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#170287 03/17/14 06:00 AM
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LaurenW Offline OP
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A while back I posted a technology challenge that no one accepted. Don't worry, my feelings aren't hurt. (sniff, sniff) smile

But I'm still trying to think of ways to make your creative life easier -- and if that results in more stories for the archive, everybody wins. LabRat says we're down on stories right now. Maybe we could look to technology as a muse to bump up submissions.

For those interested in looking beyond the word processor, I thought I'd share news of a sale going on for the flagship writers' tool called Scrivener from Literature & Latte : Normally $45, you can get it for $20 for the next couple of days through a site called AppSumo . It's available there in Mac and Windows flavors, though Mac is the native format and probably has more features. For each version there's a free trial you can download and use .

I've bought the program myself for tech writing projects, and I'm enamored with it.

Scrivener can be used for all kinds of writing -- novels, short stories, nonfiction, screenplays, blog posts, research papers, legal briefs, and more. It's like a word processor on steroids, and it was designed by writers for writers to help structure a piece of writing.

Most people write their stories with word processors -- well, duh! But most people also have their struggles with word processors, especially for longer works. Do you really begin at the title of your story and proceed linearly through the piece until typing the words "THE END"? I bet you begin with a random scene, or maybe alternate versions of a scene. Or scenes that you're not sure where to place in story flow. And maybe there's an outline that gets fleshed in. And all that sits as lumps you need to keep track of and cut and paste to move around in your document. And maybe the word processor begins to feel more sluggish the longer the story grows.

What if the word processor could help you structure your story? What if you could write scenes that you could move around as easily as index cards on a corkboard -- then easily turn back into linear flow? What if you could color-code or tag your scenes to tell at a glance which are complete and polished, and which are just rough sketches? What if you could see word counts for each section? How about setting and tracking daily word count goals? And of course export to familiar formats (Word, HTML, RTF or text) for import in your word processor.

Wouldn't it be nice if there were a class of software to address the needs and work habits of writers? From reviews I've read, Scrivener sits at the head of this class -- but there are other options, some free:

Celtx - a free Windows/Mac/Linux program mainly for screenplays but also fiction. Demo on YouTube

StoryO - a $79.95 Windows/Mac program (with a free trial) for writing sceenplays, novels or short stories. Demo on YouTube

yWriter - a free Windows/Linux program for writing novels and short stories. It was created by an Australian science fiction writer. Demo on YouTube

It would be interesting to hear a Lois & Clark fanfic writer's take on any of these writing tools. So if anyone takes a crack at any of these programs and winds up writing a story using it, could you share your experiences with us?

Or maybe there are techniques you use in your favorite word processing program to organize your writing or make your creative life simpler. It's fascinating to find out how writers write. I would love to hear your tips, and other writers here may benefit from your experience.

Rereading this, it comes off as a sales pitch for Scrivener. But what I'm really trying to sell is you guys -- on writing more. The archive needs more stories.

What if you're tired of writing.... Do you still have tons of ideas but are burned out on hammering away at the keyboard? Sometimes a shiny new hammer can make all the difference. smile

Best wishes,

Lauren W.

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Hello Lauren,

You can easily rearrange scenes in Word. All you need to do is start each scene with a label on a separate line before the actual scene. Apply the Heading 1 label style to your label. To do this, make sure your insertion point is somewhere in the label, and on the Home tab, in the Styles group, click on "Heading 1."

Then you can go into the Outline view (via the View tab) and show only the Level 1 headings. This will hide your actual scenes and all you'll see are the labels for the scenes. If you rearrange the labels, the scenes associated with the labels will be rearranged, as well.

You would need to go through your story and delete all of the labels before you posted. The quickest way to do that would be to do a Find and Replace. Click in the "Find what" textbox, then click on "More" to display the "Format" drop down list arrow. Click on it, select, "Style..." then select "Heading 1". Leave the "replace with" box completely blank. Click on "Replace all," and all of your labels will be deleted, but the scenes themselves will remain intact.

This sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is. If anyone is interested in a more detailed description, I'd be happy to provide it.

My stories are short enough that I don't need this trick myself, but others might find it useful.

Joy,
Lynn

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Originally posted by LaurenW:
Do you really begin at the title of your story and proceed linearly through the piece until typing the words "THE END"?
wave Um... I do that. laugh I usually don't allow myself to write the scenes I'm writing towards (or too detailed an outline) or I'll loose the momentum or the drive to write the story, because my muse thinks it's already written. I usually just have them written in my head. Or I might write down that *one* scene and work the story towards that one scene -- for my longer stories. (Part 140 was one of those scenes and Part 158 for those of you reading Wrong Clark. I've also got the next one written down.) I rarely outline, keeping a general gist in my head as my stories ebb and flow, often changing mid-stream. /It's probably why my stories are so long. No inner-editor./ I find it's harder to match the scene to the rest of the story if I write too far out, too soon, because too much has changed. All writing really needs is a piece of paper and something to write with (I still write like this when I'm away from my desktop computer.)

For my shorter stories (included one I'm currently laugh Sounds like a terrific procrastination device, though.

Thanks for info. I'll look into it if someone ever offers to pay me for my writing. /Please, someone, offer to pay me for my writing so I don't have to go get a real job. grovel I started out writing original characters and can do that again./


VirginiaR.
"On the long road, take small steps." -- Jor-el, "The Foundling"
---
"clearly there is a lack of understanding between those two... he speaks Lunkheadanian and she Stubbornanian" -- chelo.
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I know there are ways to write longer pieces in word processors by labeling them and all, but it is still hard and time consuming to do so. That said, I cannot praise Celtx enough. It is an excellent program, particularly for screenwriting. I've been using it for the past two years now (maybe longer), and it's just fantastic. It's actually fairly industry-standard, outside of Final Draft or something (which is not free). It has tons of tools you can use and notes you can make and character outlines etc. I love it because it gives you all the techniques of screenwriting and at the same time it's as close as you can really get to writing on paper and sticking it in a file, but more organized. laugh

And again, it's free. And you can write different sort of things in it too, so it doesn't have to be a script or something. You guys should seriously download it. hyper


Nothing spoils a good story like the arrival of an eye witness.
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Hi Lauren and MouseRocks,

Based on your recommendations, I checked out the demo for Celtx. I won't be using it on a regular basis, but it does look like it would be handy if I ever wanted to write a story in script format. I went to the program's main site, but they waned an e-mail address -- something I would prefer not to give out. So I went to download.cnet.com and downloaded it from there.

Thanks for the suggestion. smile

Virginia, I, too, tend to write my stories from beginning straight through until the end. But given how short my stories are, that usually isn't too difficult. The very few times I've had stories of any length or complexity*, I've written outlines and have, on occasion, written a sentence or scene out of order when the perfect phrasing happens to come to me.

Joy,
Lynn

* By "any length or complexity," I mean relative to most of my stories -- even my lengthiest and most complex stories are small and simple compared to some of those by some other authors...

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I'm generally a 'start at the beginning and work to the end' kinda writer, but the longer the story the more likely I'll get important 'later' scenes inspiration and need to get them down even if I'm not there yet.

For me, the best programme is OneNote. Yes, it's Microsoft. You can buy it on it's own or it comes as part of Office in most cases.

It is possible to use OneNote without buying it. Skydive can create an online version and it's free, plus you can then access the file wherever you are with an internet connection. The online version is not quite as good, but still has the all the basics which mean this is my favourite way to write.

It's not a story writing programme, it's an 'everything note taker/project maker' ... but I think it's perfect. You can open different groups (LnC fics, Smallville fics, Fairy Tales etc) within them you can start new files (Under the Spotlight, Waiting in Line, A Pirate Affair etc). Within each of those you can have as many pages as you want. I usually do a chapter to each page.

On each page you can type different scenes into different boxes and pick them up and move them around as much as you want.

