Thread: Writing Software

I've actually gone backwards recently, in terms of technology.

I now write exclusively with pen and paper. I do this for three reasons:

1) There is no internet, files, or computer games to distract me.

2) There is no backspace key, so I don't have the luxury of quick and constant editing. This forces me to focus more on forward progress rather than backwards altering.

3) It's portable and requires no electricity or battery charge.


Then I just type up what I've handwritten into a file, but at that point, any word processor will do fine.

Oh and, between the two (StoryBook and YWriter5), I prefer YWriter5.

I use Word 2007. I have had Open Office in the past and worked great, but No idea for writing books. I have had to do many reformats of my current book in work to upload them to createspace, kindle, Lulu, iBook, nook, ect.

I want to try one of the other software packeages though. they sound interesting.

Originally Posted by KyleColorado

I've actually gone backwards recently, in terms of technology.

I now write exclusively with pen and paper. I do this for three reasons:

1) There is no internet, files, or computer games to distract me.

2) There is no backspace key, so I don't have the luxury of quick and constant editing. This forces me to focus more on forward progress rather than backwards altering.

3) It's portable and requires no electricity or battery charge.


Then I just type up what I've handwritten into a file, but at that point, any word processor will do fine.

Oh and, between the two (StoryBook and YWriter5), I prefer YWriter5.

Kyle's idea of self publishing;

Yeah I really like yWriter myself. Very easy to work with and keeps me organized haha.

Hi,

I use mainly MS Word 2007, I may upgrade to 2010. Word has more to offer in identifying grammar and spell checking and adding your own. I use Speech to Text and Text to Speech, both facilities provided by MS windows. I also use a third party Dictionary with a thesaurus that I can use offline. Open office I find is easier and more accurate when creating PDF export files.

QDOS

QDOS - Upgrading to 2010 is well worth it. Saving as a pdf is super simple with both 2007 and 2010, but you do need to pay attention to how you format your piece for it to stay as you want it. For example, never use the space bar or the tab key to indent when you are going to save as a pdf or in one of the ebook formats. Use 'paragraph', and pay close attention to outline level and before-after line spacing.

Remember that docx files are compressed, and each element of the file has its own rules. Most will be saved as XML (eXtensible Markup Language) files which can be opened and edited with a browser. To see the discrete, compressed, elements that make up a docx file, change its extension to zip, then use whatever unzipper you have to open the file. The XML elements can be opened and edited with any browser. I like Firefox best for this. If you want to play around with the various elements, save a copy of the docx file before you change its extension. You can do some weird and wonderful things inside a docx file, and about 99 percent of what you do will give you results you will not want.

Edit - I forgot to mention that the grammar checker will be wrong much of the time, so turn it off. You should never lean on a spell checker. When in doubt, use a good dictionary. I keep my Oxford Concise and my Fowler's on a shelf next to my chair so questions about spelling, meaning, and usage can be answered reliably.

An online thesaurus is, in my way of thinking, a sinful misuse of server capacity and bandwidth. It's best to use a printed thesaurus of the kind that some well-meaning person, hearing I am a writer, gave me, thinking it to be the sort of book a writer needs. As it happened, I was at the time looking for a good door stop to hold open the door leading onto a narrow balcony and the thesaurus the person gave me is thick and hard-bound. It has served the purpose well. The thesaurus has been caught in several sudden, heavy, rain squalls of the kind we often get in the tropics and this has only improved its practical usability. All its pages are firmly stuck together, including the covers, so the thesaurus is a solid mass of paper ideally suited to use as a door stop.

Read. Read. Read. You will see words used in different contexts. and you will come to own those words. You will understand how you can use them to express what you want to say. Looking up a supposed synonym in a thesaurus will give you a word that is almost, but not quite, right. There are no true synonyms. Otherwise there would be only the one word. A thesaurus will not give you any understanding of the nuances, the shades of meaning, of different words. You learn that by reading.

