Useful Computer Programs for Nanoing

lol
It's for after November. The site only makes sense if you have something for others to critique--so use it motivate yourself to write during November. You can reassure your internal editor that he (mine's a she) will have lots of help so can really go on that hiking trip right now. Start him by going down the grand canyon and maybe it will take two weeks for him to make it back up. Most postings at that site are around 3,000 words, and can post weekly there, so you need to get writing now so you can take full advantage of the site next month.
(I'm KatWrite on that site, by the by.)

Now go to a 17 minute sprint--that is where you don't have to write all out like in a war, but you don't change to another computer program, or answer the phone, or do anything but focus on your writing for 17 minutes.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3887584

Tracking minutes to end of Nano, eBay auctions, and even has presets for Word Wars, I mean Word Challenges (at bottom).

http://www.spacejock.com/yTimer.html

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Katherine-- I had DNS v5 or something, and it was horrendous. Really bad. Now much better. Better use of context by the software. Used to confuse "deer" with "dear", but now when I dictate "The deer ran through the woods." it sums up the total context before transcribing it, so it comes out correct. It actually does better when a person speaks fast now. Have to get the Logitech $20 desktop microphone, though (amazon.com). Better than native Dragon headset. I even use DNSv10 at work for letters and email.

Yeah, I bet if you had DNS now, instead of 74k words, you'd probably have, oh, I don't know, maybe 76k words. Or even 79k. LOL

Funny about gagging internal editor and "How I Met Your Mother" commentary.

So you give me great internal editor advice, and then show me critquecircle.com, a website I've never seen. TIckle Me Elmo is having a hissy fit now.

Sort of like serving vodka on the rocks at the end of an AA meeting. :-)

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Thanks for the info--I made a note to myself to look into Dragon Naturally Speaking again--it's been years and years since I fiddled with voice recognition software.

You could try gagging your internal editor--or spend your down-time re-reading books that you think are fantastic. Sometimes it's what you're doing with your non-writing time that makes the writing go slowly. I mean, I know that listening to the commentary to 'How I Met Your Mother' does not help with writing, but I was still tempted this morning. Actually watching the shows in the evening with my husband and daughter is fine since I don't write at night anyway, it's just that I like to hear the commentary, but that hypes up my internal editor.

It's been very difficult to stay away from critiquecircle.com, but I've managed it so far.

I wrote this for the OneNote dedicated thread in Forum for TechNano, so thought I'd share it here for anyone interested in NaperWriMo. I sort of went full circle and came back, software-wise, to Windoze! Here's One Note intro if anyone is new to it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY0Nhoh_das

Here's my post from the other Nanothread:

I, too, use OneNote. I don’t use it perhaps as much as I should because Word, of course, has Master Documents. Master Documents is called Navigation in Word 2010, and allows me to place all my chapters or scenes (whichever I choose) conveniently in the sidebar (just like Scrivener). Using the Styles on the ribbon, I can type in a heading, and another style to type a synopsis, and then third style to type the prose. So, pretty much the construction of the novel comes within the body of the MS Word. I really wouldn’t want to write it out twice, once in One Note and again in Word for most part, and although One Note can be “sent to Word”, why bother? I have a video link on Styles at the bottom of this post.

Here's a youtube (no sound) 1 minute video on Navigation, in case someone doesn't know what I'm referring to (click full screen to view):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW-o9JCqv_0

That said, I think OneNote is good for character outlines and bits of scrap ideas floating around that need a place to land, like in the excellent post by tandis, referenced below. The only difference from the way tandis uses One Note and I use it is that my scenes get plotted out right there in the Master Document/Navigation section of MS Word. The video above shows only a final document being navigated, but one can write the scenes, or just heading, in the MS Word and then skip around and fill in wherever you want to start writing. And should you wish to move a scene, skip to it with Nav sidebar, and simply drag it wherever you want right in the Nav pane, and it moves in the manuscript! (I have a more detailed video link below). Even if someone wants to write, say, three paragraphs per scene during outlining, just use a different Style from the Ribbon than your final courier 12 pt for your prose, write the outline in the MS Word, it all shows on the Nav pane, and write final prose directly under each of your plot scenes. When done and editing, delete the scene summary for your final manuscript (no longer needed as you have the actual novel now). Admittedly, I can't use the index card style view with this method,so for the few that actually use and love that view, can't in MS Word.

