Writing software for novelists
April 19, 2010 | Karl Schroeder | Comments (7)
At last Thursday's writing workshop, the question came up of what kind of word processor to use when writing fiction--particularly long fiction. I've been down this road a number of times, and gave a quick response at the time. I thought I should flesh it out in more detail, though.
got my start with a mechanical typewriter and have since used IBM selectrics, UNIX terminals, VAXen, WordPerfect 4.2 all the way up to version 12, DeScribe, and lately, OpenOffice. You'll note I've never used Microsoft Word to write fiction; put that down a matter of personal taste.
In any case, each of the major word processors has its advantages and disadvantages. Over the years I've whittled down my requirements some basic ones:
- I have to be able to minimize my working environment (i.e. remove ribbon bars, menus etc.)
- It has to enable me to change the background colour and font, because staring at black text on a white background all day gives me migraines (a major flaw with Word)
- It needs a fairly sophisticated structural view of the document; with both WordPerfect and OpenOffice I keep a navigator pane open on the left side of my working document that shows the entire chapter/scene structure of the current novel, and lets me jump back and forth by just clicking scene titles.
- I have to be able to open multiple windows on the same document.
If you're on a Mac, you should probably check out Scrivener. Scrivener is word processing for writers (not just white collar business workers). It has a raft of cool features that let you smoothly integrate non-drafting activities like outlining into the process, and I know a number of Mac-based authors who swear by it. A true writer's tool should be something that assists all the major activities of fiction writers, such as finding inspiration, keeping track of characters and plot arcs, etc. No standard word processor is going to do this for you; but tools like Scrivener can.
Scrivener is Mac-based, but luckily you're not out of luck if you're PC based. I'm currently exploring a program very similar to Scrivener called Liquid Story that has most of the features of Scrivener, some of its own, and is Shareware (costing $45). It has tools such as timeline tracking, character galleries, a character name generator, repetitive phrase and word searching, and several different ways of outlining. It's also a word processor with all the features you'll need to produce manuscripts and scripts.
There's a certain gimmick factor to programs that claim to be able to help you write. The attraction of Scrivener and Liquid Story is that they don't really pretend to do that. What they do claim to do is help you organize big and complicated writing projects in a way that standard word processors can't. And that is a very valuable quality.
In the end, you have to try things and find out what works for you. I know at least one major SF writer who still uses UNIX's old text-editor workhorse, EMACS. In the end it's just words on paper.
But exploring your options never hurts.
