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I have been wondering while writing my current story, what do people here use to write? I usually write on dreamweaver, i like the way it formats the htm, but the lack of an auto save can be a pain when it crashes (nearly lost an entire chapter from that). I have looked at word, but it seems to really mess up html, or at least over complicate it. I also seem to have a problem with conflicting spell checkers when it comes to us vs English spelling (color / colour etc.)
Lisa
Low-level tech
I use a text editor, similar to Windows Notepad, and I type the html tags out by hand. There aren't many, so it's no big deal.
As far as spell checkers, I don't use them. Since I re-read and rewrite a lot, I usually catch most of the errors, and helpful friends send me PMs about the others.
However, you ought to be able to change the English version used. It might be listed under Dictionary options.
Kaleigh
yWriter
I'm currently using yWriter as my main editor. It is designed to aide writing by allowing you to keep track of characters and locations. It also allows easy reorganisation of scenes and chapters, which suits me as I don't always write in a linear fashion. The software has auto-save and auto-backup, which gives a simple form of version control. Something that has come in handy to recover lost chapters after a disk error.
I tend to write the first draft without attention to correct spelling. I then use Word to spell and grammar check my work. Word is the only software I have come across that has a useful grammar checker.
I also tend to use text to speech software to read what I have back to me. I find this the easiest way to find it I have used the wrong word in a sentence.
D.L.
high to low tech
I initially write with Word, even use the spell checker.. and when done i copy paste it to notepad :P
About the spellchecker though, when using it just be careful, take your time and review each hit to make sure that the fix provided is what you really want. Afterwards re-read it just to make sure. My spelling can be pretty bad so i really need the spellcheck, especially when im on a roll and my fingers are flying across the keyboard.
I use google drive
it allows me to share a document as its being made, so I can get comments and suggestions as I write.
Yay for Google Drive!
I use Drive on my tablet when I'm away from my Mac. :) Drive is wonderful!
~And so it goes...
Scrivener!
I love Scrivener. Scrivener's publisher page
It lets you keep all your documents, research and text in one project document. You can export to just about any format. For the Mac version, it keeps a saved version and a current version which is updated almost continuously.. Laptop runs out of power while in your project? No problem. Plug in, reboot and there you go. Right back where you were. You can paste almost anything in the notes section of a document. Sound or video files, pdfs, text, webpages, whatever.
It's also won every award an indie productivity app can win. There is a Windows version, but it's not quite what the Mac version is. If you write and you have a Mac, I wholeheartedly recommend you try the free trial of Scrivener. If you like it, you can purchase it either directly from the author, or through the Mac App Store.
In the past I've used probably every single writing app for Mac that's been published in the last fifteen years.
~And so it goes...
Emacs of course. It's the
Emacs of course. It's the single best text editor in the known universe.
EMACS? No way...
Teco on the DEC PDP-11's was the best editor ever.
Light, fast and could even hack binary files.
Shows my age though.
Emacs?
<troll>
Nah, Vi all the way!
</troll>
(For those not in the know, on Linux systems, there are always wars over the best CLI text editor - with people usually falling into either the Emacs or Vi camps. There are also a handful of strange people that use nano, or, heaven forbid, a GUI based editor like Kate [KDE] / Gedit [GNOME] / Pluma [MATE] / Mousepad [Xfce] / Leafpad [LXDE])
Personally, I'm even more heretical: a Google Document. However, in the early days I applied formatting then went through a painful process of exporting to HTML and using several iterations of Tidy and Find/Replace to clean it up. Nowadays I avoid complicated stuff (such as the multi-coloured fishy separators in my Comics Retcon tale), and manually insert <em> and </em> around thought speech. It's then a simple copy/paste from the document in Chrome on my right hand screen to the edit box in Firefox on my left hand screen (dual screens FTW!).
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
I use...
I use UltraEdit32, basically just a fancy text editor.
I got it years back and I can't afford any fancier software, so I use what I have.
+1 (heh) for Google Drive
I bounce back and forth between my laptop and my desktop, so having things in "the cloud" makes it trivial to make sure I'm always working on the most recent revision. I did the markup (formatting tags) for my first story in the BCTS interface itself, since I didn't realize that the formatting wouldn't copy over with the text. ^_^ For future stories, I'll probably use something like WordPad to do that part. Haven't gotten to that point yet, though, so that's mostly hypothetical...
