writing software

[Susan Whitfield]

I've just read the latest Writer's Digest article on writer's software. While I've considered it before, I'm more convinced that it would be beneficial as I begin my mystery project. I'd like to know if you use software and if so, which ones. Do you have one that seems to handle all aspects, or do you have several? Do they help you? Are they expensive or free downloads? Thanks in advance for feedback.

[Donald James Parker]

I'm writing some software to help authors. I was curious to see what kind of response you got here. Slim pickings so far. This is a topic which should be of great interest to writers. I bought a program to help me write a novel and ended up just using Word. The software I am writing now is utilitiy type stuff - Document versioning - so you can keep historical versions easily - docment analysis to check for unmatched quotation marks, possible missing commas, excessive use of the same word to start a sentence in a paragraph etc. I'm still polishing that one.

[Susan Whitfield]

Donald, the software you're writing sounds interesting. I really thought this topic would interest most writers, but apparently they are doing well without this sort of help. I've never used any kind of writing software either. Celtx was suggested in another blog site. Final Draft was also suggested, but is quite expensive. I'm beginning my fourth mystery novel without software and I suppose I'll see how it goes. If I struggle with multiple characters, I may look again. Good luck with your program.

[Donald James Parker]

Final Draft is for movie scripts only (as far as I could tell. I test drove that application (because I was leaning toward doing some movie scripts). I wasn't impressed and it was fairly costly. I'm going to sell my software for $10 to $30 so that everyone can afford it. I might undertake a killer app which would have all the whistles and bells that a writer needs.
Take care and good luck with your mystery.
Don

[Susie Sunshine]

Okay. Now I am going to sound very ignorant here. I usually write non-fiction. However, I am in the process of working on a mystery romance novel and murder mysteries based on real life experiences. I have never heard of writing software until this thread.

Could you please explain a little bit about writing software, what you use it for, and how to use it? Thank you.

[Susan Whitfield]

Susie, I'd read a few articles over the years about writing software, but this post came from reading a recent Writer's Digest article (August 08) that rated software into categories like scriptwriting, character development, story structure, editing, etc. I've never used any, but my fourth murder mystery involves quite an array of interesting characters, far more than I've previously tackled. So, I thought I'd ask writers if they use a particular kind and if so, what and is it beneficial.

[Susie Sunshine]

Thank you, Susan, for your reply. I did understand what you were asking. What I was asking was how does one use software to write a book? I don't comprehend how having software for characters, scriptwriting, character development, etc. can help. Perhaps if I saw it at work, I might understand.

Thank you again for replying to me.

[Donald James Parker]

Here's the one I bought. They do have free trials. it is a pretty cool program but I ended up just using word. I'm not a plotter. This allows you to input all your characters and all the major scenes in a chronological timeline etc.

http://www.ravensheadservices.com/

[Peter N. Jones]

I have never used any of the specific software used for writing fiction - I just use either Word or OpenOffice for the word processing part, and then drop that into Quark or InDesign for the typesetting and layout. From my understanding there is specific software to help keep track of multiple plot lines, characters, etc., but from what I can tell it is not universally used. I guess if you have to crank out a romance novel every 3 months like some authors do then it might be useful, but if you are working on a nonfiction book or taking your time with a novel, then I don't see the advantages it would have for the extra cost, especially since you can do so much in Word with track changes, highlighting, commenting, etc.

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[Susie Sunshine]

Thanks for the input, Peter. That is what I was thinking, but being new in the novel genre I wasn't sure.

[Susan Whitfield]

Yep, that's a good point. So far I'm doing fine without any software. Thanks for responding, you guys. I guess we'll close this discussion.