Writing software
I recently spent the better part of a week trying out writing programs. This was prompted by the building frustration I began feeling with the limitations of my word processing software. Where did I put notes? How could I rearrange scenes easily? etc. My criteria was simple.
- Have a simple to use interface
- Allow me to rearrange my scenes easily
- Keep track of my notes
- Develop my characters personalities via a database
- Be able to format my text
Programs I tried:
Writer's Blocks
New Novelist
Dramatica Pro
yWriter
Here's my reviews:
Writer's Blocks
Pro's
- Great visualization tool
- Reformats idea "blocks" onto your writing space. What that means is that you can rearrange your ideas how you like then click a button and they appear as headers on a blank page.
- Fairly simple interface.
- Color coding boxes to help with idea arrangement
- The arrange box features proved more confusing then helpful (they kept overlapping)
- No place for notes
- No place for character development
- Expensive at $149
Gets 2 out of 5 on my helpful meter. One you have all your ideas this might be a useful program to use to arrange everything.
New Novelist v.1.0
Pro's
- Very simple interface
- Good idea base if you have never written a novel before (complete simple story outlines)
- Notes area
- Good (not great) character development area
- No text formatting (I want to be able to double space for hard copy editing later)
- Scene rearrangement is not built in
- Authored in UK English (not a huge draw back)
- Less expensive at $59 but more than I was hoping to spend.
Gets 3 out of 5 on my helpful meter. I think v 2.0 might be more helpful but I did not try it.
Dramatic Pro v4.0
Pro's
- Very in-depth plot line development. Asks you lots and lots of questions.
- Extremely, and I mean extremely, in depth character development
- Lots and lots of help guides to explain all the terminology (I think it assumes you have a degree in writing)
- Never-ending possibilities for creating character depth. (I'm not kidding. You could spend months on it.)
- Could not figure out where to actually write.
- If there is a scene arrangement area, I couldn't find it
- Super complicated. It would take a month of Sundays to learn how to use it. (I just want to write! Is that too much to ask!)
- All the pro's above are also con's in that you spend so much time thinking about your story you never actually get around to writing it.
- Out of my budget at $255
Gets 1 out of 5 on my helpful meter. The only reason I even gave it a 1 is that it asked me some leading questions that provoked me to flesh out my story more. That was only after I stumbled upon that particular feature which I could not begin to tell you how to get back to.
yWriter4
Pro's
- Very simple interface
- Easily rearrange scenes with drag and drop
- Very good notes area
- Perfect amount of character development
- Great price FREE!
- Developed by a writer who happens to also be a programmer
- Word count targeting
- No text formatting
Gets 4.5 out of 5 on my helpful meter. Again, the text formatting thing kept it from a 5. But the author Simon Haynes has a discussion group where you can input your ideas, which I guess he may consider putting into his program. If you want to check out yWriter, you may do so here. Needless to say, this will be the one I use. I am still writing in my Word Processor and pasting my work into the program, but maybe he'll update it later so I don't have to.
One last note:
I was going to try Thoughtline Software until I read this review of the software in the New York Times. The review looks dated (1987?) but given that I had already tried the other four mentioned above, I decided not to give a spin. If you have tried the latest version, I would love to hear your comments about it.
Hope this helps someone.
Aloha, Laura
