yWriter

Dragonchilde — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:01:28 -0700

It's free, it's written by a Wrimo, and it even has an option to scramble your novel. What's not to love?

Re: yWriter

type247 — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 05:44:03 -0700

Love, love, love yWriter! It makes it easy to concentrate on little pieces of the puzzle at a time and still see (and rearrange) the big picture. Perfect for Nano and beyond!

Re: yWriter

ShadowyWaters — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 06:50:06 -0700

yWriter? I ask myself this question every year around November, but I haven't been able to answer it so far.

Re: yWriter

Tirjasdyn — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:11:00 -0700

Lol. I love yWriter. You can download it at http://spacejock.com.

Re: yWriter

WhiteWine — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:51:37 -0700

used it last year, and wish i could use it now on my tablet!! Really liked being able to break up my chapters. the layout was perfect for my first novel

Re: yWriter

wykedengel — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:39:26 -0700

From the little time I have spent with it, yWriter seems more than capable of handling novel-related tasks. The only reason I don't use it is that I'm too stubborn to learn something new.

Re: yWriter

KatharaSophia — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:44:13 -0700

Trying ywriter this year because my ideas weren't very cohesive and I needed to get organized. So far I love it, and keep finding features I didn't expect (like photos on character notes). I probably won't write my novel in it, but it is great for sorting my notes.

Re: yWriter

radioactivealchemist — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:03:51 -0700

I don't use it for the actual writing, but I love it for planning and revising before and after my novel's written.

Re: yWriter

krudyard — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:15:33 -0700

I'm using yWriter on my netbook. It's been good so far :)

Re: yWriter

thecandiedmango — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:42:40 -0700

Just downloaded it a couple days ago... hopefully it will help me stay on track this year.

Re: yWriter

kitsuneopal — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:16:11 -0700

I love yWriter. I love how simple it is to use and that I don't have to write in order. Because I never write in order.

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 03:35:01 -0700

Any problems just let me know. (I don't think the sigs are working on the forums yet, but I'm the yWriter guy.) Also competing in my sixth Nano this year. Possibly the first where yWriter is the same version as the previous year, although there have been incremental changes.

Re: yWriter on netbook

Soul — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:07:53 -0700

yes...most software makes this netbook go "no really...you're seriously going to put that crap on me?" I have Word starter 2010...but I hate writing in it lol Soooooo...on with the ywriter.

Re: yWriter

Generalist — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 09:08:32 -0700

When looking for a program to manage barcode based checkin/checkout of her quilting guild's library, we stumbled across your library management program. It proved to be a godsend for managing a 700 plus book collection. (They have a big guild, one that has a show with 600 some odd quilts.) I've been looking at the same program for managing our home library. The last time we attempted cataloging things, we were using PFS: File and hit around 1200 books before things fell apart. That was a few decades, and a few thousand books/magazines ago. I have looked and played with yWriter and like what I see. I just haven't had the time to familiarize myself with the features. It looks like it would work with my style of story development. Keep up the good work!

Re: yWriter

Nepeace — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:01:34 -0700

I always use yWriter, I love it. It's simple and it's not too distracting perfect for a procrastinator! :P

Re: yWriter

charleenlynette — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:20:00 -0700

Another yWriter user here! I love the organization.

Re: yWriter

Sailor_Chibi — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:26:43 -0700

I use yWriter for all of my books. It's the one writing program that I've found actually works for me, especially since it's offered for free. I'd love to try out other programs, but I can't afford the prices. I definitely encourage any curious Wrimos to try it out. It's simple to use and in the time I've been using it (at least two or three years now) I haven't run into a single problem with it.

Re: yWriter

TANK Ex Mortis — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:53:52 -0700

Of the programs I've tried so far (Scrivener, LSB, and yWriter) I like yWriter the best; but it doesn't quite fit my mental process. I was trying to figure out a way to detach and/or rearrange tabs, for instance - is that possible? I'd like to be able to have the Project Notes and Characters windows side-by-side so I could easily copy and paste between them. I also couldn't find any way to customize the fonts or colors. Really I'd be happy with just being able to rearrange things. It's a lovely program though.

Re: yWriter

Angelic Disaster — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:28:46 -0700

I have ywriter on my main computer, but I'm a little worried about how it'll run on my ancient laptop... going to download it on this silly old Toshiba now, and pray it works, as a good portion of my writing will be done on said laptop at work. (Oh, nightshifts, how I love you) Does anyone have experience running it on low-end machines?

Re: yWriter

MrDithers — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:12:35 -0700

I've run it straight off of a flash drive and it's worked great.

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 22:52:29 -0700

I've tested BookDB2 with 35,000 entries on older hardware and it was okay. That's an extreme test though - my library has about 3400 books in it and it works fine with that.

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 22:55:25 -0700

The first versions of yWriter (up to yWriter4) were designed for Windows 98 PCs. yWriter5 uses dotnet 2.0 and is will run on modest hardware with a minimum of Windows XP. (You CAN run it on '98, but it's not really worth the hassle of installing all the service packs etc.) I prefer function over form. I really don't care what it looks like as long as it's fast and everything is a mouse click or two from the main screen.

Re: yWriter

SciFiNut — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 19:10:36 -0700

Just downloaded yWriter about a month ago and I've been playing around with it. Planning to use it during NaNo this year and am plotting away. I've found that I think in scenes here lately instead of chapters, and yWriter is perfect for that. I've really been enjoying it so far and am looking forward to a real bench-test in November. My only issue with it - or rather upgrade WISH (because it's free and I don't want to complain when it's FREE) - is I'd like more fields with the character notes, maybe some guidance. For example, sometimes I remember to give my character a hobby or a unique habit or trait and sometimes I forget, or I'll forget that I gave a character some quirky habit and drop it. If there was a prompt for it in the character notes that would help. Or maybe a little more structure, when you click on the character's name the notes displaying at the bottom all run together. I put in " / " to force organization and it helps.

