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I use Word - Word-97 format documents work easiest at Smashwords.

To post here I have to go through and insert html tags and ascii codes for bolding, italics and things like em dashes and daggers.

Do you need to tag/code for em dashes/daggers? I've never had a problem with just pasting em dashes into the text box along with the words. Never used daggers but on a quick test, those seem to work too.

 

[HeyAll]

I write on Google Docs, even though that makes me reliant on needing an internet connection. I think it looks the best and I like the full size of the screen compared to how small Word is.

I also like that you can share, as I often collaborate.

After I finish editing, I run the story through Grammarly.com for a free grammar check. They're not perfect, but they do catch a lot of small errors that slip through.

 

[BarracudaSwordfish]

I use Word. Know it well and been using it since Bill Gates was in nappies (diapers to our US friends)

Well, something like that anyway.

Like everything, it has many faults but I'm too old to change now.

I find the 'read aloud' facility so useful. A bit clunky and robotic, but sure as hell beats reading my meisterworks out loud to myself.

Aww, bless Microsoft Helen - she does a decent job and she swears so eloquently!

 

[XerXesXu]

I use Word. Know it well and been using it since Bill Gates was in nappies (diapers to our US friends)

Well, something like that anyway.

Like everything, it has many faults but I'm too old to change now.

I find the 'read aloud' facility so useful. A bit clunky and robotic, but sure as hell beats reading my meisterworks out loud to myself.

Aww, bless Microsoft Helen - she does a decent job and she swears so eloquently!

I use Word, purchased when Bill was in nappies - Office 2003 - and still using it. Have you noticed that after 18 years Bill thinks I might wish to start renting it?

Across devices I use One Drive - Free. Didn't know about Helen, but there are several online Text to Speech, which I use - Free. Hemmingway is, yes -Free.

For serious plotting I use Y Writer - Free - though you may wish to donate; simple to use and covers all the basics.

I'm in love with Free.

 

[Payne_Hall]

These threads always make me feel weird. I use an iCloud email draft.

Sometimes, I pen and paper beginnings and switch to the email draft, though.

 

[Handley_Page]

Word Proc for free

I think it's worth reminding writers about 'other' ~Word Processors which seem to do OK. The beauty of them is they are FREE.

Jarte; This neat add-on slots over Microsoft’s own Word Pad Text Editor.
What comes out is a quite handy little gadget for writing a bit more that “Dear Aunty”.

AbiWord: A neat little thing that includes a separate dictionary for American and British.

Kingsoft Writer: This looks very like Microsoft Word and has a very, very similar command structure.

Libre Office: Microsoft Office in drag. It does the lot!

Lotus Symphony: I’ve never used it but I managed to download a free copy.

There’s also “Office Now” and “yWriter” which I’ve never seriously tried
(& I don't know the prices, if any)..

 

[Handley_Page]

Word Proc for free

I think it's worth reminding writers about 'other' ~Word Processors which seem to do OK. The beauty of them is they are FREE. They work on a PC.

Jarte; This neat add-on slots over Microsoft’s own Word Pad Text Editor.
What comes out is a quite handy little gadget for writing a bit more that “Dear Aunty”.

AbiWord: A neat little thing that includes a separate dictionary for American and British.

Kingsoft Writer: This looks very like Microsoft Word and has a very, very similar command structure.

Libre Office: Microsoft Office in drag. It does the lot!

Lotus Symphony: I’ve never used it but I managed to download a free copy.

There’s also “Office Now” and “yWriter” which I’ve never seriously tried
(& I don't know the prices, if any)..

 

[Euphony]

Once Scrivner got its Windows game ironed out, I transitioned to it.
I'm unsure if it's actually the best or if I just got comfortable w/the interface so it became an old friend.
MS Office and I have been enemies since a shitty professor made it a battleground so that probably stacked the odds to Scrivner as well.

 

[Euphony]

win 64 scrivner

*edit* wonky double post

 

[TadOverdon]

Do you need to tag/code for em dashes/daggers? I've never had a problem with just pasting em dashes into the text box along with the words. Never used daggers but on a quick test, those seem to work too.

Thanks for this. Guess what? I was wrong.

When I first submitted here, I did it with a Word docx document. And before doing that, I looked through the forums here for formatting tips and came across this topic:

em dashes

So, I formatted as recommended there. I may have misunderstood what was being said, anyway.

