What Tools Do You Use While Writing?

[Rob_Royale]

MSWord365 with ProWritingAid (subscription), a free thesaurus website and a pint of Irish Death.

 

[Nightaelf]

I use Windows Notepad and Google Docs because in Docs I can create a separate tab for each chapter, and the spell check works well.

I also use Google Keep, mainly with the voice recording feature. I use it whenever I suddenly get an idea for a story. I record it and listen back to it later.

I use Google Sheets to keep track of the timeline of my stories, especially when I add a new character or event.

I always write my stories on my PC, with a physical keyboard and two screens. I like having my story open on one screen and my research notes and Google Sheets on the other.

 

[iwatchus]

I use pages and the Mac speaking for read to me.

But I have a question. How many people have an editor? I have had another author read one story this far before publishing. My SO has read a handful of stories to tell me certain parts don’t work but otherwise it’s been all me. Lots of you seem to have someone who will edit for you. Is that true?

 

[Nightaelf]

I use pages and the Mac speaking for read to me.

But I have a question. How many people have an editor? I have had another author read one story this far before publishing. My SO has read a handful of stories to tell me certain parts don’t work but otherwise it’s been all me. Lots of you seem to have someone who will edit for you. Is that true?

For the two stories I’m currently writing, I have a beta reader but no editor. In general, I manage to edit my stories well enough on my own, but I’ve noticed that with a beta reader, the unclear or imprecise parts of my writing come to light much more easily, and then I can adjust them.

There’s a page on Lit where you can find editors. I think a lot of authors use them.

https://www.literotica.com/my/#/editors/editors

 

[HelenL]

I'm not a huge fan of Gdocs, but I use it exclusively since I can get to the work on my laptop, tablet, or phone anywhere. If there's another alternative I'd like to know. I check the redlines/bluelines but rarely take its suggestions.

The one tool I feel I would really use the hell out of if I could have one would be a tense checker. I forget what I'm writing in and switch from past to present or vice-versa halfway through a paragraph, not realizing until I have several paragraphs to re-edit. It would be nice to highlight discrepancies. Gdocs will blueline inconsistent tense within a sentence, but usually I fail at the beginning of a sentence. And the false positives when Gdocs flags single verbs because it doesn't like me writing in present tense make it easy to overlook valid errors.

I like WordHippo. It's the only thing I use outside of gdocs. Not just to find alternate words, but sometimes to wonder if a word has implications that I don't think fit. I set up a search bookmark in chrome so I can type 'wh buffoon' in the URL bar and it will give me WordHippo's thesaurus for buffoon.

 

[cw5523729]

How many people have an editor? I have had another author read one story this far before publishing. My SO has read a handful of stories to tell me certain parts don’t work but otherwise it’s been all me. Lots of you seem to have someone who will edit for you. Is that true?

I do but not the same person every time. And usually I have to sift through 4 or 5 people that say they will then ghost me.

The last person that edited did a good job of suggesting alternate phrases or word choice that I agreed were better the vast majority of the time

 

[Writer61]

But I have a question. How many people have an editor? I have had another author read one story this far before publishing. My SO has read a handful of stories to tell me certain parts don’t work but otherwise it’s been all me. Lots of you seem to have someone who will edit for you. Is that true?

I don't. I've thought about it, but it seems that so many of us don't have enough time, so I hate to ask.

 

[Writer61]

I'm not a huge fan of Gdocs, but I use it exclusively since I can get to the work on my laptop, tablet, or phone anywhere. If there's another alternative I'd like to know. I check the redlines/bluelines but rarely take its suggestions.

Word 365 is an alternative, but requires a subscription.

 

[Nightaelf]

WordHippo

Thanks for the tip, I didn’t know about this at all. I’m not a native English speaker or writer, and I sometimes use DeepL Translator when I get stuck or when I’m looking for a synonym.

 

[SmilingLez]

Paper and a pencil, sometimes a pen. I have an old thick dictionary that I use on occasion too

 

[StillStunned]

Paper and a pencil, sometimes a pen

Did you hear about the constipated mathematician? He worked it out with pencil and paper.

 

[HelenL]

Word 365 is an alternative, but requires a subscription.

Being able to listen to the doc would be valuable.

Oh right, I missed a key tool I use. @ Voice Aloud reading the story back to me. Hearing the text catches so many errors that after the fifth or sixth iteration I start to despair about ever finishing.

 

[crookedletter]

I use pages and the Mac speaking for read to me.

But I have a question. How many people have an editor? I have had another author read one story this far before publishing. My SO has read a handful of stories to tell me certain parts don’t work but otherwise it’s been all me. Lots of you seem to have someone who will edit for you. Is that true?

I don't have an editor. My wife also reads what I write, and will give me feedback/suggestions, but usually not line edits.

I have a pretty good group of beta readers, but not for erotica. They're a pretty open-minded bunch, but I plan to keep those two worlds from colliding for the foreseeable future.