Re: yWriter

ejk42 — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:08:20 -0700

I was using (and loving) yWriter until I discovered Scrivener (now available for the PC, in Beta) - it's like yWriter with extra added shinyness. I'm a convert!

Re: yWriter

sdecourcey — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:56:28 -0700

mmmmmm.....yWriter, I love you. Usually I do NaNo on MS Word, but this year I'm giving yWriter a go. Super excited :D

Re: yWriter

medicman4444 — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:31:38 -0700

still dont know how to use it and im afraid to learn but ill try it this nano

Re: yWriter

type247 — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:40:06 -0700

No need to be afraid to learn, it's so easy to use you'll get it in no time. And after you have gotten used to the basics - chapters, scenes, where to type and dragging and dropping things you want to move - you'll find loads of useful stuff that you may or may not need or end up using. Easy! Give it a go!

Re: yWriter

PlasticSmoothie — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 05:54:08 -0700

As much as yWriter is a lovable program, I'm going to be mainly writing in OpenOffice Writer. I find that that works better for me, but yWriter for my notes? Hell yes!

Re: yWriter

sickboy — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 10:48:31 -0700

I usually do use yWriter, alongside MS Word - might try it on the netbook this year. See how it runs.

Re: yWriter

Michelle_Mackenzie — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 14:17:32 -0700

I use both NaNoWri Tool and Ywriter5. Nanowri tool is great for blocking out distractions- but Ywriter is a god send when it comes to organising the characters and scenes and chapters. My only issue with it is that the dictionary only works online- and it only tells you that words are mispelt offline. Other than that, I love it!

Re: yWriter

unicornsong — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:54:06 -0700

I like Ywriter but when my last computer crashed I lost my novel that I'd written on it and couldn't get it to back up so that it was readable in a new version of yWriter on my computer or in MSWord or OpenOffice. Any suggestions of what I did wrong and how I can be sure to have a back up that is transferable to other programs? I'd like to use yWriter this year, but if I can lose another novel, it's not worth it.

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 07:21:07 -0700

You can open any yWriter project in yWriter5 - going all the way back to yWriter2. Just be sure to use 'import yWriterX project' rather than trying to open it directly. yWriter2, 3 and 4 are still available from my site too.

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 07:21:34 -0700

Ps there will be daily/hourly backups of your novel in the Autobackups folder.

Re: yWriter

DaBadMan — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 22:02:40 -0700

Hello all. I'm new here and new to ywriter too. I feel a little bit like an idiot for asking this but what are "problem words" and why are they problems? I see the predefined list and it has words like "muttered" and "then" and it seems strange that these would be considered problem words for any reason. Thanks in advance for any help on the matter. Btw just so you know I'm typically not an idiot just a technological caveman lol thanks again

Re: yWriter

type247 — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 02:13:33 -0700

Hi, I believe they are words that can be repeated too often, which can be a problem. The predefined list might not cover the ones you yourself tend to overuse, but the list is there for you to quickly find them so you can vary the language.

Re: yWriter

Michelle_Mackenzie — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:53:15 -0700

I'm definately using Ywriter5 again this year. I just wish there was an option to merge all the chapters and scenes; and have more options to help with editing afterwards. Page numbers would be a good idea too... HalSpaceJock, what you planning to do for Ywriter in the future? Just curious....

Re: yWriter

DaBadMan — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:05:29 -0700

Lol that seems to make sense. Once again I was over thinking. Thanks so much.

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:33:38 -0700

You might like to bookmark these in case you get into trouble during Nano: The yWriter mailing list/group (searchable): http://groups.google.com/group/ywriter The yWriter wiki/FAQ/quickstart guide: http://sites.google.com/site/ywritersj/ If you join the former you can ask questions, search for answers and generally get help from a friendly bunch of fellow users. The wiki is a bit of a lucky dip. There are several sections with overlapping info, because it's derived from two lengthy help files written by two different people AND there's the FAQ which I added myself. Still, you can search on terms like 'OMG I lost my novel WTF' and hopefully it won't come back with 'tough'.

Re: yWriter

JSR — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:23:09 -0700

I love yWriter for keeping my novel organised (portable version on DropBox for convenience). It proved very handy when I had a bash at a murder/mystery story because I could easily keep track of who was in which scene, where, and with what items, and at what time the scene took place and for how long. It helped keep everything stress-free. I tend to use other non-distraction plain-text apps working with DropBox for the actual writing, but yWriter is great for keeping everything in order.

Re: yWriter

Edrondol — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:16:49 -0700

Go get Dropbox ASAP (http://www.dropbox.com/). Save all your files there. Then you can access them anywhere and if your PC goes down you still have them. For example, I can work on my book from home or work (during breaks only, boss!) and never have to worry about putting the files on a flash drive or emailing them to myself as in days of old.

Re: yWriter

quixotic_hope — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:07:08 -0700

I just found yWriter about a week ago. The novel I'm writing this year is pretty cohesive (at least at the moment), so I might just write it in Word like usual. However, I so wish I had found this program last year! I switch POVs in last year's NaNo a lot, and it would have been great at helping me organize it!

Re: yWriter

JonathanS223 — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 05:07:37 -0700

I found that YWriter as an excellent way of managing where my story is and how it is laying out though I still prefer to write the first draft either in Open Office or my good ol' portable manual typewriter. Ywriter is great and I love it!