I use Word ...
And no one likes the fact that I do.
I am having increasing vision issues, and I know how to make the print bigger on Word. It has an autosave. I have learned to put two paras between paragraphs.
Other than that, it is OK, I suppose.
G
Hey I'm with you
I keep it simple and learned on Word and I'll probably still be on Word when I die. As far as backup, I have Carbonite so everything I write is saved, thank God, Arecee
Old School
I usually start with pen and paper. I can write much faster than I can type. I have a tendency to want to type things correct and proper. When I write with a pen, I am just trying to get my story on paper. I don't feel the need to rework each sentence and paragraph as I go.
RobinDiaz
Word
I just use MS Word and copy and paste straight into BC.
Melanie
My 2p worth
As a professional software developer I use all sorts of different editors.
Notepad++ - What Notepad should be and it is free (windows)
UltraEdit - Been using it for more than 10 years. Great for formatting XML documents(windows, linux, costs money)
MS-Word - Great until they introduced that stupid ribbon interface(windows, osx, costs money)
Libre-Office - Heavy and slow but can open Word docs that Word itself can't open.(multiplatform - free)
Scrivener - For me, the new tool on the block. Just getting into it. (multiplatform, costs money)
Latex - For the masochists only (and Linux propellor heads) (if you use it then you know.)
Most of my documents are in Word (stories in OSX version, professional stuff in Windows) but as each release goes by, I find it more and more frustrating. It loses formatting and numbering at the blink of an eye. Putting together a 500page report is just a nightmare now (it was never very good in the first place)
Then the last update overwrote my customised 'Normal.dot' template. If I ever get my hands on the who decided that this was a good thing then I'll them.
The thing is, is that you should go with whatver you are comfortable with. Sure try a few tools out but don't rely on 3rd party recommedations alone. If YOU and only YOU like it then change.
Great post!
I'm a Scrivener user myself, but here's a list of apps I've used in the past (in no particular order):
These are all Mac apps by the way. Windows would make this a longer list, but it's been so long since I've been a regular Windows user at home that it would be meaningless.
~And so it goes...
flip flopping
I used to write in Word because it was easy to see my editor's notes and markup. Then, because I hated the bloatedness of Word, I used to write in TextEdit on the Mac, but after Erin mentioned it a few years back I switched to Scrivener. Then, because I was travelling a lot, I switched over to Storyist, because there's an iPad app.
Of all of them, I definitely prefer Scrivener. I'm just praying the iOS app gets released soon.
not as think as i smart i am
Word ...
.. from an ancient copy of Office Pro 97 which runs on a wing and a prayer on Win 7. I used to use WordStar running under an OS called Flex which we used for writing Motorola 68XX assembler as well as reports and data manuals for our designs. I've even used line editors but they'd be a nightmare for writing fiction.
I'm reasonably good at spelling but not typing so I keep the spell checker on permanently. I change the dictionary if I'm using subsets of English as used in the former colonies :). I find Word excellent for editing because you can set it to highlight any changes (in red in my case) which lets the writer see what I've done and suggestions/comments I've made.
Robi
Writer from Libre Office
Writer is a nice word processor, and the user interface is far superior to Word 2003 and later. (I'm sorry, I don't read heiroglyphics very well. . .)
The HTML it generates is excessively complex (as is all the generated HTML I've looked at) So if serious HTML is needed, it gets saved to text and the HTML is inserted with gedit.
Gedit is pretty good, but even after 20 years I still miss pEdit from the WordPerfect people as it existed on Data General minicomputers in the 80s and into the '90s. . .
- Janet.
Libre Office Writer
Is what I use, though I then have to go into leafpad and clean up the HTML before I post.
I have discovered, though, that if I choose HTML as the file type when I write chapters then the resulting file is much cleaner than if I saved it as something else and then converted to HTML at the end. It probably helps that almost the only formatting I make use of is italics.
I find that the OpenOffice/LibreOffice suite is more consistent than Microsoft Office ever was. Sure, there are bugs but not usually anything that affects file structure or layout.
A lot may depend on which OS you are running on, of course. I abandoned Windows in 2001.
