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Doctor Nutt posted:Haven't posted in CC for a long time; hopefully it's okay for me to ask a quick question in this thread. I have been writing for the first time in years (feels so good), but one of my friends gently mocked me for still using Microsoft Word. Is there a better software out there for specifically short fiction/novel writing? flex on them by using Notepad EDIT: I actually mostly use Notepad++ Megazver fucked around with this message at 15:44 on Jul 24, 2021 |
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Jul 24, 2021 15:35
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I think the first thing to note is that you should use what works for you and is comfortable. Don't add friction to a process that you're already doing with your free time. If that's Word, then who gives a poo poo! You're the one actually doing the writing. For me though I've been writing using Markdown editors and it works for me (Typora is pretty cool on PC, and Markor lets me do edits on my phone) but I'm also a software dev and write MD all the time.
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Jul 24, 2021 15:36
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I use Libre Office because I'm not paying a sub for the new MS Word and all of its shittiness. I don't trust Google so I'm not using Docs anymore.
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Jul 24, 2021 15:36
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General Battuta posted:Whatever works for you is the right pick, but Scrivener is what I use. I'm also using Scrivener lately for the actual writing part, mostly because I find the organizational features for scenes/chapters/etc, moving them around, searching through them, and marking how far along in the process they are fairly useful. At one point I was using Google Docs but over 20k words or so it slows to a crawl for me. I don't particularly like Scrivener's feature set for managing information (character notes and references and so on) so I also run a local Wiki (using MoinMoin because it's easy to modify and I'm comfortable with Python) for that part.
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Jul 24, 2021 15:43
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General Battuta posted:Whatever works for you is the right pick, but Scrivener is what I use.
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Jul 24, 2021 16:02
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I'm using Scrivener right now and the ability to split-panel your actual WIP and draft chapters in separate windows is really nice, as is the project and session target progress bars
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Jul 24, 2021 16:07
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Megazver posted:flex on them by using Notepad "Oh, you don't find Notepad useful? Have you considered toggling word wrap?"  Thanks for all the great feedback, folks. I need to have a lot of tools at my disposal because I'm so scattered, but Scrivener definitely sounds like what I should be looking into based on the fact that I need the most help with editing tools. And at this point I find Word more frustrating than not when trying to go back and edit poo poo. I've had writer's block for oh about fifteen years and now its a flood and I have energy to do more than shitpost, so I'm pretty excited to get back to the work. Thanks again goons.
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Jul 24, 2021 16:50
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If you have energy to write, don't waste time doing all the slow lovely Scrivener tutorials. Left bar organizes your documents and gathers them into folders/whatever, center window can be split in two (or more) so you can look at your draft in one pane and reference material/whatever in the other.
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Jul 24, 2021 17:07
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I use Google docs. It’s easy enough to organize folders and obviously access on different machines. Sometimes I’m away from home and have a great idea how to fix a sentence and just pull it up on my phone. I write mostly short fiction though. I did a writing workshop recently and a few people used Word, it’s not that weird.
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Jul 24, 2021 17:57
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General Battuta posted:If you have energy to write, don't waste time doing all the slow lovely Scrivener tutorials. Left bar organizes your documents and gathers them into folders/whatever, center window can be split in two (or more) so you can look at your draft in one pane and reference material/whatever in the other. Thanks for the tips as I was about to do that lol. Also I would just like to note how one of my favorite writers is actually giving me advice and it's a bit of  moment for me. Thanks again.ultrachrist posted:I use Google docs. It’s easy enough to organize folders and obviously access on different machines. Sometimes I’m away from home and have a great idea how to fix a sentence and just pull it up on my phone. I write mostly short fiction though. Google docs is great for the silly D&D stories I'm sharing with my weekly groups but honestly don't really like using it other than for group editing, just not my thing. But thanks for the advice, all of the tools I can have at my disposal are pretty useful.
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Jul 24, 2021 18:33
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I've written some longer stuff in Google Docs before and after a certain point (once I'd get around 50k words) it started to chug on some platforms. Mobile wasn't too bad, but on my desktop or laptop it would take a while to load in and stutter if I tried to scroll too fast. My 4ish year old chromebook would barely be able to load or scroll through it at all. I just use Scrivener now, especially since the new version finally came out for Windows (and it finally has a dark mode).