Re: yWriter

Michelle_Mackenzie — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:43:41 -0700

Yeah, it's cool. I've recommended it to one of my friends just yesterday.

Re: yWriter

Michelle_Mackenzie — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:52:56 -0700

OMG! I have only just worked out how to merge all the seperate chapters and scenes into a single document! How could I have missed it?! Just select all of the chapters and click on Export Selected Chapters, and select RTF! It's so easy, I am dumbstruck about how I completely overlooked it. Genius!

Re: yWriter

Michelle_Mackenzie — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:53:56 -0700

Yeah... I've only just worked out how to do that. PMSL. I'm a dunce! Woohoo! :P

Re: yWriter

Michelle_Mackenzie — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 10:17:58 -0700

I'm definately using Ywriter5 for the NaNo this year. Though, I am going to use NaNoWri tool for the Word Wars. I'm really looking forward to 1st.

Re: yWriter

kat716 — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 10:56:55 -0700

I love yWriter. I never could have won last year without it. I handwrite, but I do all my planning in yWriter. Then I print out my scene list and use that to tell me what to write next. :)

Re: yWriter

InnerBeauty — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 16:15:10 -0700

yWriter is the reason my first novel ever seems to form itself, no kidding. I never used to set the characters/locations/items or even timeline all together so easily and then staring at them as the plot is playing in my head. Aaah! It's fantastic!

Re: yWriter

charlaine2124 — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:19:39 -0700

I tried the free trial of Scriviener to compare it with yWriter last year, and developed a distinct preference. yWriter all the way :D The only thing that I might say as a possible improvement (I did donate money, so I feel slightly less bad about this) is a set of reports for characters - maybe just a print of the Bios etc of a certain group of characters (with the same tag, or possibly even just select from a list) so that it can be printed and held as a refrence sheet... I tend to get wrapped up in having too many extra characters, and it bugs me that I fail at remembering them all Other than that, I love yWriter and all the other book-related writing tools (before I got Write-or-Die Desktop I used yEdit and yTimer to do mini write-or-die things)

Re: yWriter

metalfoot — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:07:51 -0700

If this thread didn't exist, I was going to create it. Awesome tool that I've been using for the last 7 years to work on NaNo. Thanks to Simon Haynes for creating the most indispensible tool I've found yet for creating my not-so-masterpieces. I see he now has a "donationware" model so I might just have to wander over and click a donation button...

Re: yWriter

type247 — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:52:14 -0700

Actually, that's a very good idea! I donate to Nano for using their site for a month every year, and I'm thinking I should do the same with yWriter, which I use a lot more ... it's definitely worth every penny!

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:23:26 -0700

"The only thing that I might say as a possible improvement (I did donate money, so I feel slightly less bad about this) is a set of reports for characters - maybe just a print of the Bios etc of a certain group of characters (with the same tag, or possibly even just select from a list) so that it can be printed and held as a refrence sheet..." Just click Characters - Reports and you should find what you're after.

Re: yWriter

Preziös Fränze — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:50:40 -0700

Planning to use yWriter this year for the actual writing (and Writemonkey as well, when I get real desperate to churn out words) :) Already stashing stuff in the Project Notes. The simple interface sure helps a lot -- I get dizzy and a little intimidated with programs with a lot of buttons and features. :D

Re: yWriter

Michelle_Mackenzie — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 07:22:30 -0700

only 5 days to go! Arrrrgh! I still need to type up the rest of my outline on the ywriter5 description boxes. I also have less than 10 weeks til baby is born. PANIC!!!

Re: yWriter

TANK Ex Mortis — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:45:45 -0700

Just started playing with this again... I like it! I do have a question/suggestion, though: why do I have to click the "Edit" button to be able to change the text of a note? It's kinda inconvenient.

Re: yWriter

Yakumae — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:56:57 -0700

Quick yWriter question... does it allow for fullscreen distraction-free typing? I'm bouncing between Scrivener, StoryBox, and yWriter, but that is sorta a big one for me. I didn't see the ability to do this, but I might have missed it.

Re: yWriter

kitsuneopal — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:30:36 -0700

Nope not really. The best you can do is maximise he scene you want to type. What I do is use writemonkey for all the actuall writing, and use ywriter to hold and organize it all.

Re: yWriter

Yakumae — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:46:24 -0700

Ah, well thanks for the reply. I was really hoping to only use one program, not two. So I might just stick with StoryBox. Tho I do like the simplicity of yWriter.

Re: yWriter

type247 — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:16:43 -0700

You can use yWriter and edit each scene in the default RTF editor - in my case Word - and that will block out a lot of other distractions from the screen. I don't know if you can set something like WriteMonkey or Q10 as the default RTF editor, but I'm sure you can find out or that someone will pop up here and tell you.

Re: yWriter

Duskgem — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 07:16:36 -0700

Hmm. A friend mentioned yWriter to me, and I was debating downloading it, and was actually planning on asking if any one else here uses it. Obviously this thread just gave me an answer, so I'll download it when I get home on Saturday, ( my sister probably won;t apreciate me downloading stuff on her computer, which is what I;m currently using) whether or not that'll be enough time to familierise myself with it I don't know, but it does sound useful. I have to admit, I also found the other bits and pieces on the site useful and interesting reading as well, especially as I'm spendng most my time in my siters dorm room at the moment and needed stuff to read.

Re: yWriter

jtggodqos — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:03:00 -0700

didn't know he had that set up. I, too, am going to have to meander over now.....