Spell checker and grammar checker are tools. They’re fine if you don’t use them as the last word, so to speak. It’s not great, but occasionally, grammar checker will highlight something you might not catch right away, so it can be a time-saver. Otherwise, you can ignore what’s highlighted. A tool has it's uses and limitations. These aren't an exception.

I use a thesaurus when the old brain cells fail to give me the word I know - the little devils just refuse to find it for me. So I grab the T and look for a close relative - sometimes I spot it before the brain wakes up, sometimes the brain just needs a little nudge and races to outdo my finger-walking. Either way I have my word - but it is my word, not just something different to use.

I occasionally use a thesaurus for that purpose. The problem is when people assume that the synonyms provided are always interchangeable -- or they choose an overblown word when a simple one will do. Again, it's a tool -- and if you know how to use it, it can be of value.

If you tell people outright not to use what's available, you're potentially depriving them of something that could be of value to them. Not everyone is the same. If they can't use it properly, that's their problem. They'll figure it out -- or not.

Joe - Looked at from that side, I see your point. But it does disturb me to see someone using a crutch they shouldn't need.

And perhaps having a good dictionary and good usage manual by my side whenever I'm writing is my crutch. I've had my present, ninth edition, Oxford Concise for about 15 years and it's starting to fall apart to the extent that I have to be careful when I pull it off the shelf.

To quote my mother's oft-repeated statement: 'To each his own, said the little old lady as she kissed the cow.'

Well, I'd concede that a lot of people use the tools incorrectly or rely on them too much. Regardless, people will likely arrive at what works best for them, mostly by trial and error -- not based on what people have to say about it on forums.

Originally Posted by JosephB

I occasionally use a thesaurus for that purpose. The problem is when people assume that the synonyms provided are always interchangeable -- or they choose an overblown word when a simple one will do.

Synonyms are the very devil - they're 'similar' words, not just another word for the same thing. I've seen some really wild things in my beta-ing because of that very problem.

Hi,
Garza you’ll be please to know I have as well as my Apps tools, hardback copies of the New Oxford Advanced Dictionary, The Oxford Foreign Words and Phrases, Oxford Language tool kit, plus various books on the origins of words, word usage, Runes, Latin, Hieroglyphs etc.

I make no excuse as to what or why, but here’s a quick summary of what I’ve delved into!


My Ology
For this set of verses I make no Apology,
It all began with my families Genealogy,
The structure of finds and their Biology,
Systematically filed in their Chronology,

In order to begin the subject of Mythology,
I logged online using computer Technology,
To start my quest I needed the Terminology,
Therefore I looked for a path in Astrology,

Then spent hours reading Anthropology,
Digging up, researching the Archaeology,
The fossilised finds, part of Palaeontology,
Each located in different rocks of Geology,

I consulted books to understand Sociology,
Attempting to discover facts on Theology,
Then some investigation into Psychology,
As to how it related to my own Neurology.

QDOS

QDOS - You are, as a police constable might say, 'going equipped'. That's a good list. I'm not familiar with the Oxford Advanced. How does it differ from the Concise?

Urology, I mean, your Ology, is quite impressive, so kudos to you.

Hi and Thanks Garza,

Not a lot between advanced and Concise (unless you have one of the latest versions 11/12^th). Both stem from the tenth addition, which was based on the larger New Oxford Dictionary of English rather than the ninth Concise. One of the tenth editions failures was a lack of modern compound words (i.e. Roadside). Eleventh revisions were based on the Oxford Dictionary of English (second edition 2003). The twelfth has entries, which include cyberbullying, gastric band, jeggings retweet, sexting and woot.

Both have the most common words, Advanced has 80,000 references to British and American English. The Concise has something more like 450, 000. Advanced came with a CD-Rom, it provided an App which when you hovered over a word with the cursor opened a pop-up window displaying the word reference. Introduced with version ten Concise provides a similar App. I’ve also tried Babylon, but personally I use an app called WordWeb.

QDOS