If any Mac users haven't checked out the Special Offers from NaNo Sponsors, you really should because Scrivener has become a sponsor and has a great deal for us! Scrivener is an AWESOME novel writing program that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE. You can split up your chapters and/or scenes any way you choose, you can add research within the nav on the left, keep track of your characters, your plot - basically, its a one stop shop for all your first draft needs, and beyond if you choose. Also, its good for term papers, book reports, scripts... its made of WIN.
Even better, this year they've given us NaNoers some discounts! If you follow the link below, it will lead you to a trial download for NaNoers. Unlike the normal trial, it doesn't end in 30 days, but a week after December, and it starts as soon as you download it, so you play with it and feel it out to see if this is really the novel writing program you want. After NaNoWriMo, if you win you and you want to keep Scrivener forever and every, you can get buy it for 50% off, which means you'll get it for less than $20. If you don't win, don't sweat, because any NaNoWriMo participant can get it for 20% off with the coupon code NaNoWriMo.
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/nanowrimo.html
If you'd love to test out a program that make it easy to keep track of all your work without having to switch from post its to textedit to Pages or any other doc then Scrivener is something you should really look into.
Unfortunately there isn't currently a compatible version for Linux or Windows users, but I've heard good things about Ywriter. I suggest looking at the thread for Scrivener, a lot of people have made suggestions about programs like Scrivener for Windows. Also, the first post gives more details on why Mac users should try out Scrivener.
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3263767
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17,389 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2009 - 12 59
I wish I had a Mac =(
For Windows users:
Liquid Story Binder is great for writing. It works really well, and I'm really glad I bought it. It's an awesome software.
There's FreeMind for mind-mapping and getting your ideas out.
There's also Writer's Cafe for storyboarding, plotmapping, and the like.
I really recommend these softwares. I spent last October in a huge software hunt, and I finally found these. Liquid Story Binder is the only one you have to pay for, and in my opinion, it is totally worth it.
----------Novel Title: Children of the Moon
Main Characters: Tala and Jareth Thorvald-Sawoldreor
Subject: werewolves, vampires, the whole nine yards
Nano '08 - Wolf Song: WON! 50008/50000
Nano '09 - Children of the Moon: 0/50000
17,389 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2009 - 12 59
Ah, sorry, accidental double-post, ignore that.
----------Novel Title: Children of the Moon
Main Characters: Tala and Jareth Thorvald-Sawoldreor
Subject: werewolves, vampires, the whole nine yards
Nano '08 - Wolf Song: WON! 50008/50000
Nano '09 - Children of the Moon: 0/50000
15,696 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2009 - 17 07
I definitely second Free Mind. It's love for plotting especially.
Though I found so many things in LSB too distracting. Give me too many things I can do and I'll spend most of my time fiddling with it all instead of writing. Personally? I use Rough Draft (http://www.salsbury.f2s.com/) for my actual writing, and then Word for editing as I like the comment feature.
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~Jami~
Unless absolutely necessary, make characters talk at cross-purposes. How many of us actually listen to other people? We don't. We're always thinking about what to say next, when they shut up.
45,368 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 19 52
I'm loving this Scrivener - once again so glad I bought a Mac a couple of months ago. After NaNo I am definitely going to use the discount for winners and buy the program.
The index cards to put bullets about the proposed story in that chapter is awesome. Having the research area is great for developing the characters and finding those little technical facts.
Although the word count in Scrivener and the one in the NaNo counter are off by about 40 words. NaNo is either shorting me or Scrivener can't count. The more I think I have the greater the discrepancy gets. Yesterday it was only off by about 22 words. At this rate it will be a couple of hundred off and I'll have to plan for that as I'm writing if I end up getting close to the wire.
Any experience with this?
62,860 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 09 53
For PC, without question, having used and tried the ones already listed:
yWriter 5. http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter.html
Insanely awesome, and best of all, totally free.
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Resistance is futile. Prepare to be huggled.
<( ~_~ )>
50,000 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 11 59
I haven't found that problem. In fact, Scrivener, a word count widget I downloaded for the Mac Dashboard, and NaNo are all exactly the same. It could be because hyphenated words are counted differently, though I haven't tested it or had a reason to. I know my dashboard widget had to be re calibrated to count all the words, not just those with more than two letters. Its odd I'm getting the exact counts but you aren't - maybe go to http://www.literatureandlatte.com/forum to ask if the developers have encountered this discrepancy before.
NaNo does recognize different doc programs count words differently, so you aren't the only one who has to aim for a higher number of words in their program for the NaNo validator to find 50K or more.
----------35,052 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 06 48
I downloaded yWriter aand I iz confused. Setting it up, or trying to (so far unsuccessful) is eating time. Is it worth the bother of trying to figure it out and import what I've already written, then split it all out into chaps & scenes? I'm still under 10K (though I won't be after today!)
15,696 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 06 51
Honestly? I used ywriter before, and for straight out writing it was too many bells and whistles. Personally? I write in Rough Draft, (because the note pad on the side is VERY useful for leaving notes ie: "Fix this later" or "Scene skip 1-This needs to happen here" type notes, and they don't get counted into the word count that way) and then things like ywriter are better for organizing to edit.
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~Jami~
Unless absolutely necessary, make characters talk at cross-purposes. How many of us actually listen to other people? We don't. We're always thinking about what to say next, when they shut up.
28,140 / 50,000
Nov 10, 2009 - 22 17
I feel like such a dork... I've always just written in Word -- these other programs sound neat. Who knew?
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"Rat-a-tat-tat...my keyboard's where I'm at."
17,389 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2009 - 13 10
Yeah, I write most of my stuff in Word anyway, but I use my Neo a lot as well. LSB is nice for storing character basic info and such, but it can get a little distracting. There's nothing to be ashamed of about using Word - it's a great program, especially for editing. Some of the other writing programs can be too complex, and it's nice to have all of it in one place.
----------Novel Title: Children of the Moon
Main Characters: Tala and Jareth Thorvald-Sawoldreor
Subject: werewolves, vampires, the whole nine yards
Nano '08 - Wolf Song: WON! 50008/50000
Nano '09 - Children of the Moon: 0/50000