Re: yWriter

jtggodqos — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:03:37 -0700

::thread bump:: bc yWriter is the best novel writing software I've found in my many years of writing.

Re: yWriter

Michelle_Mackenzie — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:43:18 -0700

I agree. It's brilliant.

Re: yWriter

charlaine2124 — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:04:05 -0700

Typically, I found this immediately after posting this *facepalm* I now officially have no complaints :D keep up the good work :D

Re: yWriter

chimorph — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 08:30:35 -0700

It's probably all been said by other people, but just want to add my agreement - yWriter is in my opinion the best novel writing software around. Personally pretty much ignore most of the outlining and planning features until the first draft is complete, so I don't find it distracting in the slightest. All round brilliance.

Re: yWriter

tyburn_cross — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 13:22:32 -0700

My two cent's worth - love it. Been a user for over a year now and I wouldn't use anything else. It really is as easy to pick up and use as everyone says. I've wiped the slate clean, ready to start again (started a new project), and am redoing character, location and item notes as we type.

Re: yWriter

sidhekat — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:08:21 -0700

I've been a yWriter user since version one (I think, would have to go look at downloads on old Iomega Zip Drives). While I don't use it to write during Nano - I do use it quite extensively the rest of the year for everything from short stories to non-fiction articles. Each version just keeps getting better and better. Kat

Re: yWriter

Arianna Evelyn — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 16:17:10 -0700

I've been using yWriter for about six months now, I love it! I have the most disorganized mind ever, and I soo quickly lose track of things. yWriter has given me structure and the ability to write with all of my information just a click or two away from where I'm writing. It's easy to input information, easy to find it later, and runs amazingly on both my old desktop and my shiny new laptop. I've put all of my projects (I'm the type of writer that has way too many things on the go at once) into it and it always helps a lot!! yWriter FTW!!! :D Just thought I'd throw that in there...

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 16:56:12 -0700

[quote=Yakumae] Quick yWriter question... does it allow for fullscreen distraction-free typing? I'm bouncing between Scrivener, StoryBox, and yWriter, but that is sorta a big one for me. I didn't see the ability to do this, but I might have missed it. [/quote] Yes. Right-click in the scene window and choose your full screen editor mode. Cheers Simon

Re: yWriter

mydoctorisbetter — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:56:07 -0700

Heck yes, I'm using this! I've already entered my novel outline into it and everything. :) Definitely a handy tool!

Re: yWriter

froley — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 22:00:39 -0700

I'm using yWriter for the first time for NaNo, mostly because I built a new PC and Windows lost track of MS Word, so I can't use it any more. For the amount MS charges, Word should really have more flexible activation options... Anyway, I'm entering character and plot info into yWriter right now, which is exciting.

Re: yWriter

type247 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 03:25:13 -0700

Just realised there was an option of using Full screen with margins, that's just what I wanted/needed to block everything else out! Brilliant! Thank you, Simon!

Re: yWriter

kalstrai — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:51:19 -0700

Ditto. EXCELLENT planning tool, lack of a spell checker (maybe they've updated this?) makes me do my writing in an actual editor.

Re: yWriter

David John Wellman — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:32:38 -0700

All right, I'm going to give yWriter a shot this year. Although I'd really prefer it if it supported Garamond . . . grump grump . . .

Re: yWriter

ellarien — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:20:30 -0700

I discovered yWriter thanks to this thread, and I've been finding it very useful for organizing my outline so far. I suspect I'm going to be typing into something like Q10 and then pasting scenes in,once I actually start writing -- all the options and tabs might be too distracting otherwise.

Re: yWriter

Electreau — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:28:24 -0700

I LIKE that it doesn't have a spellchecker. That's exactly the type of thing that slows down my momentum and creative process! At the end of the month, just export the document from yWriter and look for the little red squiggly in MS Word or some other editor. ;)

Re: yWriter

ktea — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:02:34 -0700

I started writing with Write Way a couple of hours ago. It is not cooperating or I have a lot of user error. Where do I find yWrite?

Re: yWriter

type247 — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 01:39:04 -0700

You'll find it here: http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html It's really easy to learn your way around so you can start writing, you can explore and use the many other functions as and when you need them (read: editing). Happy Nanoing!

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:41:42 -0700

Kat - your review of an early version of yWriter is still on my site. Re the spell checker, once you've installed the dictionary just press F7 to see mis-spelled words. If you've pasted in text with curly quotes you'll need to add those (open and close) to the list of punctuation characters under Tools. I just use the dictionary to pick up typos. BTW there's a new feature since last year. You can export one or more chapters - including all their scenes - to an RTF file, open it in Word/OO, do your spell/grammar check, save it back out then re-import the file. As long as you don't mess with the scene tags embedded in the document, yWriter will split it up and put the content back into the scenes it came from, even if you've moved the scenes around in the meantime. This also allows you to send a copy of one or more chapters to someone else (say, collaborator). As I mentioned, DON'T let them edit the tags and obviously, don't change the scene content if you're going to be re-importing it.

Re: yWriter

Rhov — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:36:13 -0700

After years of plowing through OpenOffice, a fellow Wrimo suggested yWriter. I used it through October to set up characters and my outline, and I absolutely love it. But now it's November and 90% of my writing for Nanowrimo is on my laptop running Linux Mint. Suddenly I'm having problems. I don't know if it's Linux or Mono or what, but the paragraph indentation does not show up (it does in Windows still) so my document looks like one giant paragraph. I have to use Tab for the indent to show. It's one extra key stroke that slows my rhythm that much more. The worst issue is the "creeping." Every time I flip to a new scene (which I do a lot, I can't write linear to save my life) the Content screen moves up a hair with the gray section on the bottom slowly widening. After about 8-10 scene flips, the content shrinks so bad it vanishes altogether. The only solution is to shut down yWriter, start it up again, and then I'm still limited to about 10 scene changes before that gray section overtakes my story. Would using an older version fix this? Is there some code I could input? Any other Wrimos out there using yWriter and Linux? Other than those two issues, I much prefer this to the various word processors I've used in the past. And you can't beat the price!