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Jul 24, 2021 18:45
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I like writing in Google Docs for convenience's sake (I always have an internet browser open anyway instead of waiting for the 5 seconds of time for MS Word to load). Also the security of it being in the cloud in case something happens to my laptop, and version control/previous drafts are easy to label and access. However, I've found moving to Scrivener for the revision stage really helps my brain shift gears from wordvomit mode to editing, as I have to now sort through my piles of words and put them into a more sensical order. So I think that will be my process from now on.
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Jul 24, 2021 19:30
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I wrote the first draft of my novel in Word but I kept emailing it to myself so I'd have a backup. I did the third and fourth drafts in Google Docs which was much more convenient for getting beta reader feedback and for editing from anywhere.
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Jul 24, 2021 20:14
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Ccs posted:I wrote the first draft of my novel in Word but I kept emailing it to myself so I'd have a backup. I did the third and fourth drafts in Google Docs which was much more convenient for getting beta reader feedback and for editing from anywhere. Yeah, seems like the go to use for Google docs would be virtual workshopping/critiquing, but I am liking what I see in Scrivener and it seems like the go to for organizing longer works which is exactly what I was looking for (also hopefully not the loving formatting nightmare that is MS Word imo). v Definitely not anywhere near that yet, but it's a problem I'd certainly like to avoid in the future. v Professor Beetus fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Jul 24, 2021 |
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Jul 24, 2021 20:58
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Gdocs can't handle very large docs well at all, I was reading a goons novel draft and had to put it into epub to make it work
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Jul 24, 2021 22:06
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sebmojo posted:Gdocs can't handle very large docs well at all, I was reading a goons novel draft and had to put it into epub to make it work Yes, Gdocs slows down for me substantially right around the 80,000 word mark, especially when the doc contains a lot of comments and I want to scroll through them and/or respond. Up until then, it’s great.
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Jul 24, 2021 23:30
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I use a copy of Office 2007 to write stuff in, then paste it into Google Docs for sharing. I knew a professor at college in tyool 2013 who couldn't accept essays as .docx files because he used Microsoft Works.
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Jul 25, 2021 05:46
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Throwing yWriter into the mix here: http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter.html The Mac version is still in alpha but the Windows versions have been kicking around for a long time. It's fairly intuitive to use.
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Jul 25, 2021 13:11
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Think Scrivener is the right one for me after messing around with it for a couple days, but tbh I'm still kind of sitting here chuckling about someone insisting on using MS Works in TYOOL 2021. E: Oh it was 2013 but still funny as hell tbh.
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Jul 25, 2021 22:42
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Think of it as notepad+-
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Jul 26, 2021 00:59
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I posted a small guide on how to get your Scrivener manuscript ready for ebook format. https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3639693&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=167#post516483224. It would have added an extra few steps if I hadn't used Scrivener as my writing tool.
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Jul 27, 2021 03:22
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I just wanted to share with you that some weeks ago I completed the first draft of my first novel. Yeah, I am still editing it and furiously taking notes from the threads here in CC about writing and self-publishing before pushing it out on the web. Unfortunately most of you will be probably able to read it in a few years because it's written in Italian and I am not immediately looking to have it translated into English right now (but I still can give you a copy when I put it on KDP or Apple if you hit me up in DMs if you want to read it in Italian). What I wanted to say is this: I loved the thrill of writing the novel, making a synopsis, putting each single letter one by one to form complete words and sentences, and cutting stuff that would just refuse to work, blowing up the whole story, piecing it up again and I love how the whole came out but mostly important that "it's a story that exists now and with characters I care about".
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Aug 18, 2021 21:00
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limaCAT posted:I love how the whole came out but mostly important that "it's a story that exists now and with characters I care about". Congrats!!! Getting to the end of that first book is such a great feeling, it's definitely worth celebrating. See you over in the self-publishing thread when you're ready. 
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Aug 20, 2021 03:38
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My scenes are too long. My chapters are too long. My manuscript is too long. Help. How do I structure scenes so I can get in and get out quickly???
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Aug 20, 2021 23:44
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Stop spending so much money on candles
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Aug 20, 2021 23:47
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No
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Aug 20, 2021 23:49
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Maybe go through a few problem scenes and literally chop them in the middle, see what problems that causes, then solve those problems as efficiently as you can. Be crudely drastic and see what happens.
