Hi all! :)
I know plenty of people will probably be using some version of Word or a basic word processor for their novels, but I just wanted to suggest the program Scrivener which is under the Fun Stuff> Special Offers section. I saw, I loved it, I wanted it.
However, I dont own a Mac unfortunately, but I found a good comparable Windows-compatible program: PageFour. Theres a free trial version, which isnt limited by time, merely the number of "Notebooks" you can have.
If you write anything like me, youve got notes all over the place, lots of word documents for storyline ideas etc. I often get an ending for my current work, half way through and its so annoying having to write it down in a different place. Basically both programs offer the ability to keep all of your notes, writings etc within a binder like system down the side, and you can flick between them without having to open up a new program, document etc.
Anyhoo, I hope that helps someone. Its not confusing to learn, and the word processing is really easy and simple to use.
I also quite liked the idea of having a new and specific program for my writings.
Happy writings!
-e-
----------
~~
Im a photographer, not a novelist... what have I let myself in for?!
~~
92,406 / 50,000
Okt 22, 2009 - 21 19
I'll be sticking to Ywriter 5 this year.
Written by one of our Perth NaNo people and completely free for life.
It is a fantastic program where you can keep character notes, scene notes, move scenes about and keep instant track of word counts.
I love this program !
http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html
----------Location : Somewhere on the far side of crazy, past the dark side of the moon, and on my way to becoming comfortably numb.
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31,821 / 50,000
Okt 22, 2009 - 21 52
I'll be sticking to Ywriter 5 this year.
Written by one of our Perth NaNo people and completely free for life.
It is a fantastic program where you can keep character notes, scene notes, move scenes about and keep instant track of word counts.
I love this program !
http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html
Thanks for including that Kosmos! Im off to have a look now.
See you learn something new every day. :)
Awesome that a Perth NaNo member is able to produce something so helpful.
-e-
----------~~
Im a photographer, not a novelist... what have I let myself in for?!
~~
47,229 / 50,000
Okt 23, 2009 - 00 52
Will probably be using yWriter5 and WordPad. Not using Word this year, mostly because I ended up with too many little .rtf documents and yWriter was easiest to put them all into. So we'll be using that.
----------R.I.P. GeoCities
NaNo 2009
Title: Moonlighting
Genre: Steampunk-ish fanfic AU
Fandom: The Chaser RPS
Setting: AU!Birmingham, UK circa 1822
Current Mood: procrastinating horribly
22,600 / 50,000
Okt 23, 2009 - 06 53
yWriter rocks. Go Simon, for developing it, then turning it loose in the world for us to use.
920 / 50,000
Okt 23, 2009 - 14 35
I ususally just use the OpenOffice Word equivalent (or Word, depending on which computer I'm using) and a spreadsheet to keep track of notes and characters and where characters are.
I'll give yWriter 5 a go though, sounds like it is pretty good.
----------When words writing one important order is the is.
30,256 / 50,000
Okt 23, 2009 - 21 40
Thanks for posting this erinna, I'm going to download the Scrivener trial and hopefully I'll win NaNo and be able to buy it extra cheap as an early Christmas present for myself! I wish I'd had something like this or yWriter when I was writing my thesis; it would have made things so much easier!
----------81,329 / 50,000
Okt 27, 2009 - 04 55
I have a question, for anyone kind enough to read this and respond. I'm trying to give myself a crash course in driving yWriter, and I've made good headway tonight, but I just want to know . . . um . . . where do I type the text of my story when Nov 1 clicks over? Is it in the Scene dialogue boxy-thing?
I've got the hang of new chapters and scenes, and the character sheets and some of the dinky little features. I am liking it, and cannot believe how much easier it's made the whole outlining process! But I don't want to get to Sunday and have a fight with software on my hands.
Also, is there any way that I can synthesise all that outline information (Chapters and their sub-scenes, including all the notes and synopses and maybe character sheets) into a single printable document? Because I think that I should be printing that, in case my puter dies halfway through Nov. This is a distinct possibility, and I would have a complete meltdown.
NaNo has become my reason for getting up in the morning.
Is this bad?
\m/ Kat
----------Banner thanks to AmaiRose
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63,728 / 50,000
Okt 27, 2009 - 06 24
I'm using word 2007 this year. Been using Word since forever and it's what I know.
----------2005, 2006, 2007 - WON
2008 - FAILED
2009 § The Sidereal Rose
http://thesiderealrose.blogspot.com/
39,050 / 50,000
Okt 27, 2009 - 08 03
me too but i'm not really one too have lots of notes laying around, and if i do i generally have a notebook to jot things down on (like a real one) :D
----------~ Leasie
It's okay Pluto ~ I'm not a planet either
53,906 / 50,000
Okt 27, 2009 - 18 58
I just got the desktop thing of write or die. http://writeordie.drwicked.com/
it's more a hmm i'm stuck i need to write so many words fast thing - you set a word goal and a time limit and if you stop typing you can set it so it starts deleting your work! it's important to remember to keep saving as you go ovbiously, but its good an i've been using it to boost some character planning i'm doing - which is turning out nicely.
But otherwise i think bean ( http://www.bean-osx.com/Bean.html ) is a cool program, and macjournal cos you can page it full screen and just have your whole lappy screen white and just put lovely lovely words on it without getting looking at toolbars or anything - purely cosmetic but getting into the right mood sure does help.
----------- Ness -
64,917 / 50,000
Okt 27, 2009 - 19 51
I think write or die scares me too much - I pause way too often while writing lol
Anything Mac is great for me, so I'll be looking at that macjournal when I get home tonight. So far I've just been writing notes in the basic textpad, and was going to move to Pages (mac version of Word) when Nov 1 hit lol but something more organized would be perfect since I lack those skills and end up surrounded by notebooks most of the time :)
53,299 / 50,000
Okt 27, 2009 - 23 10
Thanks for the tip, erinna! I am quite loving 'Page Four', not least because it runs sooo much quicker than MS Word (I love Word, but it's getting cumbersome). The only thing I'm not sure about is that it seems to save all the work into the programme itself? I know you can export files, but I don't want to have to do that every time I do a back up (which can be every ~200 words sometimes...), and I'm scared of losing the whole programme. Hmm...
Amy
----------Nanowrimo. There is no substitute for quantity.
18,424 / 50,000
Okt 30, 2009 - 02 50
I totally agree, it's amazing! One of my friends discovered it early this year, and since then... I'm an organising freak, and it helps :)
----------Thankyou :D
How would you like to orbit around a Giant Red Bucket?
0 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 03 44
I was using yWriter at the write-in yesterday, saved it all correctly but now I've gone back in and my work is gone. Anyone got any ideas?
----------Beware - I send random private messages =D
81,329 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 05 10
Have you tried finding the rtf files in your My Documents?
Beyond that, I got nothin . . . :( I'm so sorry to hear that.
\m/ Kat
----------Banner thanks to AmaiRose
Sources:
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http://rabidwire-stock.deviantart.com/art/Roadie-21-8456620
53,906 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 05 15
dear god i hope you find it! checked your trashes ? i dont know windows too well but im sure it's hidden in there somewhere!
----------- Ness -
92,406 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 07 11
Has it opened a different project by mistake? Have you gone to look for your project by searching your entire computer for the file name you gave it?
*hug*
----------Location : Somewhere on the far side of crazy, past the dark side of the moon, and on my way to becoming comfortably numb.
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0 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 16 09
I found it! -sighs with relief-
----------For some reason there was two copies saved, one hiding in another file and one out in the open. Guess which one I had been opening, and which one had the word count?
Beware - I send random private messages =D