Now, the Word document was in Pending status for a long time - nearly a week. And so I thought that maybe submitting using the input form would be faster. I deleted the Word document and resubmitted using the input form. And it was faster - with eleven submissions it hasn't taken more than two days for any chapter to post.

But I kept mechanically replacing those em dashes, etc. because I assumed I had to.

So, TL;DR: It Am Big Crime To Make Anything Perfect on Bizarro World, and I am a recent immigrant from those sharp-angled shores.

You've saved me a lot of work going forward. Thank you again!

 

[PennameWombat]

I write on Google Docs, even though that makes me reliant on needing an internet connection. I think it looks the best and I like the full size of the screen compared to how small Word is. <snip>

Go to File on Google Docs and select "Make Available Offline." That allows you to edit while you're disconnected. I use that feature mainly on my iPad (which has only WiFi, no mobile connection) so I edit while I'm out and about. Once I have a connection it resyncs.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I write on Google Docs, even though that makes me reliant on needing an internet connection. I think it looks the best and I like the full size of the screen compared to how small Word is.

I also like that you can share, as I often collaborate.

After I finish editing, I run the story through Grammarly.com for a free grammar check. They're not perfect, but they do catch a lot of small errors that slip through.

I do the same. If I was writing a novel then I may use something more sophisticated.

 

[SimonDoom]

IMHO, word processing software is like a diet plan: the best one is the one you are actually going to use. If you use it, and you're comfortable with it, and you can get results, then there's no need to change.

I'm well into geezer-stage when it comes to using MS Word. We're talking 30 years of use and familiarity. There's no way I'm going to change. I don't write on my phone and I don't create documents in the cloud. I write at a desktop computer and it's all saved to a hard drive until I'm ready to upload it. I'll never stop doing it this way. Doesn't make it the right way, though.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I used JotterPad until a few weeks ago when they did a big upgrade and added loads of features that just got in my way, chiefly a complex file structure that had me lose a story for a couple hours.

So I've defected to Writer Plus which looks exactly like JotterPad used to.

I use Libre Office for most final edits of long stories, but the vast majority of my writing and editing is short bursts on my phone.

 

[Bramblethorn]

But I kept mechanically replacing those em dashes, etc. because I assumed I had to.

So, TL;DR: It Am Big Crime To Make Anything Perfect on Bizarro World, and I am a recent immigrant from those sharp-angled shores.

You've saved me a lot of work going forward. Thank you again!

You're welcome! And if you don't already know how, it's possible to use Word's search-and-replace functions to automatically tag bold and italic...

Edit: or, you can use this: https://www.textfixer.com/html/convert-word-to-html.php

 

[Bramblethorn]

Call me curious, but I'm keen to know what software you use to create your artefacts of wonder? I'm just delving into the world of Scrivener on trial before I splash out for the full license, having always been a standard MS Word writer. I'm really liking it so far, especially and ability to create a template - although I'm yet to find a useful erotica-focused template.

Do you guys have any other suggestions? I've had a look at Novlr too, but I'm keen to stay away from the monthly subscription models and leave those to Netflix!

Any suggestions would be greatly received, and I'll be very curious as to why our favourite software has earned that accolade?

For short pieces, MS Word. (I'd be using one of the open-source options, but I need Word for professional editing work.)

For long/complex stories, Scrivener for planning, organising, and writing, and then export to Word for formatting/etc.

 

[KeithD]

IMHO, word processing software is like a diet plan: the best one is the one you are actually going to use. If you use it, and you're comfortable with it, and you can get results, then there's no need to change.

I'm well into geezer-stage when it comes to using MS Word. We're talking 30 years of use and familiarity. There's no way I'm going to change. I don't write on my phone and I don't create documents in the cloud. I write at a desktop computer and it's all saved to a hard drive until I'm ready to upload it. I'll never stop doing it this way. Doesn't make it the right way, though.

I'm in this old-geezer club. The best software, I think, for writing fiction is the human brain. A computer helps. I was writing in the era of the manual typewriter. I know how much more difficult that can be.

 

[HeyAll]

Funny note:

I first started writing in late 2011.

Back then, I shared a family computer. I was a college student.

So what I did was write stories on my AOL email and send it to myself. Everytime I'd write, I'd copy it onto a new email and keep writing, then send that to myself. Repeat cycle until the story is done. LOL