Re: yWriter

briezee — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:11:58 -0700

Are you referencing the big grey area underneath Viewpoint and Scene Title? That area is doing the same thing for me. My other issues are with the labels not lining up with text input fields, causing the the label to block what I am trying to input (especially noticeable on the Character editor, as that is what I have been using alot), and full screen without margins having text underneath the scroll bars. I suspect my issues other than the "creeping" as you've called it, are somehow caused by my system default font. I don't know a fix for the creeping, I wish I did, it is causing me issues as well. I'm running Ubuntu 10.10 (Meerkat), so I'm a couple versions behind ; yWriter5 (5.1.8.3); and mono 2.6.7 Oh, I am getting confused why items in the help menu that open in a web page are choosing to open Chrome on my system, but output of the chapter descriptions and reports open in Firefox. Firefox is my primary browser.

Re: yWriter

Trilia — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:39:40 -0700

I started to use yWriter yesterday and it is brilliant. For me it's the perfect editor. I hadn't quite worked out the file structure yet, so transferring the files to my netbook last night didn't work, but I do know where I went wrong so I'll move the files today.

Re: yWriter

S.L Mahon — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 08:21:50 -0700

I lvoe ywriter, I'm writing my series with it and it just keeps everything organised and together. I know, I wouldn't have written so much if I didn't have it. It's the best sofware ever!!

Re: yWriter

smile_clarenet — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:18:30 -0700

This is the second year I've used yWriter for NaNo, and I absolutely love it. It totally suits my NaNo writing style! Don't have to put in a load of blank lines to split up my scenes, nor worry about where scene x fits in with the rest of the novel. I love it.

Re: yWriter

metalfoot — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 21:22:01 -0800

A quick question for the author of this program; in the writing screen, it gives options for fonts... just wondering why it's only pulling TT/OT fonts instead of all my installed fonts (I have some OT-PS fonts)

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 04:39:01 -0800

Unfortunately these are Mono/Winforms 2.0 bugs. I've tried to alter yWriter to work around them, but without success. It is important to install the microsoft fonts package on Ubuntu - these are needed for Mono.

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 04:39:40 -0800

I'm not sure about that one - I use a Windows function to get a list of fonts installed on the system, and I guess it only returns screen fonts?

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 04:40:04 -0800

I added a words per minute typing speed indicator to the latest version of yWriter. Just for fun ;-)

Re: yWriter

Low-tech Zen — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:42:17 -0800

For fun or torture? LOL

Re: yWriter

anab — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:14:01 -0800

I use yWriter for planning and word count, I use LibreOffice to type because it has nice features like auto correct and spelling, and I use a blog to try get feedback and encouragement. The three of them have word counting facilities and the three of them give me a different word count on the same text. yWriter is the one giving me the lowest word count so I'm going with it to make sure I'm not cheating, but this is really annoying. Any suggestions? If there is a better thread to put this on, let me know.

Re: yWriter

Lois Ridley — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:00:07 -0800

What about BACK Up? How do you back up files when using this program. Can you use it with Google Docs? Also can you use it on two computers at once....I prefer to use my laptop but when Im watching the minis I need to be on my laptop...

Re: yWriter

KedaseDerragar — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 06:16:43 -0800

I'm writing primarily in OpenOffice, but yWriter has been invaluable to me as a solely because of the way you can split up scenes within chapters and move them around. My novel has a lot of back and forth between different locales and viewpoints, so being able to rearrange scenes with a single click has been a godsend.

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 06:34:51 -0800

Don't quote me on this, but in previous years I've heard that yWriter was the closest to Nanowrimo's official wordcount. Always take the lowest number is my suggestion too.

Re: yWriter

JSR — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 07:49:59 -0800

Best way of backing up is to use yWriter in conjuction with Dropbox. Save your work in your Dropbox folder and it'll be backed-up to the cloud and syncronised with your other computers that have Dropbox installed. Dropbox also keeps past versions (up to 30 days), just in case you make a mistake somewhere. To use yWriter on more than one computer is easy. Read this page: http://www.spacejock.com/RunFromThumbDrive.html about running yWriter in "portable" mode. Then put yWriter in a folder in your Dropbox folder. It will sync/backup the whole thing (including settings) along with any other files that are in your Dropbox folder (including your novel/project, if that's where you save it). When you move to another machine, just go into the Dropbox folder and run yWriter from there. Everything should be as it was on your first computer. Even if you decide not to use yWriter later, your scenes/chapters are all saved as bog-standard RTF files - which any word processing app should be able to deal with.

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:17:03 -0800

A note about Dropbox: Dropbox, and other similar storage solutions, can lead to problems with yWriter. This is because the connection can drop out, thus causing an error when yWriter tries to save your project data. I've fielded *hundreds* of requests for help from Dropbox users over the past couple of years due to this. To such an extent that if an error occurs during saving to a Dropbox folder, yWriter reminds you NOT to run your project from Dropbox and won't allow you to submit an error report. I'm sure it works for thousands of people, but you need to be aware of this. The recommended method is to run your project locally, then copy the project folder to Dropbox AFTER you exit yWriter. Note: I'm not saying Dropbox is faulty. It's just that yWriter can save out a lot of files on closing, and a network connection is always going to be slower than writing to local storage. Something in the combination of yWriter/Dropbox can lead to issues.

