2 posts from November 2008

Since it's been two years (really?) since I've posted, I thought I put some recent information to me on here. 

I have:

• Starting writing a book
• Cut my hair short (pictures forthcoming)
• Bought a motorcycle ("99 Ninja ZX6R) and painted it white (pictures also forthcoming)
• Started working part time in a bookstore (which I LOVE)
• Got myself an office (really just a shed of the rubbermaid variety and, wired it for technology)
• Lost 25 pounds
• Completely changed my outlook on life for the better.
  

Not too bad.

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
  

Con's

• The arrange box features proved more confusing then helpful (they kept overlapping)
  
• No place for notes
• No place for character development
• Expensive at $149
  

Overall:
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
  

Con's

• 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.
  

Overall:
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.)
  

Con's

• 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
  

Overall:
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
  

Con's

• No text formatting
  

Overall:
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