Now that I have you fully confused, for anyone that wants a visual of what I just wrote, here's a superb video on Navigation and Styles in Word 2010, check out this guy and his vids are fantastic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tXnwDTLvLg

Like another poster, I tried Scrivener beta, the buggy son-of-a-gun (I know, I know, it’s a beta) and One Note and MS Word is so wonderful and well-refined, and particularly good for handling long manuscripts (like 400 page novel), why would I switch, even to Scrivener Final Version.

It always amazes me how people jump around from yWriter to Scrivener and the dozens of other programs when One Note and Word are not only excellent, but they have the most online support in thousands of forums, and agents and editors want the manuscript in Word typically in the end anyhow. I was a jumper. Now I'm back to Word.

Two reasons for this that I see: (1) the hatred of some for Microsoft and the idea that something right in front of them cannot be any good for novel writing (MS Word? You mean you write a novel on that thing I use at work every day to write proposals for my boss?), and (2) the oft cited and incorrect price issue (MS Office—the entire office including OneNote—is $110 for Student edition on Amazon, for THREE computers!)

Love this thread to see others using OneNote and MS Word. I will add one thing here: Dragon Naturally Speaking v10 (now there is a V 11) is really and truly exceptional with MS Office, and for $65 v11 (v10 can be bought on Amazon for as little as $40, and that’s for two computers) can really be a gamechanger, if for nothing else than emails (in Word and cut/paste into email). I just did this post on DNSv10 with only a few tweaks (yWriter was why writer, for instance). Amazing piece of software.

The post above me asks about writing directly in Onenote, and if any issues with that (for instance, in the end with final structure or printing). I can;t speak to it directly, but there was a fairly long thread on a writing forum I use, Absolute Writer, and the bottom line as I recall when that same question came up was that there are no known issues with doing it that way, and several posters use it that way. Most found it easier and more navigable in Master Docs/Nav in MS Word itself, which is where you'll want it to reside in the end anyhow, but some definitely did the prose body in OneNote and enjoyed it.

Geez, I'm making it seem like a foot massage or something.

By the way, my low word count is not the fault of MS Word, or One Note, or even Scrivener beta; it's a result of my despicable Internal Editor sitting on my shoulder like a Tickle Me Elmo with Energizer batteries and a cattle prod to jolt me in the neck every few minutes when I write blistering-fast pure rubbish.

Bye now, comrades.

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If you are a complete sadist, there is a program called "WRITE OR DIE" on the site http://writeordie.drwicked.com/

There is an on line or a pay version. You continue to write and all is well. When you stop writing you can set the program to give you gentle reminders. When you set it to gentle mode, it provides you with warnings if you stop too long. Normal mode starts to play an annoying song if you stop for too long. Kamikazee mode will actually start to erase words going backwards if you wait.

How's that for motivation.

Try it if your so inclined.

Hi, Larkk. That's awful about the 800 words. I lost all my taxes one year, 2003 as I recall, after I was ready to print them in Turbotax. I know the pain. Thanks for sharing.

It's not the ScrivWin program I fear. It's the beta. You have a fully functional, years refined, paid in full Mac version. A thing of beauty, I'm sure.

I have a free rudimentary beta. For anyone considering using Scrivener for Nano, I urge you to make a final decision after looking at the topic headings here in the Troubleshooting/Report Bugs forum on the parent website:

http://www.literatureandlatte.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=32

Scarier than Freddie Krueger and Jason Voorhees eating shrimp cocktails under a full moon.

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another fantastic resource is google docs. free, and safely stored on googles servers.
i don't think i'd personally write completely in there, although it's completely possible, but it's definitely a great idea to at least use it for backups. at the end of the day, or the end of a particularly brilliant scene, I'd just copy and paste it into the google doc.
that way even if your computer dies, you don't lose everything. and it lets you access those docs from any computer with internet.

Personally i'll probably be using a mix of Simplenote(iPad app), Scrivener, and Google Docs.
They all autosave constantly, and Simplenote, and Google Docs auto save to their servers. which is nice for peace of mind.
I may not write the best, but at least what i do write won't be lost.

Oh and if you want to do something fun, share a google doc with a friend and you can both write in the same document at the same time from different computers. Live collaboration!

Liquid Story Binder currently has a deal going on for Nanowrimo, and a reduced price for the month of November if you decide the program is for you. I recommend trying the 30 day trial, since you can go all through November and decide whether it's for you! The help files and tutorials are pretty thorough, though I absolutely recommend the Youtube tutorials done by Rosepetals1984 for working your way around the software, otherwise it can be particularly daunting.

