good writing app?

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Hi!

I have been looking for good software to write a novel on. I usually work on short fiction and have been making do with Word. Word isn't going to cut it for long book with various characters and chapters. I also need to organize my ideas as they come and go.



In short, i need a simple but fairly thorough app on on which to layout, organize, and write a long book.



I have looked into Copywrite and Z-Write and they are both ok but have limitations that keep me from committing to them.



Thanks in advance for all your help.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    I do not have pages but according to the MacWorld First Look (by Rob G over at Macosxhints.com) pages will not let you delete a page. For that reason, it may not be the best for the type of work described.



    I personally still like word is your best bet if just use different files and name them accordingly. I know it isn't perfect but Word is a powerful program; you can do a lot.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    hobbeshobbes Posts: 1,252member
    Well, the inability to delete or move pages in Pages 1.0 affects DTP far more than WP -- one tends to delete and move blocks of text when writing, not entire pages.



    Pages does offer TOC and in-document hyperlinks, FWIW.



    I think for a large writing task your best bet is still going to be breaking the book into different files, e.g. separate documents for each chapter, and a folder for notes and research. Don't expect one program to pack everything into one file.



    if you're interested in a separate notebook-style app for your various notes and ideas, Alepin (my choice) and VooDooPad are both very good.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    bergzbergz Posts: 1,045member
    There are a helluva lot of programs out there. Personally, I find them distracting. But then again, with my track record I'm probably not the best person to be asking. Here are some http://dmoz.org/Arts/Writers_Resources/Software/



    But there are so many out there that if you're really interested, post this same question on a writing forum. There you'd be more likely to find people with experience with one or more of these programs.



    --B
  • Reply 4 of 7
    If you want to organize both chapters and ideas in one project, then CopyWrite's worked really well for me. I mean, there really isn't much of a way to have both ideas and story in one place in a word processor like Word or what I use, Nisus Writer Express. But something like OmniOutliner (though I don't use this for writing) or CopyWrite (which works fantastic for me), or something like that, would probably be your best bet.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    Thanks for the replies. The link to the writers resource was very helpfull, looks like i have a lot of software to go through.



    Pages looks cool, i had a chance to play with it a bit at the apple store. However, it reminds me more of the (often useless) templates in word then something to organize my writing. I may buy iwork though instead of the upgrade to Word.



    Copywrite is very good but somehow the set-up just doesn't feel intuitive to me. It sorta distracts me from actually writing. However it does have the very cool feature that lets you change a name or whatever throughout the document.



    I very much like Z-write although the small window is wierd and the limited spell check also distracts me because i start focusing on little mistakes. So what i've been doing is writing in word and then copy and pasting into Z-write. It works but its annoying.



    Anyway, if i could find software that is as simple and easy as Z-write with some of the better features of Copywrite, i'd be all set.



    Or maybe i'm just procrastinating my writing again with all this.



    Thanks, i love to hear from people who have similar experiences.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    arnelarnel Posts: 103member
    You might also want to take a look at http://www.blue-tec.com/ulysses/. It seems pretty focussed on the task of writing and organising your writing notes rather than on layout or other sidetracking tasks like that...



    Neil.

    a.k.a. Arnel
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