Layde Rae

come on guys.. there has to be a least once fiesty barmaid

LuneFleur

Writing softwares can be helpful in one thing: storing information you want to remeber in the same place so you don't have to keep looking everywhere for your notes. Of course, if you are disciplined, you can use any software (not the writing ones, I mean, you can even make excel worsheets with your ideas) or even a good old fashioned paper notebook for that, but some softwares have friendly interfaces that will help you find the note you're looking for quickier.

Now, does it actually help structure and storytelling? Well, I have tried several times and for me it never worked, it only annoyed me. I did learn that I better plan the story before I start writing it, but I simply can't plan it using the software.

strangedaze

id use it for a larger project. michael chabon wrote his latest book, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, using some sort of novel software. personally, ive always had a problem organizing for larger projects. its easy for me to be overwhelmed when i can see the 'big picture' as easily as i can when i write short stories.

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His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.

enron1982

^^That's a great book. I love Michael Chabon.

sixlivesdown

I don't use writing software, and I think a great deal of it (but as I've not tried it, I can only give my opinion) is just a way to separate potential writers from their money. What a lot of them, from the demos I've seen, just offer organizational tools to help you get your thoughts in order. That can be done on paper, on index cards, in a separate word file, or pretty much anywhere that you can get for a lot cheaper. When it comes to the actual writing, you just need something like word or the equivalent, or even a notebook. I don't see the point in shelling out lots of money to do something I can do on a piece of paper.

ClancyBoy

Kurt Vonnegut plotted Slaughterhouse Five on the back of a roll of wallpaper.

So it goes.

__________________
"Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons wait for you down there. Little pets they are, little little little pets. Cute little things, they say. Don't you believe it. No man ever saw them and walked away alive. You won't either. That's the final dash, flash. That's the utter clobber, cobber." --Cordwainer Smith, Norstrillia.

enron1982

...

enron1982

[quote=ClancyBoy;968114

So it goes.[/quote]



Hell yeah, dude. Vonneguts the bees knees...

jesterscourt

Novelist Michael Chabon, Winner Of The Pulitzer Prize, Credits Mac Software - Digital Life Blog - InformationWeek
More info about the MAC software that Michael Chabon used for his latest novel. He's a great author and I recently saw him speak, a very friendly guy. As for me personally, I just use Word 2007.

I did try yWriter and I would say to anyone moderately curious to try it out, it's legally free, and if you don't like it, just uninstall it, and you're fine and didn't lose any money. Personally it didn't really work for me, but everyone is different, and it is functionally sound, it's just not the right piece of software for me currently. Maybe that would change in time, but the bottom line is that it is a guilt free free way to test out writing software.