One nice thing about LBS XE comes from the multiple features involved in the program. Depending on your preferred style, you can use plenty of different tools for your novel: a timeline or a mindmap if you prefer to sprawl details over the place, character intros or something of an outline tree for your chapters. All of these are quite flexible and allow multiple windows to be stored together in the same "binder" on your desktop, so the timeline stays in one corner while you tie up your 'must happen in this chapter.' It also allows fully functional 'write into this chapter' stuff, with spellcheck and all the rest.

Personally I find the LSB XE features rich, but almost too much when all I need to do is write. I am trying the organizational tools this year to help map out my plot (late, no matter what I say yearly), and they are very powerful. Would I write in this? No. Minimalist as I am, I prefer having a simple black screen with no real intrusions to distract me, so when it comes to hammering out word count or whatever, it's probably easier to have the program open in the background to briefly reference.

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It’s interesting to hear your take on the new beta for Windows.
I can honestly say I’ve never lost single word of writing on Scrivener. I did once think I had accidentally deleted about 800 words (at an especially frantic Nano Write-in!) but found them later in the trash, which I never empty. I’ve had Scrivener for about a year and I keep finding new features as I go along. It’s an easy program to get started in, but I’ve found it to be quite flexible as I get deeper into it. Basically, I love it (along with my beautiful, overpriced, Mac ;)
That said, I can definitely understand not wanting to jump into a new program right before Nano.

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Thoughts about Scrivener for Windows beta after two nights use:

Buggy. This is a free beta, that is understood. The Scrivener website has loads of posts about bugs in this software, many forum topics, and it appears the bugs are not limited to one or two subjects, but many differing issues. The developers want this forum feedback, so that is expected, and feedback they are getting, by the dumptruck load.

Some betas may come out in nearly marketable condition; this beta does not seem to be that way.

For those thinking about its use for NanoWriMo, I offer this opinion based on using it for about 2.5 hours total.

Scrivener for Windows beta has some serious bugs. For instance, the spell checker does not work. So, if you want to spell check your manuscript, you will have to cut and paste it into another word processor. The corkboard view for notes seems not to work at all for me, and others online mention that they can get it to work, but with plenty of hiccups.

ScrivBeta stores my writings, but I had one short letter that I wrote in it, shuffled the tabs around using standard Scrivener techniques, and I cannot for the life of me find that letter now, including when I search in the other files. This, to me, was more of a belch than a hiccup. I can’t afford to lose writing in NanoWrimo.

I like the program. I can see that it is powerful for those that like a completely digital life, including digital index cards, note cards, storing images of characters, etc. The developers are going to offer updates to the beta throughout November (already beta 1.1 is nearly ready for download). But the fear of content loss is even greater with unstable downloads and updates.

But, if one is a pencil and paper type researcher, who likes 3x5 cards in front of them, shuffling, and moving and adapting, I’m not certain Scrivener has much advantage over the full features of MS Word 2010 plus a Hipster PDA.

Word 2010 has the benefit of a truly seamless software package, it does integrate now with One Note, it has the ability to have files viewed alongside the text (like Scrivener’s outlining feature) and it has two other major advantages: (1) it’s ubiquitous, as many agents, editors, publishers, etc. want files in Word formatting (and not just .rtf, which can sometimes lose formatting). (2) It can store on the free Microsoft “cloud”. Scrivener does not have this (although one could use a third party “cloud” like Dropbox—but why bother, it’s integrated in Word 2010 and works like a charm).

I’m going to use Word for my valuable “words” in Nano2010. I will re-download the free trial version before buying Scrivener when it is out in final 1.0 form in February 2011 to make a final decision.
That’s my take on it, in case anyone cares. Seeing that no one does, I’m outta here. 

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Just an update… the Scrivener beta for Windows is out as of yesterday. I downloaded it last night on my Win 7 laptop. It took about 4 minutes to download the whole enchilada. It’s free, but to continue it after Dec 12 will require payment for a code: those that complete Nano 50k words get it for $20…those that do not win Nano can pay $40 if they wish to keep it. Once paid, it can be used on any number of household computers.

I’ve never used it before, but it sure is fantastic after playing around with it for about an hour last night. The beta still has some hiccups (for instance, the spell checker is essentially nonfunctional and I can’t seem to make index cards on the corkboard, but that may be me—I’ve never used it for Mac in the past), but I’m very impressed with it (and I have used Word 2010, One Note, Liquid Story Binder, ScriptWriter, yWriter, and likely a couple more).

