Is there a "best writing program"?

Discussion in 'Writing Software and Hardware' started by littlebluelie, Dec 30, 2008.

  1. sidtvicious

    sidtvicious Contributor Contributor

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    I've never had any problem with compatibility issues. Glancing at the open office forum, looks like as long as it's Word 2003 or later--there shouldn't be a problem.
     
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  2. Steerpike

    Steerpike Felis amatus Contributor

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    If the commenting feature works for you let me know. That's usually when I have to switch back to Word.
     
  3. Sack-a-Doo!

    Sack-a-Doo! Contributor Contributor

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    And that's exactly the version of Word I have. I'd read that "the industry standard" is Word 2007 which was a bit of a disappointment since I got Office 2003 on eBay for about $35. Office 2007 hasn't come down that far yet and the way things are going, it may never do so.
     
  4. Sack-a-Doo!

    Sack-a-Doo! Contributor Contributor

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    And I have absolutely no idea how to use it... so I don't know if I despise it or just hate it. ;)
     
  5. Steerpike

    Steerpike Felis amatus Contributor

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    Office 2016 is coming out soon. Maybe the prices will drop further on the others after that.
     
  6. sidtvicious

    sidtvicious Contributor Contributor

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    I'm having no problems with comments, but keep in mind that "comments" for Word are "notes" in Open Office. The Navigator (F5) can make them turn up.
     
  7. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    I have to use it a lot for work when I'm editing. It's so damn difficult to read anything in track changes though I understand why you have to do it when multiple people are working on a document at a distance. Hey, at least I have some practice. *tries to smile*
     
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  8. Sack-a-Doo!

    Sack-a-Doo! Contributor Contributor

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    I've read that it'll be subscription only and that's why I don't think the previous versions will drop that much in price. I don't like the idea of renting software and I don't think I'm alone. Office/Word 2013 was the last one that wasn't subscription.

    But as long as Word 2003 is still compatible with what publishers/editors use for manuscript mark-up, I'm good.

    And if OpenOffice or it's offspring, Libre Office, will read/write MS Word manuscript mark-up accurately, I'll switch if W2003 goes by the wayside.
     
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2015
  9. DeadMoon

    DeadMoon The light side of the dark side Contributor

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    I have and am currently using WordPerfect by Corel. Its basically a different version of MS Word. It does the job but still leaves a lot to be desired. I am not a very organized type of person so I am leaning toward purchasing a copy of Scrivener for that reason alone. For me, plopping down $40 might just be worth it, a kind of investment in my self. I have played in the shallow end with the free limited time download but have yet to dive deep into the depth of what it can do.
     
  10. Steerpike

    Steerpike Felis amatus Contributor

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    Scrivener is good. Also, if you run Linux (or don't mind doing so), there is a free beta of Scrivener for Linux that is not time-limited. Doesn't have all of the extras of the paid versions, but the functionality is there and I didn't notice a whole lot of difference over the Windows version.
     
  11. Lyrical

    Lyrical Frumious Bandersnatch

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    I use MS Word for draft writing, but I love EverNote for brainstorming and keeping track of ideas. I have it on my phone as well so whenever a thought occurs to me, I jot it down in EverNote and can later go open it on my computer and expound. I'm excited for OSX El Capitan with the multi-tasking split screen, so I can have my evernote notes open while I write my draft in Word.

    I have been playing with the idea of Scrivener for a while. I like everything I've seen/read about it.
     
  12. OurJud

    OurJud Contributor Contributor

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    I've had a look at this Scrivener program a number of times, having been completely in the dark in terms of what it does.

    The testimonials from Booker nominees makes it a very tempting purchase, but what people have to remember is that it's not going to make you a brilliant writer, in the same way a £6,000 camera won't make you a brilliant photographer.

    I'm tempted and wary in almost equal measures, with wary just winning over. As good as it may be, I just don't think I have the time nor inclination to faff about learning to use new software, when all that really matters is the quality of the writing itself. If you can write, then it doesn't matter what you use; pen and paper, typewriter, basic word processor...
     
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  13. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    I downloaded the trial version and had a little play around. I think I'm only going to use it once I'm ready for submission to publishers/agents, to get my manuscript in the right format. I'm comfortable using Word and I think it would just be a distraction to copy everything over to Scrivener while I should be focusing on writing.
     
