i don't see the need for any writing software but ms word... only exception is if you're a screenwriter and then final draft is my first and only choice for a formatting program...
Power Writer Has anyone used Power Writer? I am using the trial period and have to say its REALLY nice. A lot of specifics you can do although its expensive so i dont know if i would be willing to pay the big bucks they want. It does however have tons of features that other writing software has plus ones hard to find all rolled together into a nice little package. I'm almost tempted to torrent it.
Hello all, Due to bad cramping I rarely write, but I type prolifically. All of my writing for the past few years has been done with the extremely limited Wordpad, and I'm looking for something a bit more advanced. Or at least something with word count, spell check and double-spacing features. I had once installed MS Works with its word processor, but it disappeared. Seriously, it's just gone. It's no longer on my hard drive, and I've misplaced the disk. The end result of that debacle is a bunch of .wps files that Wordpad can't open. Nevermind that they're both MicroShaft products. Thanks, Bill. I have also failed repeatedy to get MS Word to fuinction on my PC. I think this has to do with my outdated version of Windows XP, which I cannot upgrade due to both space limitations on my hard drive, and an unknown error when downloading from MicroShaft's site. Thanks, Bill. Bottom line: I need a good word processing program. Any suggestions?
Open Office is a good program. Lets you save files as MSW documents and I think, although I am not sure, it might even be able to open MSW documents. Don't hold me to that last part though. Oh, and I don't belive it has a word count, but it is still good, none the less.
Open office writer (the word processing element of open office) does you to open/save in .doc or .docx format, Darker Rarechild, and it has the neat ability to export to PDF. And it's free www.openoffice.org
So far we're unanimous for Openoffice. ETA: But Abiword is also neat and free and has a version that loads on a flash drive.
MS Works is not a Microsoft program despite the name. Think about it if You have word as part of office, would you cut your own throat and decrease sales of office by offering Works
Ok I have to Stand by Word. I have open office on my flash drive for on the go stuff but office is my darling. And the New word is freaking amazing. They should have just gotten rid of publisher and kept that. You can find free versions of word on the net if you look FYI.
I use a freebie called ABIWord - it has all the basics a word processor needs, no bugs to speak of, and saves as .doc (word) files.
Thanks for the suggestions. I actually had Open Office once on my PC and used it for its spreadsheet, but I never tried the word processor. I deleted it to make more disk space. This was in the days before my 120gb external hard drive came (which crashed once I got everything onto it). I'll try Open Office again, though I also remember it running very slowly. Hmm. Gotta work on reading the full post, eh?
I'm a fan of Word: It must be said. It does everything I need out of a word processor, and more. However; it's suggestions can get rather irritating at times, especially the Passive and Active voices thing. But I'm in the mindset of - 200 years ago the writers tool was a pen, paper and his mind, and that did nothing to stop Poe, Dumas and Dickens writing all those great works.
Huh? Yes, Works is a Microsoft product... And they aren't cutting their own throat, works is a lot cheaper, and thus is aimed at a different market than Word. It's lacks a lot of the features of Word, but is less expensive by far. It's essentially a budget version, which is not something that only Microsoft offers for its products.
Corel Word is a pretty good program. It even has a dictionary in it, so if you need to use the thesaurus, it gives a definition along with alternative words. Reduces the risk of choosing the wrong one.
I think this topic falls under general writing. I am going to attempt my first novel and I was wondering what programs people use to type their novels. Do you use Word, Apple Works, or a writing program? Are the writing programs worth buying? Do they actually help? Has anyone had experience with one? Any input or advice is appreciated. Thank you.
I just go into MS Word, start a new file and get going. I worry about formatting once the first draft is finished. I also use a spreadsheet to log chapters and do a basic outline as I sometimes write out of order if what I am working on is getting slow. ETA: I have never seen a writing program as such but surely you still have to write the whole novel anyway, and formatting it so it is ready to go out is a simple and quick process in Word. If such a program does other things such as say "insert subplot here", I would wonder how appropriate they might be to your particular novel.
Open Office. It's free. It works. Pretty much agree with Dalouise regarding formatting, although a spreadsheet seems a weird choice of format to store an outline in; I just a separate text document with headings for Characters, Outline etc.
Just use Word or Open Office. Another program which might help with plotting and stuff would be Freemind. These programs are the best in my opinion. (Oh yea freemind is free to download) CJ
The only advantage really offered by the writing programs I've seen is that they let you more neatly organise chapters, notes on characters, notes on other aspects of your novel, so essentially, they're just like a notepad, but digital. So, if that's your thing, pick one up. But really, it's not going to do anything to improve your writing.
Microsoft Word is the standard. Publisher that take electronic manuscripts will expect MS Word format. I use MS Word 2007. I don't know how many publishers have ra,ped up the the new docx format yet, but they will, and until then you can submit in the older formats from the same docx master manuscript. Other writing tools? I wouldn't wastre money on them, although the ones that help with the special rules of scriptwriting may have some worth if you are working in that area. If you are really strapped for money, there is a free office suite called OpenOffice. It can produce MSWord-compatible documents, and some members swear by it. But I would go for MSWord even if I didn't already need it for other reasons.
Open Office. I've been using it for a few years now, and haven't looked back. For keeping everything related to a single novel in one place (rough drafts, character sketches, setting description, miscellaneous notes), I have a program downloaded called WriteItNow. It's not the greatest piece of software out there, but it's free, and it does the job it's supposed to ... even if the interface is a little clumsy at times.
