Which app for writing?

[Omits]

Anyone using Open Office Writer. I desperately need a template. Bit of a mess to get out of!

 

[Biskit]

I've been using it for years. What sort of mess have you got?

 

[Omits]

I've been using it for years. What sort of mess have you got?

Actually I've been put right by the help guys there. Do you use the Master Doc feature or just one mammoth file (mine is currently 300K)?

 

[Wayne Mack]

I use Libre Office, a more up to date branch from Open Office. The biggest advantage is that it supports conversion to docx, not just doc file format.

I use the one big file approach, but I keep a chapter summary in a spreadsheet document. I find this very helpful when I need to reference something from an earlier chapter and want to find it quickly. I am usually writing 80-85K words, which comes in at a bit less than 300 K bytes. I haven't experienced any issues with files that size.

 

[ckatt]

Been using MS Word since 1994. I've tried libre, WPS, google docs and Scrivener. But I always find some issue that's too much trouble to overcome and go back. Word isn't perfect but it gets enough right that I don't want to change. Plus the in-built manuscript template is pretty spot on for standard manuscript format.

 

[Biskit]

Actually I've been put right by the help guys there. Do you use the Master Doc feature or just one mammoth file (mine is currently 300K)?

I tried using the master doc but found it awkward, so just the one mammoth file - the current WIP has multiple parts at around the 250k mark, except for one that got a bit bloated at 350k. I also make extensive use of the notes feature, especially during editing, although big files with a lot of notes run like a three-legged dog trapped in treacle. (Or, more literally, type a key, count a few seconds, see the screen update...)

I use Libre Office, a more up to date branch from Open Office. The biggest advantage is that it supports conversion to docx, not just doc file format.

I am currently making the transition to Libre Office. Up until quite recently it had along-standing bug in the spellchecker which meant that any word with a note boundary inside it would flag as misspelled regardless of the whether it really was. The bug has a second part that if you accept a correction on a word containing a note boundary, the note is deleted. Now that part 1 is fixed I am making the move. Part 2 is actually a serious, data-loss issue, but it turns out that the same bug exists in Open Office, so that's not a reason to hold back. On the massively positive side, notes do not drag the speed down in Libre Office.

(There is another bug where those note boundaries confuse the search function.)

I keep character notes and plot ideas in a separate file and recently I have started using Zim wiki to keep track of things, but that's mostly because the current WIP is in five books and it's a pain to keep searching five separate files for stuff now that I'm in the post-pantsing phase of making things consistent.

 

[THX1138]

I use WS Word. Tried Scrivener for a short time, but it didn't work out for me. So, back to MS Word; It works well enough.

 

[Wayne Mack]

@Biskit, I don't use the Note feature at all. I was curious how you use it in your writing. I assume you are flagging something to return for later review.

 

[Biskit]

@Biskit, I don't use the Note feature at all. I was curious how you use it in your writing. I assume you are flagging something to return for later review.

I flag stuff to deal with later, add "fix this" notes, and I let my IT background loose creating a handful of keyboard short-cuts to put in comments with an author name of "Editing" and various pre-set bits of text like "FIX ME" which means certain things are easier to track down with the search function because the headings are always spelled correctly. I also use them to put in handy reminders, so if I have been off delving in Wikipedia to check something, I'll paste the details into a note, so the next time I pass that bit and wonder if I'm talking rubbish about something real, there's the info.

When the Biskitetta reads the draft she then peppers it with notes with handy hints like "this doesn't make sense".

 

[Omits]

Thanks, I now have decided to use one doc (for Book 1). I don't use notes but have a special style and put them in where I need to comment for later editing. At the start of each section I have two styles dating the last edit/review and one for the section theme. I did start using a spreadsheet but being lazy it got out of use. I do need some way of documenting arcs and interactions but not sure how to do it.