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  14. Lyrical

    Lyrical Frumious Bandersnatch

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    For this exact reason I've not bought it yet. I'm not ready to plunk down $40 for something I don't think I need. Sure, it has a lot of fun features and conveniences that do tempt, but in the end I don't know if it would alter my career in any signifant way. The way I operate now seems to work just fine, so I've been unable to convince myself it's worth the extra money.
     
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  15. Michael Pless

    Michael Pless Senior Member

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    I think you're doing the right thing. Even though I currently can't conceive of writing my novel without WriteItNow, I initially didn't use anything other than LibreOffice.

    It wasn't until my character and location dossiers, plot outline, output, to do list, events, etc got to be rather large and unwieldy, that I thought there has to be a better way of organizing things. And despite someone in this forum declaring he values Scrivener as highly as at least one of his testicles, I don't think it's the sole solution to consider. I know, because I have a licence for it, and don't use it because I found I wasted too much time battling against a UI that I found intractable.

    There are many alternatives, and perhaps the free ones are worthwhile as a starting point: yWriter (it even reads back your work to you!); Plume (which hasn't been updated for a while); oStoryBook, which uses LibreOffice as a wordprocessor and there is I believe, a new release out on September 1. There may be others. If you don't like any of them, that's fine. It's a writer's option use the tools that best work for them.
     
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  16. fivetoesten

    fivetoesten Member

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    I installed the trial version of WriteItNow using wine, and it runs fine. What was the problem you were having? from a terminal I just typed "wine installerprogram.exe" and I even got an icon on the desktop.
     
  17. Michael Pless

    Michael Pless Senior Member

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    I got it to install fine (in Linux Mint), but two issues: firstly there is no icon in the Wine programs menu for it. No big deal, I just open my C: drive and launch it from there. The bigger issue is that I can't get the user dictionary to update so each time I connect, I'd have to re-add my names and unique words to it, which is tedious. All is good in VB, though.

    I've put something up in WINE HQ about it. If you can propose a solution, I'd be a very happy chappie.
     
  18. Steerpike

    Steerpike Felis amatus Contributor

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    For some reason whenever I ram programs in WINE (which wasn't often) some functionality would be lacking. I remember it particularly with Liquid Story Binder.
     
  19. Michael Pless

    Michael Pless Senior Member

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    Never tried LSB in Linux. Lots of nice features in LSB, a shame it's no longer being developed, but I guess the market for such software is very small, so little wonder.
     
  20. Capricorn42

    Capricorn42 Member

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    I've used Word and Libreoffice a lot, and they're both pretty good but complicated to the point where sometimes i spent too much time fussing with layout rather than actually creating. A while ago i bought a Chromebook from HP and now i use that all the time for my writing. The research pane is useful for quickly grabbing quotes, thesaurus, dictionary. I can have multiple tabs open with each being a separate chapter and one of them a spreadsheet containing character profiles. These and other features i use all the time. Best thing is that my stuff is auto-saved to my Google storage, i don't have to worry so much about backups.
     
  21. Capricorn42

    Capricorn42 Member

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    I use Google Docs for writing and have done for several years now. Yes it needs a good internet connection but it does have some offline capability as well. In the office i use MS Word which is fine, but i wouldn't use it at home for my stuff, it's too complex, and i often find that it just doesn't work the way i want to work.
     
  22. DeadMoon

    DeadMoon The light side of the dark side Contributor

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    I recently bought scrivener and so far I really like it. you can even search for a discount code on-line.
     
  23. Carl Magnus

    Carl Magnus Member

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    I use OpenOffice Writer. It has never crashed on me, unlike the most commonly used word processing program. And it's free, so it's a no-brainer in my opinion.

    I am looking into other software such as the critique software Pro Writing Aid. If anyone has used this program, please let me know your thoughts on it.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 11, 2015
  24. Bookster

    Bookster Banned

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    Forum software keeps expanding the link I'm trying to post into the actual article, but it seems that OpenOffice has a major security hole that isn't being addressed. You might want to switch to LibreOffice.
     
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  25. Steerpike

    Steerpike Felis amatus Contributor

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    LO is a better overall program and more actively developed, so it is generally a better choice. @OurJud said he couldn't get it to install on his machine, though.
     

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