I usually set up an info/research page for each story too. You can insert tables for timelines, draw, highlight, copy from the internet and it will insert a little hyperlink so you can always get back to where the information came from.

If using a version saved on SkyDrive you can invite other people to be authors and when they modify you can see the changes. This is extremely useful for joint projects or beta readers.


KatherineKent/Victoria
Lois: "You put up with me for the same reason I put up with you. It's because I'm completely in love with you."
Clark: "And I love you ... Did we just make up?"
Lois: "I think so."
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I write in a code editor. I spend so much time in a code editor that I've gotten to the point where I just feel more comfortable using that than something like Word. I haven't used Word much in a long time, either, and I don't want to get bogged down with formatting and whatnot. Frankly, I don't write enough for me to feel it's worthwhile to learn a new program.

As far as how I write, I can't start at the beginning and just write until the story is over. I can't let a story meander, either. I'm great at coming up with interesting premises and interesting scenes, but I'm terrible at coming up with a good ending. I need to have a whole story arc and an ending I like before I'm willing to put forth the effort of writing the middle.

I generally write notes on the overall plot and bits of scenes as I let the story stew. I tend write the beginning and the end, not necessarily in that order, before I really tackle the middle. Then I keep going back to what I've already written to make sure that it still matches with the new stuff. It's not a linear process at all.

I can't imagine starting a story in earnest without knowing where it's going. I also can't imagine, even starting with an outline, writing a chapter, posting it, then writing another one. I admire those who can an can still make a coherent story. I'm too likely to change things downstream and decide that I didn't want to have so-and-so say such-and-such back in chapter 1 because now it conflicts with something in a later chapter. I end up tweaking things throughout a story as I add new sections, though once I'm happy with a section I generally leave it alone.


"It is a remarkable dichotomy. In many ways, Clark is the most human of us all. Then...he shoots fire from the skies, and it is difficult not to think of him as a god. And how fortunate we all are that it does not occur to him." -Batman (in Superman/Batman #3 by Jeph Loeb)
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Quote
Originally posted by KatherineKent:
It's not a story writing programme, it's an 'everything note taker/project maker' ... but I think it's perfect. You can open different groups (LnC fics, Smallville fics, Fairy Tales etc) within them you can start new files (Under the Spotlight, Waiting in Line, A Pirate Affair etc). Within each of those you can have as many pages as you want. I usually do a chapter to each page.

On each page you can type different scenes into different boxes and pick them up and move them around as much as you want.

I usually set up an info/research page for each story too. You can insert tables for timelines, draw, highlight, copy from the internet and it will insert a little hyperlink so you can always get back to where the information came from.
I envy your uncluttered desk. laugh It would probably be better (for my writing and my marriage) if I didn't have 100 scraps of paper around my computer, but this is how I've always written. I don't know what I'd do if I became organized. My stories might end up being more concise. laugh


VirginiaR.
"On the long road, take small steps." -- Jor-el, "The Foundling"
---
"clearly there is a lack of understanding between those two... he speaks Lunkheadanian and she Stubbornanian" -- chelo.
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I found it so difficult to keep up with all my ideas until I found One Note.

The number of completely separate files I had on my computer, with a random 'ides' file not at all making any sense. It bothered me. I would also find myself flicking between ideas but not wanting to save-close-open new file. In One Note everything is open and accessible at once.

I'm going out on a limb here ... nervously posting a screenshot. I've blurred out some titles ... need to keep some secrets ... *grin*

On the left you can see all my general groups and story ideas/names. On the right you can see all the pages/chapters within the story I'm currently looking at. In the centre is that story. You can see that this is my 'timeline' workings and major scene ideas.


[Linked Image]


Exactly same notebook viewed online - which you can setup through SkyDrive without buying OneNote for the computer.

[Linked Image]

And to those of you wondering about the story showing ... it's deeply, deeply Smallville and I doubt I'll be posting it here. It's completely full of spoilers and I don't want to spoil Season 9 and 10 for you Virginia.