Re: yWriter

Lois Ridley — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:32:20 -0800

Thanks so much Sounds a bit complicated but doable. I don't have time to putz with this during Nano. But yWriter seems worth it Thanks

Re: yWriter

Angelic Disaster — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:42:25 -0800

I must sing the praises of yWriter. The whole "scenes" bit has to be the best thing ever when it comes to dealing with my writing style.. so... Best. Program. Ever.

Re: yWriter

winx788 — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 08:33:16 -0800

I absolutely love it. I am the owner of the the messiest mind you will ever- well, not meet, but hear of. :P It's great to have a place to jot all these down. Because I usually only do a partial outline, so If I'm writing a scene, and I need to add something for that scene to make sense, I just take a note of it, and keep going. I love the fact that you can split it up in different scenes, and then reorganize them later; it's great, because I've always wanted to work out of order, and Ywriter really helps with that. I think that's partly the reason I lost last year; I so wanted to get to the plot stuff, but I kept telling myself, "No! We have to go through this first." and got so bored I quit. This way I can get back to the boring stuff later. It's also good for completing dares, because, while I want to do one, I don't want to randomly just chuck one in a scene some where. Here I can make it make sense. I also adore the character feature, though I don't do the bio thing much. It works best for me because I tend to repeat names for my characters. Sure, for my main ones, I spend for ever on Baby names, trying to find the perfect one. But for minor charries, I just dash off names, and I tend to use the same ones. This is better because I can just go back and check if I used this name a lot. Not to mention it's, uh, free! Being really reallllyyy young, I don't own a credit card, and no way will my parents buy me a writing program. And you get ALL these amazing features! Not to mention it doesn't spell check. That little red line can completely throw off my momentum. I hear some talk about YWriter being ugly, but, really, I see no problem in it. It works just fine, and that's what matters. Putting a pretty background or a sparkly dress on it won't change that. :P So all in all, loving this.

Re: yWriter

anab — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:44:05 -0800

Thanks HalSpacejock! For writing yWriter, for writing too, and for writing here and interacting with us mere users :)

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:31:03 -0800

As you can tell, I'm not big on eye candy when it comes to software - or my website for that matter. It just has to do the job and stay out of my way - that's my primary concern.

Re: yWriter

ShadowyWaters — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:17:34 -0800

yWriter is now just more nagware. Too bad.

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:10:27 -0800

[quote=ShadowyWaters] yWriter is now just more nagware. Too bad. [/quote] To clarify the above comment, as of yWriter 5.1.6.7 the title bar says 'Unregistered Version' after all the other information (Name of novel, author, etc.) There are no popups or adverts, no exhortations to register, no pro & lite versions and no artificial restrictions. Details and FAQ here: http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter_Register.html

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:11:52 -0800

Make that yWriter registration FAQ

Re: yWriter

Cbrentner — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 06:07:36 -0800

Is it possible to make a template file that can be reused over and over again in Ywriter or do you have to start from scratch each time? Just wondering because it would seem to make sense if you could.

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 06:14:42 -0800

I added a second style of outline/template recently. It's described on the google group: http://groups.google.com/group/ywriter/search?group=ywriter&q=scene+outline&qt_g=Search+this+group It's the first link ("New Feature") Is that what you meant?

Re: yWriter

Michelle_Mackenzie — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 07:01:29 -0800

I am loving the new features on your program. It does everything I need. Nice Job. x

Re: yWriter

Cbrentner — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:55:41 -0800

Actually I was thinking more of a pre-written set up where you open the file and there is a set number of chapters with scenes etc.

Re: yWriter

Angelic Disaster — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 20:42:10 -0800

I have a hint of obsessive-complusiveness-- "Unregistered version" at the top will drive me absolutely batty... but it's well worth it to register for all of the help it's been this year. I honestly don't think I could have done this project without it. ...I'm gonna have to wait until next week though, when I get paid. Nyeeeh. So worth it though. It might not be the "prettiest" program out there, but it absolutely perfect for my needs.

Re: yWriter

anab — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 01:36:31 -0800

I have now downloaded the newest version to make a problem dissapear and it has only partially dissapeared: the bars at the bottom, those telling me how many words I have typed, appear as black. So no word count there. After upgrading, it only happens when firing it up from the shortcut on the "Start" menu. This is windows 7. On ubuntu it is even worse, I can only fire it up from command line and then it is slow and slows down all other programs, and eventually collapses. But I will investigate that more after November if you are interested. For now I am sticking to the windows machine since that's the one where your program works... which is still awsome, thanks for writing and maintaining it! ... And excuse my blindness but where is the "typing speedo meter"? :)

Re: yWriter

Cbrentner — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 07:27:16 -0800

Have you tried running the program in Compatibility mode for XP? That's how I run my copy and I have Win 7 starter as my OS. That might help with some of your problems with the program.

Re: yWriter

Cbrentner — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 21:27:24 -0800

I finally did figure out the basic idea. I like being able to reuse the chapter/scene templates. I've taken to making a few up and saving them as text files that I can copy and paste as needed.

Re: yWriter

Cbrentner — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 21:59:23 -0800

How do you break an already written document up into separate chapters/scenes in Ywriter? I mean do you have to go through the manuscript from page one and put in special tags then import the text? I did find a note about chapter and * * * for chapters and scenes but is that still the case (assuming I read it right) or has it changed as the program has been updated? And do you just type in chapter and * * * where needed or are they supposed to be in brackets? I have the text for my 2009 nano and want to eventually re-write it and sort it out but want to make sure I understand the process properly before I start typing in chapter and scene breaks prior to importing it into YWriter.

