Your quills and inkwells

[TheLobster]

Being new to the whole craft of writing fiction, I'm still trying to figure out things as I go. This includes the technical side of it, like what programs, apps, services, and other tools to use that can help make the whole process smoother.

I've seen people mention a few of those things in passing, but I didn't see a thread dedicated to discussing our writing implements in detail. So, here's one.

From my side, I started like probably many of us did: by typing text directly into the Lit submission form. Other than a browser crash that may result in losing hundreds of words you've already written (don't ask how I know that), I feel this is actually a pretty decent option for short works.
Since then, I've changed my setup to the following:

• I write in text editors that are tailored specifically for Markdown. While Literotica does not support the format (which, in 2024, is a WTF of the highest order), these apps can be quite good for just typing a lot of plain text without distractions. Specifically, I use ghostwriter on Windows and OneMarkdown on Mac.
• For some reason I find it a easier to do the creative part of writing on a Macbook. Reviewing, rewriting and editing I tend to do on a PC, as it's more convenient with a larger screen.
• I use Proton Drive to keep the revisions synchronized between the two. Just a free tier that you get when you sign up for Proton Mail (which I did for Lit). Works pretty seamlessly with their desktop apps that do the sync in the background.

I haven't yet got to this point, but I suspect I will eventually need something to keep track of characters and events in my stories, beyond just what's written in the actual text. Some kind of knowledge base app could be helpful here, but I'm not really familiar with them and haven't tried anything yet.

What about you? Anything special about your writing setup?

 

[mildlyaroused]

My method is pretty unremarkable.

• Usually I write on my PC at home. When I do, I tend to turn the Wi-Fi off. If I need to search things up, I go and get my phone, but with Wi-Fi disabled I can be much more productive and get less sidetracked.
• I write into Google Docs. I've never had any issues with this, and it lets me write across devices (on my MacBook if I want to) to my heart's content. It also lets me write in manuscript format, which is what I'm used to due to non-erotic works in the past and present. When I turn Wi-Fi on, my document syncs to the cloud without issue.
• When publishing to Lit, I make a copy of my Google Doc and go through changing all the necessary punctuation into codes - em dashes into '%mdash;', italics into <i>, etc. I also correct the line spacing so that it shows up correctly on Lit.
• As far as keeping track of characters or plot points goes, I don't usually have anything. I keep an exercise book (the a4 kind you'd use in school) on my desk for messy brainstorming, but don't have any tables or anything to keep things organised.

Something potentially notable is that I don't use any grammar tool like Grammarly, other than the spell checker built into Google Docs. I never have, because I find them intrusive (and this is perhaps a wise choice given the rejections we've had with AI recently). Beyond spelling and the most objective of grammar, I find they intrude on style and rhythm.

After completing a manuscript I print it out, then go through it with a pencil and highlighter. This becomes a cycle, which I perform with my editor, until the book is complete. I find revising feels tactile when the thing is actually printed on paper. I haven't implemented this last step into my erotica because I haven't written enough, and haven't written a literary enough story to require such polish.

 

[AlinaX]

I started like probably many of us did: by typing text directly into the Lit submission form.

This is like a scene from a horror movie. No, Drew, no, don't type in the box, you know what will happen!

But, yeah, Google docs these days almost exclusively.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I use a Word clone on a Kindle. It's got basic spell-check which catches typos, but that's the only checker I use. I occasionally use word-clouds to identify too much repetition, but that's it.

 

[Jmanchu]

Good old Google Docs for me. Used to use Open Office but I've switched to Google Docs on cloud. It has all the tools I need for revisions, writing and proofreading, etc. and it makes sharing stories way easier.

 

[StillStunned]

Just Word and its Read Aloud function.

 

[THBGato]

Google Docs on a PC for me.

My wife, who is a pro, uses Scrivener, but I haven't really felt the need for that (yet).

 

[KeithD]

Word on a PC and cut and pasted into the submission's box. I jot down notes on paper next to the PC. Any research necessary is done on the Internet (in a second PC by my desk) or the extensive background library surrounding the walls of my home office. Beyond that it's all training and experience in my own mind.

