Michael Pless submitted a new resource: WriteWayPro now free - Novel-writing software with some great features Read more about this resource...
Scrivener and WWP are quite different. WWP is set up specifically for novel-writing. It has character-generation templates, and you can write a novel with as many as 9 Acts and however many chapters you like. It will read back your writing and can be customized to a very small degree. It is similar to yWriter, in that it offers some guidance, which is great for newer writers. There's some YT clips: - these will give you a far better insight into WWP than I can here. Plus there's information on the WWP website. Scrivener has far less hand-holding and has enormous customization facilities, which personally I'd swap for a more easily usable UI. It is no secret that I gave up on Scrivener in frustration at its Apple-ness; a tutorial I bought repeatedly made reference to some feature or other which I couldn't find because it was Apple-only, and I was a Windows user. In short, I found it a handicap to my writing, not an aid.
I'm a Windows user and haven't found those references. No doubt they exist, but I haven't been faced with those problems. The videos were very disjointed and less than helpful beyond demonstrating WWP is like a more limited version of Scrivener. Enough so that I'll probably steer clear of it. But, please, don't misunderstand. WWP is a tool and I'm not scoffing at the tools you or anyone else use. I'm a decades-long user of Word and think it is a satisfactory tool for writing fiction. However, I also see many advantages to using a tool that makes accessible the entire writing project on one screen.
If these types of application work for some (and the popularity of Scrivener suggest they do) that's great, but from a personal perspective they just seem like more hassle than they're worth. Maybe it's just me - and I suspect it is - but I have enough trouble just writing a bloody book without having to learn how to use something like this. I have a simple word processor for my novel and a pile of A4 pads for all my separate notes. It works for me. Sorry, not trying to bad-mouth these things, but I'm bored so I just thought I'd chime in.
I downloaded this a few days ago and have been playing with it. It seems like it could be a useful program for those so inclined, but it I honestly don't find that it's any more convenient than a file folder next to my keyboard holding the same information. With the file folder, though, I don't have to fire up my PC every time I want to leaf through it. I can't say how WWP compares to Scrivener, though, because unfortunately I haven't had much experience with Scrivener.
I just downloaded this; it doesn't appear to be free though, it is telling me it's a demo version that will expire in 31 days. Just me? Feel free to call me stupid - please just don't find it funny.
I did say 'feel free to call me stupid...', a quick RTFM and I think I might have cracked it - go me <makes synchronised circular movement through a horizontal plane with open, palm downward facing hands>
I Used WWP for maybe around ten years. Enjoyed every minute of it and the features it provided. Really felt warm and cozy once it was loaded up and I was writing away. Recently I tend to write scenes using a notepad or Ipad for the ease of being able to whip one of them out where ever I am. Not even going to try hard sell this to anyone, just that if your looking for a free program its definitely worth a go. A few years ago it was always around the top of the review lists, the reason its free now is that the guy who created it has other priorities so its unlikely to be updated and will also have limited support if any. When I finally get to writing everything up on the pc I will most likely be looking for a new program to stay relevant. But I guess that's a thread for another day. Quite like the look of WriteItNow 5.
Yea, I don't see the idea of keeping all chapters and notes in one file to be a compelling feature, since I can use subdirectories. In fact, multiple files have advantages. And do any of them have features I would really be interested in, like extracting all dialog from each speaker and having edits to that view mapped back to the original location? Paragraph numbering, for ease of discussion with reviewers?
Scrivener is, IMO, very easy to use if you don't feel the need to learn all the features. I find it quite a bit easier than MS Word, for example.
You've mentioned Scrivener often enough I'm starting to wonder if they're paying you to plug for them.
I find Word's interface to be wildly non-intuitive and cluttered, while I find Scrivener's to be much cleaner and more logical. Now, as soon as you get past the basic features they do rather different things, but if I'm going to mainly type text in a bunch of different files, with a little occasional formatting and searching, and occasionally output to printer or PDF, I don't need or want Word.
Couldn't agree more. The main reason I use Scrivener, however, is that I am not forced to write in a linear fashion. Have an idea for a scene in the middle of your book but you only have the first chapter written, so what. Write that scene and then drag/drop into its proper order once you get to said middle of the book. Easy peasy!
I don’t see why you couldn’t write a chapter in the middle when the book is a single document file. Say I write (Header: ch 1) and type some notes, come back to it later; type (Header: ch 2) and start typing away, then before finishing that type (Header: ch 5) and write stuff there, then move the cursor back to where I left off in chapter 2 and continue typing there, etc. I do the same thing within a chapter on individual scenes. Ch. 5 doesn't have to be in limbo until you write everything up to that point! In general, there is no reason to write things in order, even if you're not outlining. To re-arrange chapters or other units, go to outline mode. Even if you were not outlining and aren't numbering, you can still use that and dragging a header will automatically take all the text under it. I’m not using one big file though; I’m making separate files for chunks which might be chapter boundaries or not. Both Word and Writer have a way to include files into a master document, which gives you a continuous view with numbering of pages, headers, figures, etc. that go across the entire thing. Show "not expanded", and each separate file is just one line, which can be moved around in the usual way.
You certainly could write in a non-linear way in Word. But the Word interface for that sort of thing always strikes me as thoroughly ungraceful. I'd rather write with a text editor in individual text files, which is what I did pre-Scrivener.
It's not only a technical problem. From a technical POV, of course you have all that what you mention. But it's not the point of the issue, for me. The important part is to keep track of your story/novel. Where and how the bit you wrote fits into it. Keeping track of all the non-linear bits you once wrote, long after you have written them. What intention you had when you wrote them, because it's not completely clear from the text itself, and you have to find the relevant note you hopefully kept to remind you of that. Keeping track of background story that you do not want to have explicitly in the finished story, or want to reveal only in stages. Word does not have tools intended for that at all. It requires you to develop workarounds, bastarding other tools within Word for a task they're not intended for, use tools outside of Word, or even outside of your computer, which means more work for you besides writing to keep the work organized (like keeping notes, and keeping note what file or piece of text the note refers to). Scrivener, and presumably WriteWayPro (never used it), do have tools related to that, and help you to keep organized.
I couldn't disagree more. I'm sure the Apple acolytes will have a go at me for this (as they have in the past, but I don't care) but I found Scrivener a constant frustration with its at-times bizzare terminology and placement of commonly used commands/tools within a series of drop-down menus. I also got heartily tired of reading through the How-to-use-Scrivener manual I bought and not finding what the author was referring-to and then discovering it was Apple-only. I couldn't wait to get away from it fast enough and have never returned. Nor am I ever likely to. But that, as well as comments like "I like/prefer [insert favorite software]" are decidedly off-topic and really add nothing to the thread. I posted this as a resource in case others found the software useful.