Re: yWriter

anab — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 04:16:11 -0800

No - because I do not have XP, I have 7. I may try that compatibility mode if you explain how to do it, step by step. Thanks! I may wait to try anything new until December though - and tasks postponed for December are piling up ...

Re: yWriter

Cbrentner — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 06:42:22 -0800

It's pretty simple to open up compatibility mode. 1. Open the folder where your YWriter is located. 2. Right click on the YWriter program icon (in mine it's the icon just above the shortcut to the YWriter's webpage or if you prefer just below the dll files) 3. Choose properties 4. At this point you should see properties which will have tabs for general,compatibility, security, details and previous versions along the top edge. Click on the Compatibilities tab. 5. You will see a check box and a drop down menu box. Choose the drop down menu that says Windows XP and then check the box next to "Run this program in compatibility mode for." 6. Click apply and close YWriter's properties box. 7. You're done. Ywriter should now work on your windows 7 machine as if the computer were running Windows XP.

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 22:01:45 -0800

It's explained in the help file and the wiki (FAQ): http://sites.google.com/site/ywritersj/faq/importing-a-work-in-progress

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 22:03:50 -0800

I develop yWriter on Windows 7 64-bit, and I guarantee there is no need to run the program in compatibility mode as suggested below. Running on Ubuntu means you'll hit a bunch of Mono bugs. Until they sort those out I don't know that yWriter on Linux is useable. The speed meter is in the status bar at the bottom of the scene. Not sure why that would appear in black but I'll look into it.

Re: yWriter

VictoriaRF — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:39:22 -0800

HalSpacejock, you say you developed the software on 64-bit Windows 7. Will it work on 32-bit Windows XP? I'm having trouble finding details on the minimum specs your software requires. (I'm okay with needing to update my .NET framework.) My HP Pavilion laptop is at least 5 years old.

Re: yWriter

Liza.M — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:29:14 -0800

I have used it for mayor rewriting and revising, and it was VERY useful, I liked to print out all the lists and see the big picture, doc character sketches and the lot, it really helps getting thing organized... but I cannot actually write outside of word, just as I can only use one brand of notebooks, I just have to.

Re: yWriter

ellarien — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:17:23 -0800

I'm not HalSpaceJock, but I have the software running happily on a netbook with 32-bit XP (SP3), as well as on both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7.

Re: yWriter

anab — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:29:31 -0800

Thanks so much, HalSpacejock. And congratulations on having already gone beyond the objective of the 50,000 words. So, no Ubuntu for yWriter yet. Thanks for the info. Now I know what tree needs barking at :) Thanks for the speed meter again. Yes, saw it. Although I still prefer to type in LibreOffice - auto completion and automatic capitalisation of, for instance, every word after a full stop, save "so much" time. Another thing I dearly miss from yWriter is an "undo" function. And shortcuts. I miss not only Ctrl+Z, but things like Ctrl+N, for instance, to create a new scene, or Ctrl+S to save the whole project ... But those would be side improvements for an already super-useful program. Thanks!

Re: yWriter

VictoriaRF — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:03:55 -0800

Excellent, thank you! That's just the re-assurance I was looking for. :)

Re: yWriter

HalSpacejock — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:54:28 -0800

[quote=VictoriaRF] HalSpacejock, you say you developed the software on 64-bit Windows 7. Will it work on 32-bit Windows XP? I'm having trouble finding details on the minimum specs your software requires. (I'm okay with needing to update my .NET framework.) My HP Pavilion laptop is at least 5 years old. [/quote] It's developed on win 7 now, but I started development when I was still running Windows XP 32-bit. I'm using dotnet 2.0 which means it will even run on a fully-patched Windows 98 or Windows 2000.

Re: yWriter

Generalist — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:34:28 -0800

I'm looking to use it for editing what I've written. I hand write from a Phase Outline that is often modified as the characters develop. From what I've seen, yWriter should be able to help me with the corrections that I'll need to make regarding such things as characters, locations, artifacts, timing and the like. The one thing I could use would be some sort of time line, especially one that can keep track of events, characters and items in multiple time zones and multiple locations. I have a number of scenes where events are tight and people don't encounter each other because they minutes out of synch with each other. I can almost visualize it, with expansions where things are fast paced and contractions where things are slow. (i.e. A brawl expands things so that each unit of measure is a fraction of a second. At the same time, geological events may have units of measure that are in the millions of years.)

Re: yWriter

anab — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 05:55:32 -0800

Not with minutes out of sync but with days and months where different characters are in th e same place sometimes before they have meat each other, is what I have. I am naming each scene with time-related titles like, names of months, or even dates. That way I have, at a glance, which character (view point) is doing what at each moment of their lives. It works for me, at least.

Re: yWriter

Generalist — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 09:10:06 -0800

I've seen some stories that have date and time references in the chapter headings. It would be a way of doing things. You would have to come up with a reasonable naming convention to keep things sorted. Year, month, day and start time. There would be some problems if you have an event that lasts for eight hours and you are having other events intercepting it at the second, fourth and seventh hour.

Re: yWriter. word count

anab — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:48:46 -0800

Regarding word count. According to yWriter, I have written 52, 206 words So I proceeded to validate it in order to be considered a winner (yay). I exported the whole project as text only. 30.txt i opened it. select-all, copy pasted on the small window that appears when you click on "validate", or similar. bang Now nanowrimo thinks I have written 79,812 words. I think it is all those chapter titles and chapter synopsis etc ... Thanks all for all this help especially HalSpacejock - should probably thank all the developers of OpenOffice, LibreOffice and Ubuntu and Debian but they're unlikely to read these words. And of course the developers and maintainers of NaNoWriMo.