 

[MrPixel]

I write in text editors that are tailored specifically for Markdown. ... (which, in 2024, is a WTF of the highest order)

Uhhhh... what is "Markdown"? Mind you I used to do large-scale document preparation for a living, and I haven't heard of it.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

Uhhhh... what is "Markdown"? Mind you I used to do large-scale document preparation for a living, and I haven't heard of it.

It's a syntax specialized for generating HTML by typing simpler markup like asterisks. It's an Internet thing, not a publishing thing. (But it's very common on the more technical parts of the Internet, like Reddit if you use that.)

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

Uhhhh... what is "Markdown"? Mind you I used to do large-scale document preparation for a living, and I haven't heard of it.

It's one of those bullshit hipster inventions for people who are too lazy to learn HTML (which is a Markup language), and don't give a damn about proper semantic tagging and accessibility.

Instead of using "<b>bold</b>" they use **bold**.

 

[MrPixel]

Oh. Okay, thanks.

 

[SimonDoom]

I used MS Word and write exclusively at my desktop computer in my home office. I like writing with a big screen and an ample keyboard. I used to upload the story as a file to Lit but now I'm more likely to paste the text into the text box and make adjustments as necessary--I think it's more likely to get approved quickly that way.

Like Keith, I have many reference guides I've accumulated over the years and I refer to them when I need them, in addition to looking things up on the Internet when necessary.

I find reference guides to be extremely useful, and I recommend having at least a few at hand if you can. Some recommended ones:

1. A good dictionary. Use a British dictionary like Oxford if you are a British writer or an American dictionary like Webster's if you are American.
2. A thesaurus--although this is easy to access online.
3. The latest version of the Chicago Manual of Style, if you are an American author. I'm not sure if there is an exact British equivalent. This is an incredibly thorough guide for spelling, punctuation, and grammar for American fiction.
4. Strunk & White, Elements of Style. Its chief virtue is that it's so short that it's easy to get answers, although it won't answer everything. It's more of a guide for essays than fiction, but 9 out of 10 times the advice will be the same.
5. Lewis Turco, Dialogue. A nice, easy to read and yet thorough guide to handling dialogue in a story.
6. Benjamin Dreyer, Dreyer's English. Dreyer is the chief copy editor at Random House, so he knows all there is to know about editing fiction stories. This is his own personal style guide, full of opinions. He's not overly pedantic and has a sense of humor.

 

[shelleycat1]

I have published only 2 stories (3 parts and 1 part). They all went through with one longish delay.

I write using Word, including for communication with an editor. Even that has problems, because the editor sees things differently from me (e.g. spurious lines on the page. It might be a paper size issue).

I use a macro that changes word dashes (Typed in with ALT codes ALT0150 and ALT0151), into the &ndash or mdash; I have avoided using italics and bold so far.

I export the word.docx to a .txt file, and add extra an extra line on each newline. This means the preview panel in literotica looks the same as the final will look. I don't know if this is actually necessary, but it means I am confident the end product will look OK. This step is a python script over the .txt file.

I would appreciate advice on the above!

I cut and paste all the text into the submission box.

When editing in Word I have autocorrect and autoformat off. It doesn't help me at all, that is just personal. I also use Word global replacement for two spaces to one space because I type two spaces by default after each period.

The word macro https://syleussnow.wordpress.com/ms-word-to-simple-html-macro/ provided by StyleusSnow.

 

[Seadog777]

I use Microsoft Word on my laptop.
I have a college ruled notebook beside me, that has my characters, their stories, any major plot points or surprises, and exactly how I want it to end.
I used Microsoft Word Editor.
Then I copy and paste into the "Submission Box" when I go to publish.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

MS Word for me, just because, well, it's what I have and what I know.
I store my files on my One Drive so I can write from whichever of my three PC's I happen to be using at the time; work laptop, personal Surface Pro, and gaming PC.
I have a multiple monitor setup, so I do research on one screen while I write on another.
Side note, my work laptop is set up to use two screens and I have a third for farting around on here when I get bored or need a distraction.
I publish by uploading the file and, five years in, have never had a problem.

 

[intim8]

I write in gedit on a Linux Mint desktop. It is a plain-text only editor with multiple documents in a sidebar and on tabs. It has a spellchecker, word count, not much more. I hand-hack any HTML, but I use it rarely, generally only in pre and post author's notes, so I have a template file to paste in for that.