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Aug 20, 2021 23:50
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General Battuta posted:My scenes are too long. My chapters are too long. My manuscript is too long. Help. How do I structure scenes so I can get in and get out quickly??? End every scene with one character dying until they are all dead. Alternately, sometimes when I want to shorten a scene with big chunks of dialogue, I'll see what I can summarize and shrink that back via telling, which pulls double-duty by emphasizing the importance of what stays in-scene. Some people are extremely opposed to this and want everything in-scene, but alas, I am a sicko, and perhaps you can be, too.
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Aug 20, 2021 23:58
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Nae posted:End every scene with one character dying until they are all dead. Begin every chapter with an explosion unrelated to the previous deaths.
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Aug 21, 2021 00:12
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An mysteriously endless line of doors, through which men walk with guns. What is behind this mystery? A door, through which will walk a man with a gun.
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Aug 21, 2021 00:22
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Write a 1000 word story that contains every key plot point from the bok
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Aug 21, 2021 00:25
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sebmojo posted:Write a 1000 word story that contains every key plot point from the bok Write the Wikipedia article summarizing the book.
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Aug 21, 2021 00:25
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Actually, I should do that.
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Aug 21, 2021 00:36
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General Battuta posted:Actually, I should do that. general battutas new novel, 'baru cormorant and the endless series of unrelated explosions' is storming up the charts, we cross live to him now
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Aug 21, 2021 01:04
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sebmojo posted:general battutas new novel, 'baru cormorant and the endless series of unrelated explosions' is storming up the charts, we cross live to him now i “One explosion was cool, but I thought why not up the ante and make one explosion per scene? And make a character that the reader has learned to love die in each scene. Really make it hurt you know?”
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Aug 21, 2021 02:55
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sebmojo posted:general battutas new novel, 'baru cormorant and the endless series of unrelated explosions' is storming up the charts, we cross live to him now preordered
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Aug 21, 2021 09:38
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General Battuta posted:My scenes are too long. My chapters are too long. My manuscript is too long. Help. How do I structure scenes so I can get in and get out quickly??? Writing a summary of your novel isn't really going to help you on the scene level I wouldn't think. Figuring out how to cut things down is going to depend on why your scenes are so long. Are you trying to serve too many purposes with a single scene? Are you getting bogged down in details? Do your conversations peter out instead of ramping up? Are there entire scenes in there the story can live without? For getting in late I look for various things right at the beginning of the scene that help me organize what's going on in my head as a writer when I'm outlining but are entirely unnecessary on the page. There's two broad categories of poo poo I find myself aggressively cutting when I sit down to actually write the scene. One is repeated information: There's a lot of informational book-keeping that happens between people. If something exciting happens to Joe and I want Sally to react to it Joe has to tell Sally all about it first, but there's usually no reason for that to happen on the page. If my characters are explaining things to each other that the reader already knows or can figure out for themselves, it goes in the bin. The other is unnecessary context: We don't need to know how Joe got to Sally's house, got out of his car, locked it, rang the doorbell, waited for her to answer. Unless something extremely compelling is occurring in Joe's head that I can't communicate while something more interesting is going on, no one needs to read it. If I want Sally to open the door in a negligee my first inclination might be to start the scene there, but I can just as easily start the scene in the middle of their conversation with Sally yelling at Joe for being a loving idiot while she's half naked and let the reader fill in the blanks. One of these things is more interesting than the other. Sometimes I notice a scene dragging in the middle, which is an excellent sign that the scene is poorly considered or it has gone on too long. When that happens, I either cut the first half out and start after the boring poo poo in the middle, or I split it in two with the middle bit cut out. For getting out early I usually just look for places where the scene is no longer escalating. If I find one I cut back to the peak and put a bow on it.
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Aug 21, 2021 13:39
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General Battuta posted:My scenes are too long. My chapters are too long. My manuscript is too long. Help. How do I structure scenes so I can get in and get out quickly??? have u tried being good and not being bad
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Aug 21, 2021 14:08
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Aug 21, 2021 14:09
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General Battuta posted:My scenes are too long. My chapters are too long. My manuscript is too long. Help. How do I structure scenes so I can get in and get out quickly??? Reverse outline the thing, this is specifically what the technique is meant for
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Aug 21, 2021 16:54
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