What's your preferred writing program?

[SamScribble]

I've played with several of them. But most of my publishers want the manuscript in Word - so Word it is. Actually, once you get the hell of formatting, templates, etc - and learn to ignore its grammar advice - it's pretty good.

 

[PervOtaku]

I've been using WordPerfect since the days of DOS. I avoid MS Word unless it's something that other folks will need to be able to open and edit. (If they won't be needing to edit, it's PDF generated from WordPerfect!)

But for stories like this where it's mostly straight text without any fancy page layout stuff to speak of, moving things from one program to another is fairly trivial.

 

[BodenseeTan]

ascii and .odt

Hi folks. This may be the wrong thread to toss this inquiry into but I had to start somewhere.

I am just starting out as a hopeful writer and am seeing a lot of talk about ascii format. I am using Open Office writer, an .odt file format. When I get ready to submit will this format be acceptable or must I convert it to another format.

 

[Handley_Page]

I'm not really much of a writer aside from roleplaying on forums some years back, but for most of my life I was typing out posts in notepad exclusively. The plainest of the plaintext editors, I didn't have to worry about formats or loading speed because everything was the simplest .txt file.
.
.

My girlfriend is a Microsoft Word snob, and several of the other writers I know in person can ONLY get their creative juices flowing when using pen-and-paper, which boggles my mind.

Word is a reasonable WordProc (it's driven out most of the others).
But if you want free, simple Text Editors with a bit more to it, try:-

JARTE
This sits on top of Windows Notepad and works quite well.
or
Kingsoft Writer.
This is a little cracker, and has a lot of "Word-like" commands.

The only reason I took it off was because I could not get a decent English English dictionary.

 

[oggbashan]

I started with a basic Hewlett Packard wordprocessor on the ir mini mainframe. I used a dedicated Wang wordprocessor, then a secretarial one owned by Norsk Data.

For personal use on my first IBM XT I used WordStar 1512 - a cut down version of basic WordStar that would run on a single 5.25 floppy drive.

Gradually I upgraded to WordStar 2000+. If it was compatible with Windows I'd still be using it. It gave me all the functionality I needed and could cope with being used as fast as I could e.g. loading and saving very long documents instantly. I could skip to page 114 faster than I can type a single word.

Now I use Word 2003 because that is the default standard for most community documents I am sent. I'll probably change to Word 365 later this year.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Hi folks. This may be the wrong thread to toss this inquiry into but I had to start somewhere.

I am just starting out as a hopeful writer and am seeing a lot of talk about ascii format. I am using Open Office writer, an .odt file format. When I get ready to submit will this format be acceptable or must I convert it to another format.

You will have to save it in Word 97 .doc format if you submit a file to Lit.

or

You can just copy and paste the text of the story into the submission form, which is a lot easier on you and the Editor/Publisher Laurel.

If you need to have special formatting as bold or italics you can embed html tags in the text.

<i>text</i> - italics
<b>text</b> - bold
<u>text</u> - underline
<center>text</center> - you guessed it center
<blockquote>text</blockquote> - indent 5 spaces, both ends

If you want more than a 5 space indent nest the blockquote tags. Each will be 5 spaces.

Hope this helps.

 

[Handley_Page]

I started with a basic Hewlett Packard wordprocessor on the ir mini mainframe. I used a dedicated Wang wordprocessor, then a secretarial one owned by Norsk Data.

For personal use on my first IBM XT I used WordStar 1512 - a cut down version of basic WordStar that would run on a single 5.25 floppy drive.

Gradually I upgraded to WordStar 2000+. If it was compatible with Windows I'd still be using it. It gave me all the functionality I needed and could cope with being used as fast as I could e.g. loading and saving very long documents instantly. I could skip to page 114 faster than I can type a single word.

Now I use Word 2003 because that is the default standard for most community documents I am sent. I'll probably change to Word 365 later this year.

If you want your writings placed "in the cloud" on someone's computing machine, try 365. Personally, I am not so moved.

 

[oggbashan]

If you want your writings placed "in the cloud" on someone's computing machine, try 365. Personally, I am not so moved.

My writings get stolen by everyone. They're not in a cloud, they're in dirty snow, or in bot-ridden Japanese Anal Teenage Fisting sites.

My back-ups are on CDs.

 

[Handley_Page]

My writings get stolen by everyone. They're not in a cloud, they're in dirty snow, or in bot-ridden Japanese Anal Teenage Fisting sites.

My back-ups are on CDs.

Nice one!

 

[BodenseeTan]

ascii

Thanks. This will get me moving in the right direction.

 

[NotWise]

I am using Open Office writer, an .odt file format. When I get ready to submit will this format be acceptable or must I convert it to another format.

You can't upload an ODT file, but if you want then you can save it as a DOC file and upload that. The documentation says that it will take them longer to approve a DOC file and that a text file is faster.

I use OpenOffice Writer and I'm quite pleased with it. I also have the Language Tool addon installed, which is pretty helpful. I use the ODT format until I'm ready to submit, then I save it as a text file and upload the text file to Lit.

By default, my installation saves the text as UTF-8. Yours could be different. It's necessary when I submit a story to tell Lit that it is in UTF-8 format -- otherwise the text contains bad characters. Another alternative for me is to save it as Windows text, which is the default for Lit.

 

[Ewobbit]

I do it the hard way.

I don't scribble on notepads anymore since I can hardly hold a pen. But, I just type it up in notepad (the program in all computers "accessories"). And then do a LOT of proofreading since my spelling and grammar has begun backsliding of late.