I mention it again in the event anyone wants to download the trial. The Nano Special Offers Forum is so overwhelmed that it’s not working now (you can try again and see if it’s less trafficked now). Just Google “Scrivener for Windows beta” and you’ll see a download page.

A simple FYI for my NaperWriMo brothers and sisters. --Steve

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I've tried several programs in the past without success—largely because of my sloth-like tendency to get “into” something at first and then yawn about it a couple weeks later. Liquid Story Binder, yWriter, Scriptwriter, MS Word 2010, and MS OneNote are all sitting on my hard drive laughing at me as we speak. Hey, I think One Note just nipped my ankle!

I am going to give it my all with the Scrivener for Windows beta that comes out on October 25. Many say that it's the best software and most seem to actually use it routinely, even over months and years. Most software programs go unused once the “glow” wears off. Scrivener seems different, say the current Mac-only users.

But, we really have to take these Mac user's recommendations with a jumbo grain of salt. More like a cattle salt lick. I mean, would you buy a used car from a Mac user...please! If they had anything but marbles in their heads they'd be on Windows.

That said, the owner/developer for Scrivener, Keith, is very active on Nano forum board with answers, and I think it'll be a good time to try it. I did ask the question I posed to Tim at the third write-in to the Scrivener forum: is the learning curve too steep to begin this program only a few days before Nano2010? Answer: there is a new “quick start” video, stated the developer Keith. And a half dozen writers who use the software piped in and said it's as simple as making a custard pie in an Easy Bake oven. Well, actually I'm paraphrasing there, and admittedly, I've never made a pie in an Easy Bake oven. I think I ate one once from a neighborhood girl that I was all googly-eyed for when I was six, and as I recall it was underdone and tasted like wet newspaper. I smiled the entire time I ate it, though. But, I digress.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3699389
If anyone wants to try Scrivener, here's the link. Post on here that you're going to “guinea-pig” it with me so I'll know who's shoulder to cry on when the “save” button goes sour and it loses all my work.

Here's Keith's video quick start:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdwnHo23Ub8
For what it's worth, it seems he knows what he's talking about; bright and knowledgeable. Maybe I'm being fooled by his fancy "shrimp on the barbie" accent, though.

--Steve

P.S. I'm only kidding about Mac users. Macs are cool, with that lighted Apple thingy on the back and all. I just can't get myself to bring a wheelbarrow load of cash into those minimalist Apple stores to get outdated hardware and novelty software named after zoo animals. :-)

(Settle down. Set-ttle dooown. :-) I'm joshin' ya. I enjoy Mac users. They taste great on rye bread. LOL)

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So I can assume that I'm the only NaperWriMo who will be using a typewriter as their primary noveling tool? ;u)

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That's a brilliant idea! I had not thought of integrating the calendar with events like that. Interesting.

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I use
Google Calendar for keeping track of what happens when. To avoid confusing realities, I made a version with my book title. (Now, if I could just figure out how to get a monthly view while still being able to read the details... I know, why print it out? Because I like to spread out stuff and pick it up to look at it and think about. And because I think it highly unlikely that I'll keep the online version up to date during November, but I may draw arrows on a printed version.)
Katherine

I got Write or Die and used it some last year. It was semi-helpful; I'm the type that tends to freeze up when someone stands over my shoulder, and I guess I felt like the program was "watching" me. But it can be good for someone who "works best under pressure."

Personally, I find computer programs kind of inhibiting with regards to a lot of creative tasks - there's just something liberating about picking up a pen or pencil and letting loose on some scratch paper. :D

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Last year I just used Microsoft Word for most stuff and Write or Die (the website version) to keep me focus.

This year I plan on buying Write or Die for the desktop. The program (and website) can literally yell at you if you stop typing for too long. As someone who day dreams a TON while writing, this is a must for me now. The desktop version costs $10 but the website version is free.

I'm going to try to organize all my notes this year in Microsoft OneNote. I tried briefly idea mapping software and stuff like that but I'm too impatient to learn how to use them and fill in all the forms that need to be filled in and all that. OneNote lets you just click anywhere on a page and type. Organization isn't too complicated. You have Books (I usually do one 'Book' per story), Sections (which can be grouped and grouped sections can be grouped, etc), Pages, and Sub Pages.

Thanks for sharing, Heather.

Here is a list of software recommendations for writers on our NaperWriMo wiki.

--Tim

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Gonna add my favorite programs to this list. :) I don't have time to do write-ups at the moment, but I'm sure I'll come back and put in some details later.

Scrivener
Writeroom

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