What software do you write your Trek novels in?
- Thread starter wizkid
- Start date
Notepad. 
I'm not a ST author, but I write by trade, using Word, and InDesign if I need to get graphic. I am working on a novel in Word.
I used Wordperfect for years, and still believe it's a better program. But it just got easier to use Word and communicate with others. Glad they got rid of that damn talking paperclip at least, though the whole .docx thing is supremely annoying.
I'm not a ST author, but I write by trade, using Word, and InDesign if I need to get graphic. I am working on a novel in Word.
I used Wordperfect for years, and still believe it's a better program. But it just got easier to use Word and communicate with others. Glad they got rid of that damn talking paperclip at least, though the whole .docx thing is supremely annoying.
I have OpenOffice on my netbook, but the keyboard on that is too small for me to use if I have to type something up fast. That's mostly an "I've got all the time in the world to write this" machine. I am far too accustomed to correcting found typos as I type, and I just make too many typos with the small keys on that thing.
Mac user here, and pretty much a slave to Word for writing. I tend to follow the school of using what your editors use.
Mac user here, and pretty much a slave to Word for writing. I tend to follow the school of using what your editors use.
^ I also have OpenOffice on a netbook, but I generally only use it when I'm traveling, or if I know I'll be somewhere with time to kill and I'm feeling the writing bug. Otherwise, I use Word on my "everyday laptop."
I also write all my first drafts on an Alphasmart Neo. After the draft is done, I upload it to my PC and revise in Word. Edits are done on a hardcopy with a red pen, then revisions are made in Word. Pretty straightforward.
What's OpenOffice like? I've heard of it and given some thought to trying it, but I'm not sure I have a reason to.
As someone has it and uses it a lot for my homebrew Trek RPG (as my laptop didn't come with Office and money's too tight to buy it at the mo'), it's fairly comparable with a minimal learning curve if you've used nothing but Word or WP all your life. One thing you may want to adjust one you load it up (just personal preference) is that it has an auto-complete feature that automatically finishes a word typed elsewhere in the document on the assumption you're typing the same word again. This feature is active by default, and can get annoying if you type multiple variations of the same word.
@ Christopher:
I have used it and it worked pretty well for me, but to be honest I'm not sure what exactly your demands for a writing program are as a professional writer, so I can't really comment if it would be a good choice for you. It's for free though, so why not just download it and try it out yourself?
I have used it and it worked pretty well for me, but to be honest I'm not sure what exactly your demands for a writing program are as a professional writer, so I can't really comment if it would be a good choice for you. It's for free though, so why not just download it and try it out yourself?
OpenOffice works well enough, though I've often just used the Microsoft Works app that comes with the netbook, and converted the file back to Word once I've returned home traveling or whatever.
OpenOffice is virtually indistinguishable from Microsoft Works, is less prone to crash unexpectedly and it's free. I have it on all my computers (home desktop, laptop, job workstation). I really can't see a reason for using MS Works over it, except for business-related reasons (e.g. you have to use MS proprietary file extensions).
It's pretty similar to the older versions of MS Word (prior to Office 2007) in its user interface. By default it saves files in the open odt-format, but you can choose to save files in the .doc-format, too. It can read all other commonly used file types, too. You can also convert your files into pdf files by just one click.
Well, the comparisons to MS Word and Works aren't helpful to me, since I don't use either of those. I generally avoid Microsoft programs when I can, except for Windows, since Macs are too expensive.
Well, it can at least read Word Perfect documents. It's free, so you can see for yourself how it compares to Word Perfect. Having never used the latter, I can't comment on this aspect.
I did enough writing to appreciate that. I have a theory that seeing words on paper more closely approximates the experience readers have with books.
Probably just a bunch of nonsense, but I'm convinced that the publication medium affects how we react to what we read.
Christopher, like others, I don't have the money to spend on MS Office 2007 and I find that OpenOffice works just fine. It does what it says on the tin basically and since it's free and does everything that MS Word does, I see no reason to shell out the money for the latter. It's far more stable than anything MS has written, and it comes from Sun Microsystems, the people behind Java (for all the games and stuff).
It's free. Give it a go. If you don't like it, delete it. No harm no foul.
It's free. Give it a go. If you don't like it, delete it. No harm no foul.
I use MS Word to write my fanfictions and scripts. Still looking for a script program though, but they aren't in any of the stores I've been to. Oh well, I'm still trying my best with what I got anyways.
For fiction, absolutely.
But if part of the original question involves formatting, there's some fascinating software out there for screenplays, teleplays and stage plays which saves hours of typing time.
For fiction I frequently, regrettably, use Word. I really don't like supporting Microsoft in any way, but it is sometimes a necessary evil.
--Ted
I was hoping people had used LaTeX, but that's just the nerd in me.
:: put up hand ::
I'm a 99% LaTeX person, even the report I'm currently writing is done in .tex, it's just so much easier with citation and such, and no worries about formatting. And I like working with different files for different sections, it's so much easier to go to the tab with glossary.tex file to add in another term than scroll down to the bottom of the file to do that, and then find where you were in the main document to continue writing.
Then again, I'm not a fiction write, all my publications are in sci/tech conferences and journals, and I'm a nerd, it's my job description.
The BBC has a free screenplay template called ScriptSmart for MS Word.
As for the software I use, Notepad, MS Word, or Open Office. It really depends on what I'm doing and what my needs are for that particular project. I also do a fair bit of composition with pen and paper; the slower speed of composition forces me to engage with the words differently than if I'm composing on a screen. (I should note that my day job is as a writer, and what I've said about composition doesn't apply there; I simply don't have the time to do anything but compose on the screen, because I often turn out four to six thousand words a day, though sometimes I reach into the five digits.)
As for fonts, Palatino Linotype 11 point. I will not use Times New Roman, which I find ugly beyond belief. (Times New Roman does not offend me to the extent that Comic Sans does; Comic Sans is a crime against humanity. Times New Roman still offends me, but it's not an atrocity.) If I can't use Palatino, I will use Caslon. I try to avoid sans-serif fonts whenever possible.