And why the hell do I keep typing "barfly" every time I try to type "barely" lately?

 

[Handley_Page]

I do it the hard way.

I don't scribble on notepads anymore since I can hardly hold a pen. But, I just type it up in notepad (the program in all computers "accessories"). And then do a LOT of proofreading since my spelling and grammar has begun backsliding of late.

And why the hell do I keep typing "barfly" every time I try to type "barely" lately?

Try JARTE. It has a dictionary.

 

[Hypoxia]

I previously wrote with XyWriter but I'm hooked on Jarte now. Its spellcheck is clunky but its thesaurus is a gem. I spellcheck with Word 2003 and the Mozilla SeaMonkey browser's native capacity. Everything is my fault.

 

[DwellerDark]

I use Wordpad exclusively. I don't see the point in using anything more. It's fast and doesn't try to fuck up my formatting (I'm looking at you, Word).

I don't use spellcheck. If I misspell something and don't catch it, it's my own damn fault for being such a bad editor.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I use Word. I have never had a problem of having it mess up my formatting options. It does as its told like any program.

 

[SamScribble]

And why the hell do I keep typing "barfly" every time I try to type "barely" lately?

Maybe you should talk to Dr Freud.

 

[Hypoxia]

Ogg and I can brag about zillions of editors we've used over the aeons since the Triassic Epoch. I can point to a line editor that output on paper tape and I still have a roll from 1975 containing my intemperate words. Line editors on hardcopy terminals -- yikes.

I don't really care for WYSIWYG displays. I prefer nuts-n-bolts control over formatting; for LIT I embed HTML tags in TXT and that's enough. I prefer transparent multi-tab editors like XyWrite and Jarte that can apply changes across all loaded documents -- very handy when revising a multi-part story.

But that's me and you're you. WHATEVER WORKS FOR YOU is all that matters.

 

[TxRad]

I tried writing on stone tablets but it ain't as easy as it looks. Not to mention after the second page i couldn't pick it up.

Clay tablets were an improvement but after a while they harden and you might as well be using stone tablets.

And if you drop a page, make sure you are wearing steel toed boots.

 

[le_kitty]

I tried writing on stone tablets but it ain't as easy as it looks. Not to mention after the second page i couldn't pick it up.

Clay tablets were an improvement but after a while they harden and you might as well be using stone tablets.

And if you drop a page, make sure you are wearing steel toed boots.

Lmao!

Cheers Tx.

 

[Handley_Page]

I tried writing on stone tablets but it ain't as easy as it looks. Not to mention after the second page i couldn't pick it up.

Clay tablets were an improvement but after a while they harden and you might as well be using stone tablets.

And if you drop a page, make sure you are wearing steel toed boots.

It's easier than editing your local wall, I guess.

 

[oggbashan]

It's easier than editing your local wall, I guess.

Our local graffiti wall is a palimpest.

It is overwritten almost every week.

I just wish they would use a spellchecker and a thesaurus for insults.

 

[Hypoxia]

Our local graffiti wall is a palimpest.

It is overwritten almost every week.

I just wish they would use a spellchecker and a thesaurus for insults.

We will drive our new housecar down California/s Pacific coast soon. We will stop in San Luis Obispo (SLO), down between Morro Rock (Cali's Gibraltar) and Pismo Beach (Cali's Cardiff) (and where I and my daughter were conceived). A wall in SLO is famous for... chewing gum. A block-long palimpest of dried hunks of chewing gum. Visualize that if you dare. Don't inhale. Dare I say don't touch?

 

[Ninegoodreasons]

Hello all.

On my laptop I use MS Word. But I have always had to keep an eye on what it does to format as it does sometimes like to jig things about without permission.

I also take the time to back up on a USB stick at the start of every month. Something that has given me real peace of mind.

Out and about I would love using pen and paper but until I can get an assistant to type up my work I actively try to avoid it. The write up process just takes me SO long! When making far shorter notes I tend to use my phone and Microsoft's OneNote app. If you are connected online it will back up automatically.

A word of caution about notes/stories that aren't backed up. A few years back I had all my best ideas and writing on my iPhone, however I did not trust Apple to keep my ideas safe online so chose not to back up online. Then my phone died suddenly from water damage and all was lost. Nowadays of course I use OneNote, but I also make sure to write up my ideas onto my computer asap and then my USB back up is hidden away. Peace of mind.

 

[TxRad]

On my laptop I use MS Word. But I have always had to keep an eye on what it does to format as it does sometimes like to jig things about without permission.

I also take the time to back up on a USB stick at the start of every month. Something that has given me real peace of mind.

Out and about I would love using pen and paper but until I can get an assistant to type up my work I actively try to avoid it. The write up process just takes me SO long! When making far shorter notes I tend to use my phone and Microsoft's OneNote app. If you are connected online it will back up automatically.

A word of caution about notes/stories that aren't backed up. A few years back I had all my best ideas and writing on my iPhone, however I did not trust Apple to keep my ideas safe online so chose not to back up online. Then my phone died suddenly from water damage and all was lost. Nowadays of course I use OneNote, but I also make sure to write up my ideas onto my computer asap and then my USB back up is hidden away. Peace of mind.

To keep MSWord in line, make up your own style. I copied one of my stories back to Word from Lit and come up with this style. 1.25 margins, single spaced, no indent, left dependent. I use a different font but the size is 12.

I keep my story files on a USB drive and back up to my computer and a backup drive once a week. I also have a program called, Everyday Auto Backup that backs up my stories to my hard drive automatically twice a day.