I don't love the idea of an editor, in general. A proofread is well and good, but if someone critiques my style/word choice I tend to dig in, at least internally on initial reflex. I won't claim to be a flawless wordsmith, but my style is my style, and I choose my words for a reason.

 

[nice90sguy]

Really? I find even my fingers are too thick for the keys.

Yes that's a problem for me too -- the Penis mightier than the Word

 

[dirk2024]

I like WordHippo. It's the only thing I use outside of gdocs. Not just to find alternate words, but sometimes to wonder if a word has implications that I don't think fit. I set up a search bookmark in chrome so I can type 'wh buffoon' in the URL bar and it will give me WordHippo's thesaurus for buffoon.

I love wordhippo! So many tools in one site.

 

[dirk2024]

Currently, I write in Word. I am experimenting with Ellipsus, the main thing I like is I can share my story with a "collaborator". When they read the story, they can insert comments and I can respond back to them.

Other than that, Excel spreadsheets for character tracking, wordhippo (is the bomb), and random google searches for name ideas, research on specific things like jobs, hotels, geography.

I've also recently started using Words Read Aloud function when editing.

 

[IWroteThis]

I use yWriter for actually writing the story. I really like the way it breaks things down into chapters and scenes. It also lets you enter characters, places, and items, then there is an option to highlight them in the story. It even allows you to set a start date and duration on scenes The one thing I don't like is that it while it flags misspellings, it doesn't offer suggestions for the correct spelling.

I have an Excel spreadsheet where I keep a complete list of character name from all of my stories, and I create dedicated spreadsheets if there is something I need to track or calculate in a story.

When I'm mostly happy with the story, I export it to a Word document and run it through Word's grammar checker. I consider each suggestion, but I don't accept even half of them. Once I've reviewed all of it's suggestions, I use the Read Aloud feature, generally twice a day, until I find I'm just changing the same bits back and forth rather than making new changes.

At that point, I copy it into NotePad++ and add any HTML code it needs, such as centering scene breaks and adding bold or italics. I save a copy of the final text, then paste it into the new story page.

 

[SugarStorm]

sometimes a pen

Someone's living on the edge

Apple Notes for story beats, plotting and plot bunnies. WordHippo and Google Docs for when the writing gets real.

And Spotify. It’s less of a choice and more of a dependency - I listen to music pretty much all the time.

 

[cw5523729]

For those of you using excel to track characters, how exactly are you using that? I use Excel daily (in my actual paying job) and it has never once occurred to me to use it for erotica literature creation. And I'm not totally following how I should be using it but I'm always open to new ideas.

 

[dirk2024]

For those of you using excel to track characters, how exactly are you using that? I use Excel daily (in my actual paying job) and it has never once occurred to me to use it for erotica literature creation. And I'm not totally following how I should be using it but I'm always open to new ideas.

I created a template. I have a columns for Chapters (In case a character joins in a later ch), Name, Job, Age (this could be range depending on the story or ch.), Physical Characteristics (even if I don't include them in the story, I like to know for me as it helps me with variety), Personality, Notes (random "facts" that may define a character)

When I start a new story, I copy the template and rename the copy based the story title. So I have an ever growing spreadsheet with many worksheets within it.

 

[Bazzle]

Hammer, chisel, and occasional spanner

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I use Windows Notepad for writing all the time. If I'm writing a story I usually only have thesaurus.com open, but I also write song lyrics, and for that I also use rhymezone.com.

I'm curious what other people use if anything?

JFS

Hammer, chisel, stone tablet. Uploading is a real bitch.

Seriously, I write in Word, with Immersive Reader, and let it tell me how bad my typing is; I spell pretty gud, I just caint' tip.

 

[SyleusSnow]

I use Windows Notepad for writing all the time. If I'm writing a story I usually only have thesaurus.com open, but I also write song lyrics, and for that I also use rhymezone.com.

Actual writing is in FocusWriter, usually, assisted by wordhippo.com when I can't think of any more synonyms for "thrust" and "gasp"

Then final proofing in MS Word with ProWritingAid, including proof listening via Word's built-in text to speech. Conversion to Literotica-style HTML for posting using my Word to HTML macro.

 

[IWroteThis]

For those of you using excel to track characters, how exactly are you using that? I use Excel daily (in my actual paying job) and it has never once occurred to me to use it for erotica literature creation. And I'm not totally following how I should be using it but I'm always open to new ideas.

All I track are the names so that I don't overuse certain ones. I have separate columns for first name, nickname, maiden name, last name, and story/series they're in. I use Excel to combine first name and nickname into one column and maiden name and last name into another, each sorted alphabetically. That makes it easy to see how many times I've used a particular name. I sort the original data by story/series, so it's easy to see which letters have already been used for names. (I try to give each major character a unique initial and name sound to help readers keep them straight.)

 

[GemmaGemmaGemma]

I just use ms word. I have thought about transferring to google docs but haven't commited yet. At least this thread taught me that I can just use thesaurus.com instead of googling word + synonym every time I have a brain fade