I use yWriter5, just started using it few weeks ago, but I find that it helps me a lot. Besides it is free to download and use. And most importantly it works with linux.
I've tried pretty much everything...but nowadays I find myself writing almost exclusively in Google Docs. Why not? Decent word processor, makes collaboration a breeze, I never have to worry about losing my work, and I can access my files anywhere. Occasionally I'll fire up word 2k7 if I need to work offline - but as soon as I'm online I'm back to gdocs. I'd definitely recommend it.
Just keep in mind that the standard for electronic submission is a Microsoft Word document. Even if your alternative program claims Word compatibility, you could wind up with weird characters showing up or other annoying glitches. OpenOffice seems to be an acceptable free alternative; at least, I haven't heard of anyone encountering compatibility issues. I stick with Microsoft Word. It's worth it, in my opinion. If you're a student, you can get a student edition, functionally identical to the professional editions, at a substantial discount.
I find a pen and paper work well, but when typing use microsoft word, for novels anyway, scripts are under final draft
I've used MS Word '98, '00, '03, and '07. 98 and 00 were a bit feature bare but '03 does everything I need it to do. I have the UI completely customized to my liking. Every thing I didn't like was quickly disabled. I use every feature and I know the UI like the back of my hand. Then I had to use '07. Holy crap that was a pain! The new interface was not necessary and I still can't figure out how to do everything! I don't even think it's customizable. The auto format features drove me up the wall, I think many can be disabled though. I think it is completely freakin' insane for me to have to relearn a program that I have used for ten years. So I downgraded to '03. There's no bigger waste of time than fixing something that isn't broke. Maybe I'm making a big deal out of this but I used Word '03 for absolutely everything and had my UI all tricked out. Then '07 comes along on my new computer and all of my school computers and my life became more frustrating for a while.
I use MS Word 2007 for the actual typing of my MS, but purchased NewNovelist a few months back to help with story planning and organization (which I'm horrible about). However I found it was difficult to use with my WIP, which I'm already 60,000 words into. Hopefully it works better with a story I'm not already 2/3 of the way through! I'll just keep slogging through my current WIP, but plan to try out NewNovelist for my next project. ETA: I like the IDEA of Microsoft OneNote. I use it for the business that I own - keeping track of products, ideas, vendors, customer accounts, etc. I haven't tried it yet for writing though. But it might work for someone
Using openoffice. Yes it's annoying to have to save in two different formats (word and odt.) but the program is simple and reliable. I don't want to hijack the thread, but at the moment I've a 285 pages document and it's becoming though to navigate to revise certain parts and fix the spelling...is there any software who can make things easier on this side?
Try using Darkroom or a writing environment equivalent, it focuses your ideas and prevents you from wandering onto the internet or other computer based vices.
I either use Microsoft Word or TextEdit. I think TextEdit is actually better—there are fewer distractions (it's basically just a blank white page), and it takes much less time to open than Word.
I use either word, or google docs. Google docs is great to have a copy of your working files in, because it means there are no excuses not to write when you're on the go. i also use a journal. I don't see a point in buying writing programs, ultimately you need to use your own creativity, and a writing program will not write the book for you. maybe some claim to help organize your ideas, but a piece of paper and a pen will do the same.
I use MS Word, though I don't have the actual MS Office Program. Most computers come with some sort of .wps format word program. I do also have Open Office, though there is something about the formatting of the software that puts me off using it. I have a pretty fast laptop, 200 gb hd, 4gb ddr2 ram, but the program seems to run slow, so I hardly ever use it. I would like to invest in the full Office Program one of these days. I did find a free screenplay writing program, but it is on my old laptop so I don't remember the name of it, but it worked pretty well. Usually in Word I leave blank pages every now and then in the doc as I am writing, so that I have a place to insert notes. I also leave the first page blank to make timelines of the events happening in each chapter after I write them, so I don't get confused. I usually save each chapter separately in new docs, rather than one long doc.
What do people suggest for making time lines? I've been using MS Excel and it hasn't been working out to nicely. When you're making up a fictional universe consistent dates and a logical order of things always helps to make things more real, however I hate pouring over tons of text just to find a specific date in my notes. I've been running searches for years and never found anything useful lol
i don't see why you'd need to use anything, other than your brain and your basic word processing program... you should be keeping track of your times/dates, as you write, and can just keep your outline open, while working, to make sure you don't get tangled up time-wise...
Although i predominantly write on paper when i get on the computer i tend to use Word 2007. I also have a piece of software that was given to me as a gift called Writers' Cafe. Its kinda okay but i prefer to have my stuff where i wrote it the first time.
Well I've got multiple works going on within the same universe and time line. I'm doing something along the lines of Battletech, with multiple wars and conflicts that span over thousands of years to help me craft a realistic social and political atmosphere. I don't like creating a fictional society without knowing where they've been. I just think it'd be cool to easily bring up a specific date or era.
It's probably overkill to an extent, but it's fun. I'm just mad cause I recall using such software... 7 years ago lol
I use Microsoft Word. Does all I need for word processing and is easily compatible with what most publishers request with respect to submissions. Terry
Either Word or Open office. But more often then not openoffice. You can save as a .doc and export files as PDFs. Does everything I need and a little more.
I'm rather fond of Microsoft Word Works Processor. Only thing is that it doesn't really have all the format required to do a proper manuscript.
no fancy format stuff is required... all you need do is set the margins at 1" all around and set a proper header... the rest is just using the proper font [courier 12pt] and indenting your paragraphs, not leaving any empty lines between them, doing dialog properly, and so on... none of which needs anything more than you have available in works or any basic wp system... the only problem i see with using works instead of ms word, is that when you send it to someone who's using word, works needs to be converted to rtf, for most word versions to be able to open it and/or preserve the formatting...