KatherineKent/Victoria
Lois: "You put up with me for the same reason I put up with you. It's because I'm completely in love with you."
Clark: "And I love you ... Did we just make up?"
Lois: "I think so."
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LaurenW Offline OP
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Thank you for sharing your tips! I for one have learned a lot.

Quote
You can easily rearrange scenes in Word. All you need to do is start each scene with a label on a separate line before the actual scene.
Wow, Lynn. I had no idea Word could do this, and I've been using it for 15+ years. Hmmm, wonder what else it can do that I'm missing?

Quote
Um... I do that. [Big Grin] I usually don't allow myself to write the scenes I'm writing towards...
That's cool, VirginiaR. I bet writing is more of an adventure that way.

Quote
I cannot praise Celtx enough...
Hi, Mouserocks, and yay! Another Celtx fan. Love that program.

Quote
For me, the best programme is OneNote.
Your process is intriguing, KatherineKent. Thank you for sharing the screen grabs. It does look handy to have all your writing so easily accessible. I must check into OneNote -- am an EverNote fan, so it'll be neat to see how they differ. I'm not sure if EverNote allows collaboration as OneNote does.

Quote
I write in a code editor...
I do that too sometimes, mrsMxyzptlk! My code editor lets me use custom color combinations. Gray text on a navy background is more soothing on the eyes than black on glaring white.

Has anyone used Google Docs writer -- er, Google Drive "Document," now it's called -- to write stories in the cloud? It's supposed to let people collaborate in realtime while working on the same document. That would probably take coauthoring to a strange new level.

Lauren W.

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I found that lo and behold my Microsoft Office which came with my computer (or did it? dizzy ) has One Note. I'll have to look more into it. I am totally amazed at your sense of organization, KatherineKent. notworthy It's probably too late to organize Wrong Clark ( :rolleyes: ) or at least this section of it. Maybe I'll be able to better organize my thoughts for Section III and/or Book III. If nothing else, it seems to be a great procrastination device. laugh Thanks for the suggestion. If it helps me clean my desk, my hubby would be forever in your debt.


VirginiaR.
"On the long road, take small steps." -- Jor-el, "The Foundling"
---
"clearly there is a lack of understanding between those two... he speaks Lunkheadanian and she Stubbornanian" -- chelo.
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Originally posted by VirginiaR:
I found that lo and behold my Microsoft Office which came with my computer (or did it? dizzy ) has One Note. I'll have to look more into it. I am totally amazed at your sense of organization, KatherineKent. notworthy It's probably too late to organize Wrong Clark ( :rolleyes: ) or at least this section of it. Maybe I'll be able to better organize my thoughts for Section III and/or Book III. If nothing else, it seems to be a great procrastination device. laugh Thanks for the suggestion. If it helps me clean my desk, my hubby would be forever in your debt.
Fantastic that you have it already. I really recommend it. When I found it I didn't have half as many ideas floating around as I have now, but even so, I hated the disorganization. It didn't take too long to get it all nicely sorted. And now, if a new idea hits me then it's just a quick - new page - type idea - done. So it wasn't half as full then as it is now.

If you want any pointers, tips or help then message me.


KatherineKent/Victoria
Lois: "You put up with me for the same reason I put up with you. It's because I'm completely in love with you."
Clark: "And I love you ... Did we just make up?"
Lois: "I think so."
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Lauren wrote
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Wow, Lynn. I had no idea Word could do this, and I've been using it for 15+ years. Hmmm, wonder what else it can do that I'm missing?
Don't feel bad, Lauren. You have a *lot* of company. I teach a variety of computer courses, one of which involves, in part, how to use Word. Every time I teach that course, most of my class comes in thinking they know how to use Word already, but every time most of the students are surprised by just how much Word can do beyond what they had already been familiar with.

If there's anything in particular you wish it could do, feel free to ask; if I know how to do something in Word, I'll gladly share. smile

Joy,
Lynn


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