I type on an Eagle-tec blue switch clicky keyboard. Much, much faster and less tiring than "normal" keyboards.

I usually have music or documentary type YT videos, the kind I can listen to without having to watch carefully, running while I work. I cannot work in complete silence, my brain starts going off on random tangents. I need something to soak up spare attention cycles.

A git repo to another computer for backups. I only write in my home office, so I don't need syncing to other devices. If I did, git will work for it.

Run through Grammarly as a final check, then paste it into the submission box.

Anybody know if Libre Office has the read aloud feature? That would be pretty useful, maybe.

 

[THROBBS]

OOPS! Wrong audience.

The thread title caught my eye. OW!
Because I am old school and visual/tactile I often write and draw ideas out with pencil or pen.


It seems that most folk do not write long hand. Obviously, one would still need to transcribe to digital text for final proofing and publication (here).

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I use MS Excel to storyboard all of my writing. In a single spreadsheet I have a separate tab for each story idea that comes to me as well as tabs that track all of my characters and which stories they have appeared in, their ancestry, and links to websites with details relevant to past, present and future stories. Searching for things is quick and easy so I don't have to remember which tab it might be in.

I use MS Word on my home PC exclusively for writing. My reasons are:

1. It provides a widely accepted file format for submissions to multiple sites, beta readers, editors, and publishers.
2. It has the read-aloud feature that is a Godsend when proofing a story.
3. I write longer stories that make alternate resources less attractive to me
4. As mentioned in a different thread, my professional version of MS Word entitles me to the licensed use of all the fonts included with the application.
5. The Grammarly plug-in provides suggestions for real-time SPaG corrections

I use a solid state external hard drive to store all of my files. If the need should arise, I could simply move it to another computer to continue working.

I upload all of my submissions to Lit and generally see them post within three days unless there is a contest ongoing that creates a delay.

 

[VallesMarineris]

What about you? Anything special about your writing setup?

I do all my writing in Scrivener on a MacBook, because:

Writing on a laptop frees me to write in different environments: around my home, in a cafe, in a lab at work, wherever I happen to be and have some free time. I use a MacBook because (if you can afford one) it’s the best laptop you can buy. Also, Scrivener (see below) runs best on a Mac. I have a 55” 4K monitor in my home office that I connect to if I need to have multiple windows up (and I feel like standing for a while). Oh, and I can type faster than I can talk and my handwriting is horrible, so a good keyboard is essential.

FYI, MacOS includes a built-in set of dictionaries and thesauri that instantly pop up when you click (in a certain way, customizable) on any word. I use this several times per hour. It also includes Time Machine, a simple and effective backup system (more on that below).

I write in Scrivener because I usually write novel/novella-length stories, and it’s the best app I’ve found for creating large works. It includes so many features that make writing enjoyable and efficient:

— It includes dozens of settings to let you customize your writing environment exactly the way you want, not just font and paragraph style like other word processors, but individual highlight colors for comments, find, selection, etc.; multiple windows of different kinds so you can view everything you need; Zen mode, that fades out everything but a few lines around what you’re typing; and too many more to explain here. One personal fave is “Typewriter Scrolling”, in which the line I’m composing is kept in the center of the window. You know how the line you’re writing always sinks down to the bottom of the window as you add more and more text? Solves that problem.

— It’s much more than a word processor, it’s a whole environment optimized for producing long textual works. You can view your draft as pure text, as WYSIWYG, an outline, cards on a pinboard, tables, whatever, with notes, research, illustrations, URLs, almost anything you want to add to the project available right there. People write science textbooks and movie scripts with it. It even has a “Name Generator”, in case you have trouble with naming characters.

— It automatically saves your work when you stop typing for a few seconds, and includes its own backup system that can go back several versions. All customizable, of course.

— It includes an extensive set of tools to publish in almost any format: print, .docx, RTF, ePub, Kindle, and five kinds of Markdown.

Honest, I don’t work for Scrivener. I’m just a satisfied user and I want my fellow writers (many of whom I read) to be more productive.