Re: yWriter. word count

HalSpacejock — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:51:55 -0800

[quote=anab] Regarding word count. According to yWriter, I have written 52, 206 words So I proceeded to validate it in order to be considered a winner (yay). I exported the whole project as text only. 30.txt i opened it. select-all, copy pasted on the small window that appears when you click on "validate", or similar. bang Now nanowrimo thinks I have written 79,812 words. I think it is all those chapter titles and chapter synopsis etc ... Thanks all for all this help especially HalSpacejock - should probably thank all the developers of OpenOffice, LibreOffice and Ubuntu and Debian but they're unlikely to read these words. And of course the developers and maintainers of NaNoWriMo. [/quote] Ah, when exporting you need to tick 'no' when it asks whether to include all the extra bits. Still, if you wrote it during November it still counts, right? I was trying to work out how to include my forum posts & emails in the count, but fortunately I didn't need them.

Re: yWriter. word count

anab — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 06:00:54 -0800

[quote=HalSpacejock] Ah, when exporting you need to tick 'no' when it asks whether to include all the extra bits. [/quote] Thanks! did that now. And I actually checked the words on the nano interface and took out empty chapter titles. [quote=HalSpacejock] Still, if you wrote it during November it still counts, right? [/quote] ERmn, no; those were chapters synopsis I had written during preparation. So I took everything out, left only chapter titles and content, still got 200 or words present. Thanks! Now the harder bit - finish the novel without the nanowrimo support and edit it. But will be done! Do you edit your novel with yWriter too?

Re: yWriter. word count

HalSpacejock — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:06:50 -0800

[quote=anab] Do you edit your novel with yWriter too? [/quote] Yes, definitely. That's the more important side of yWriter to me. I mark the scene status (outline, draft, etc.) and use the deadlines and work in progress report to keep myself on track.

Re: yWriter

quixotic_hope — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 06:25:07 -0800

I didn't use yWriter when I wrote my novel. It's funny - I thought my novel was so straight forward that I didn't need to break it down by scene or anything. Then in week two I ended up changing the whole thing to diary format. Boy, that scene breakup thing would be useful right now! I pulled the program back up last night, and all those aspects that I thought were too detailed for the first draft are absolutely perfect for revision! I can't believe I've been making a list by hand. yWriter breaks it all down for me! It's amazing! I almost couldn't sleep last night, I was so excited about editing. :)

Re: yWriter

Tolaura Bookchild — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:56:29 -0800

Speaking of revision. I wrote my 50k on google docs, the blank page is a good motivator for me, now I'm elbow deep in the revision. The scene break ups have been a godsend, I still can't believe the amount of times I wrote a section put in asterix and jumped ahead. Completed scenes get marked as draft, those filled with asterisks get marked outline. Whahahaha, order in the chaos.

Re: yWriter

Allison8 — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:21:27 -0800

So I just downloaded ywriter around the new year! Really like it! :D But I was wondering(Hope this isn't a stupid question!), how do you delete a bunch of the autobackups, if you want to conserve space? I'll probably be constantly copy-pasting new chapters to a Word doc for editing, and would like to know how to clear away some of the old backups. Thanks!

Re: yWriter

Allison8 — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:05:51 -0800

Never mind, I figured it out. :)

Re: yWriter

Debutstudios — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:47:05 -0800

I have, for years, just been making character notes and storyline ideas in notebooks...well aware of the software available but simply not really wanting to go through the effort. On a whim I downloaded yWriter...and it changed my writing life! After only a day of using it, I was already so motivated and organized (between the software and my discovery of the "Adopt-a" section of the forums) that I have my 1st book of my 1st story plotted out and the 2nd story well underway. I've completely fallen in love with yWriter, am actually considering developing something similar for character creation. This is a program I would have easily and happily paid for (donations are encouraged). If creator is reading, I would think perhaps adding an option to create an orginization/entity would rock. A church, business, supervillain group, etc. Thank you yWriter and NaNoWriMo for finally getting my ass motivated! Jim

Re: yWriter

anab — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:09:51 -0800

Is it worth trying installing it on LinuxMint? Or do you reckon it will run into too many bugs too? Thanks again

Re: yWriter

AlahraNadal — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:51:55 -0700

I just started using yWriter, and mostly it has seemed alright, but now it is stuck in some overtype setting. (That's what Word calls it anyway) When I go back and add something in before older text, it starts to delete the other text as I type the new stuff. And I am pretty sure it wasn't doing this before...Is there a way to change this setting? Thanks!

Re: yWriter

jtggodqos — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 06:16:54 -0700

that's an issue with your keyboard. press the "Insert" button on the keyboard. that should just about do it.

Re: yWriter

jtggodqos — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 06:17:48 -0700

"Insert" key is located typically above "Delete" and near the "Home", "End", "Page Up", and "Page Down" critters. they're all part of the same litter.

Re: yWriter

AlahraNadal — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:49:36 -0700

OH!!!! hahaha. Thanks!

Re: yWriter

Winona_DeLacy — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 20:39:32 -0700

I loved using ywriter, but I have just got a mac. I was wondering if there was a similar program available. Any one know of one?

Re: yWriter

rpow — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:12:27 -0700

You actually can install yWriter on a Mac using this guide on the yWriter wiki. It will require some use of the console.