Penny
I am a
Hybrid using both paper and computer. Typing it in saves labor but things run out of power. But paper and ink or graphite always can be found. I have used Star Bucks napkins, paper grocery bags index cards, if rock wasn't so heavy I could use that in a pinch.
My word processor is Open Office but we are not married and have an open relationship so I am seeing other W.P. trying to find the perfect ballance between functions and it being free.
Huggles
Michele
With those with open eyes the world reads like a book
Word, but not as we know it
I use Word on my old HTC phone running Windows Mobile, before that I used Documents2Go on my PalmOS device. Most people find it weird that my main device for writing is a handheld of some kind but I like being able to use the same device everywhere.
Hugs
Cat
-
You can't choose your relatives but you can choose your family.
Re: Word, but not as we know it
If you're weird then so am I. Most of my writing is done om my Dell Axim X51V. When I'm ready to edit and post, I pull the SD card and plug it into my laptop. I like the ability to add or make changes whenever the muse has something new to say.
I've been getting better with my Samsung tablet, but I really prefer the styles to the heat sensitive keyboard. And what's the deal with no cursor key on these new things? I mean, yes I can get close, but touching exactly where you want to edit is nearly impossible.
Use Writer
Open Office KDE, though I have thought about using Screem KDE as it is supposed to have a better continuity than the Open Office KDE Web Writer. Though writing at this time is very difficult.
Goddess Bless you
Love Desiree
I've started using a trial of
I've started using a trial of the latest ms word and alternating between that and dreamweaver, and worry about tags later. I'm quite liking the new word, despite the windows 8 like interface. I can collapse the chapters of my story in it, which is handy. I think I'll use Dreamweaver when I am preparing to post, to clean up the html then. I have been using Springpad on my android to write on when I am out from home, at work etc. really handy. I keep copies of my chapters on it for recap too.
Whew! lot of good sugestons.
Personally, and that is the key word here. I used word perfect quiet a lot as it will one click a doc. to HTML. I have MS Word as well as Open Office and the Sublime HTML text editor. I feel in love with Sublime once I learned how to use it correctly. Having said all that, my best advice for you would be to take a on-line course in HTML and go with the editor of your choice. Last but not least by any means, if your computer will allow it, please please use two monitors. It makes writing so much easier when you can pull up research or footnotes you made without having to leave the document. If your muse gets over active as mine often does, you can even do research on the fly. it is also great for the edit process as a text reader can read back what you wrote and you can fix whatever errors as it does the reading. ( My inner geek is starting to show real bad hu.)
Good luck, best wishes, and my you live in interesting times.
Thanks BC....hope I got it right this time...lol
I'm hoping for a new monitor
I'm hoping for a new monitor for xmas :-) will be good to have a dual monitor display once again.
As an alternative
Having two monitors is awesome. It's not something everyone can have in their setup. Fortunately, a lot of the newer dedicated writers' apps have the ability to split-screen the editor or main writing screen.
~And so it goes...
Why such a focus on writing HTML?
When just about every writing app out there exports or converts to HTML, I don't understand why people write fiction with HTML tags.
~And so it goes...
Becuse...
Almost all conversions to HTML from inside word processing documents suck. MS Word especially sucks because it never does anything the simple or easy way but ALWAYS uses the most arcane and impossible conversion so that after the document is converted to HTML you will play hell posting it anywhere or modifying it after it is posted.
I COULD embed a Word type processor on BC but I made the choice to go with a mini-macro editor instead. It has saved me enormous amounts of time and cases of headache remedies.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Three Headed Tools
I mostly write in Google docs, since it allows me to flip between the desktop and iPad. At the same time, I use yWriter both as backup and overall formatting for scenes and chapters. When it comes to final edits, I like to use RoughDraft, particularly the ability to query and see all uses of specific words in a file.
After On the Wall, I am quite hesitant about using too much special formatting. It's usually enough that I can just do it when submitting, though I sometimes add it to the final version in yWriter.
Works for me...
I started using Works awhile back, when I found that the version of Word I had couldn't handle large documents. It tends to reach a threshold around novel length material, and I nearly lost a novel I was working on. I don't know what it is, honestly, but I think Word has so many bells and whistles that it's eating the resources up with that, rather than using it for the actual documents.
So I picked up Works at a local store and have used it for several years now. The dumbed down version of Office. lol
~Taylor Ryan
My muse suffers from insomnia, and it keeps me up at night.