PSA ON:

I am astounded, shocked, and appalled to learn that some of you are typing directly into the Lit text box. That’s nuts! Even writing in Notepad on Windows is better. At least you can save once in a while so you’re not a victim of Lit’s occasional lockups. (I don't even write these Forum messages in the Lit text box. That "Oops" error alert pops up way too often.)

And writing directly in HTML or Markdown seems nearly as nuts. Computers are supposed save you time, not make you work harder. It’s like you bought a fancy new bicycle, but you just walk it everywhere you want to go instead of riding it.

Now I have to lecture, berate, rebuke, reproach, scold, reprimand, reprove, admonish, chastise, chide, and take you to task (I’m using my Mac's built-in thesaurus) about backing up, which I suspect many of you don't do. If you don’t back up your work, you don’t really own it. You’re just building a sand castle, and eventually a wave is going to come in and wipe it all away. Invest in a backup! At the very least, get a USB drive and copy to it often. If you write on paper take a photo.

I have a Western Digital NAS (network attached storage) hard drive that my Mac backs up to via Time Machine every hour. Works great. When a backup drive gets full (every few years) I move it to another location (I live in earthquake country) and get a new one.

 

[dadadadiox]

Google Docs, cut and paste into the Lit text editor, then work around (or live with) the little glitches my simple process creates. Even basic editing in the Lit text box can be maddening. It processes very slow and is prone to crashing.

When I read some of the responses here I feel like a caveman scribbling on stone with charcoal.

 

[MrPixel]

I don't understand the attraction of markup languages in (what I consider to be) casual writing. As alluded to above, I experienced two decades of markup language-based document preparation because that's all there was, WYSIWYG hardware and software being well beyond the computing horsepower of the day. When the Xerox Star came along in 1981, those of us in the biz drooled and wished beyond wishing it had the capacity for large document prep. It did not, and it was too expensive, anyway. It wasn't until the Mac came along in 1984 was there a glimmer of of hope that what was on the screen could resemble what came out of the typesetter printer.

HTML, XML and all that are a huge step backwards, but (obviously) I understand the necessity of supporting widely varying user interfaces. And TeX and LaTeX are still around. Golly. Anyway, that said...

I write on two platforms, both Macs. Desktop is a 2017 Mac mini running an old OSX primarily because because the leasing model for productivity apps was allowed to take over the market. I use the pre-365 version of MSWord on it since it is bought and paid for and works just fine. It gets less (writing) use these days because the OSX-compatible browsers don't support last year's LitE code changes in the author support pages.

Second and main writing system these days is a MacBook Air with the current MacOS, and I use Apple Pages, exporting to .docx for uploading to LitE. Works great.

Backup on the desktop is a bootable clone with daily incremental updates, backup on the MacBook is a MicroSD drive handled by Time Machine.

As a former document professional, there is no way I trust the cloud (Google docs, etc.) and/or uploading using the LitE text-box interface. All are subject to the vagarities of online support - a solid physical connection, web page glitches, or arbitrary policy changes. At least in the old days I could call the Director of Software Development and chew his ass out over the latest glitch perpetrated by his programming staff.

 

[CockSparrow]

I am getting old; I'm riddled with gout; and I'm going blind. So while I use Word on a laptop (with lots of RAM), the laptop is attached (via Bluetooth) to a full-sized keyboard and a large VDU.

I'm also a little OCD. (Her indoors says that I'm a lot OCD.) I like things to be neat and tidy as I work. Word with all the 'helpful' bits turned OFF is about as close as I can get to an old-fashioned typewriter with an endless supply of fresh paper.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I would appreciate advice on the above!

If you always have two returns at the end of each paragraph, your spacing will be correct when it's published. I think many people get caught out because their software puts in extra space at the end of each paragraph, but that's not an extra return.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Word365 on my iPhone / OneDrive, pretty much exclusively. For both Heaven & Hole and revised versions of The Coleoidphilia Trilogy I used our own PC to do some stuff - via OneDrive.

I write markup (not down <shudder>) directly into Word. I copy paste into the Lit text box and check the layout.

I only use the Word spellcheck, the grammar tools you get on the PC aren’t on the iOS version.

I think many older people are horrified about someone writing on their phone, but it seems natural to me. And it’s always with me, so I can write in any gaps that open up in my day.

Emily