[PUBLIC POST] Tools of the trade

[ljwrites]

What do you write with? What's your workflow like? Is there particular software that you like to use for certain purposes, or do you prefer writing in longhand and transcribing to a computer later on? Has technology affected your writing process in any way?

I have a mix of processes. Generally I like Scrivener for its ability to organize snippets of writing and to keep all my research in the same place, but its lack of mobile options means I use Evernote a lot when I'm away from my computers. I'm also fond of longhand writing when I'm in libraries and on public transport. This means I have a lot of scattered notes and bits in different places, all of which I swear I'm going to transcribe to my Scrivener project someday.

A major boon for research purposes is Zotero, a citations database program where I can organize my citations and take extensive notes, with search and tag functions available for later reference. Like Scrivener via Dropbox and Evernote it's all synchronized online, meaning it's automatically backed up and available on whatever machine I log into.

The availability of cloud and synchronization technology like Dropbox, Evernote, and Zotero made things easier in some ways and gave me peace of mind in the form of automatic backup, but I also have a lot of paper notes that are one careless placement or a house fire away from getting lost forever. Better get to it, I guess.

Comments

[dhampyresa]

I wrote a fic!

Hypothesis in scarlet (3765 words) by sevenofspade
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Wanda Maximoff, James "Bucky" Barnes
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie)
Summary: Don't bring a formerly brainwashed assassin to a mutant fight.

--

I mostly write on my computer, using FocusWriter (free). Until very recently, I used Zenwriter, having somehow gotten over two years worth of free trial (instead of two weeks). Zenwriter's fullscreen was better, but Focuswriter lets me keep several documents open at once and can be resized if needed, which is very useful.

I also sometimes write in Notepad (or similar). I always hardcode my HTML anyway.

On my phone I use Writer (also free), but it hasn't been working so good lately, I think I might have too many files in the folder? Idk.

For editing, I supposedly used yWriter5 (free) and now use yWriter6 (free too), but I am bad at editing and so have not gotten quite so much use out of them yet. I do like being able to say where scenes are and store those locations (+ important objects + what characters are in what scenes etc) outside of notes, though.

I've made extensive use of the "convert to format" option in Calibre (free) to turn projects into epubs with chapter formating so I can read them as "books" and not "that shitty draft I spend a year banging out".

APPARENTLY I AM HELLA CHEAP (also I have four different wordcount tracking spreadsheets, lmao)

[ljwrites]

Yay fic!!!

You may be cheap, but you sure are effective at it lol. I don't use minimal or note apps anymore except to save snippets of writing, but I did use plaintext editors for years to write fics and those all look like neat options.

I think you might be right about the problem with Writer, lightweight text editors could get overburdened if you have too many files. Or maybe your phone's performance in general is compromised, or maybe it's a memory problem.

yWriter looks really interesting, if I used Windows at home I would totally give it a test drive. *sadface*

I used Calibre for my own e-book reading and conversion needs, it never occurred to me to use it for my own projects! Awesome idea!

[dhampyresa]

I know me, and there's a risk that the more fancy the writing program, the more time I'll lose messing with all the fancy functions.

yWriter pretty useful in that the import function is super easy to sue and if you follow the conventions, it will even divide your text into scenes and chpaters on its own! And when you export it, it's got every new chapter beginning on a new page. Then off to calibre I go and zoom, here I have a an ebook version of my project!

Having it be a "book" is super helpful to see things different, with the format switch.

[ljwrites]

I love messing with fancy functions, too. It's a weakness of mine. The more I look at it the more yWriter seems like a lighter version of Scrivener, and it has some neat story tracking tools too. I plan to glance through it when I have a little more time.

I'm also getting an ebook reader once I've put this thesis to bed (knock on wood), and it'll be an absolute pleasure to load my own manuscript to it for reading! #goals

[dhampyresa]

I think it got recced to me as a non-Mac alternative for Scrivener, actually. It's got some nifty stuff -- for ex you can store descriptions of characters in separate files and look those up as needed.

EREADERS ARE AMAZING. And having your own novel on it really helps it feel like AN ACTUAL BOOK OMG.

[tblspoon]

You're not alone in your freebie habit. I've also tried most of the programs you have mentioned.

Thanks for the info about Calibre. I haven't tried that one yet.

Off to check out fic.

[dhampyresa]

What other programs have you tried?

I find it very useful, especially when it comes to having ebooks on both an ereader and a phone at once.

I hope you like it!

[tblspoon]

In the past I've tried to plot with--
Plume Creator</>
Storybook
Tiddlywiki
There's probably more, but those are the ones I can still remember.

The programs that have the lasted the longest with me are LibreOffice, FocusWriter, and yWriter.

[dhampyresa]

How did you find those? Especially Tiddlywiki.

[tblspoon]

More likely than not from the NaNoWriMo forum. Under various names, I've been a visitor to the site for over 5 years. Haven't won yet, but I do pay attention to the (free) writing tech people share.

[dhampyresa]

Sorry, I meant: what are their upsides/downsides for you?

[tblspoon]

Opps, sorry for misreading that. Plume Creator and Storybook lasted maybe a week for me. They just weren't what I was looking for. I remember their names more than my experience.
Tiddlywiki, I found helpful at organizing info- scene descriptions, item descriptions, major and minor characters. While looking though other tiddlywikis, I saw someone who used it for a choose-your-own-adventure type novel.

Con-I remember spending too much time playing with how it looked and worked. Currently, I have the program deleted for the 3rd time. By the end of the weekend, I will be on 4th try with it.

[dhampyresa]

I could have been clearer, sorry!

Thank you for the explanation. Does tiddlywiki work offline? I can't seem to find a definite answer either way.

[tblspoon]

It's almost like saving a .htm file to your computer, except you need to have the browser open to make changes. Internet connection is only required to download the needed add-on(depending on browser) and the file.

[dhampyresa]

Thank you.