The Silicon Amanuensis: Tools for Writers, Fall 2008 Update
Steve Beisner -- October 21, 2008
What's new with the computer tools available to the working writer? This update discusses the new release of OpenOffice, the current state of "writer's workbench" software, and other aids for people putting words onto paper.
Open Offfice Writer
Last May we reviewed a pre-release (beta) of the OpenOffice suite, an open software (free) competitor to Microsoft Office. You can read that review here. Last week the developers released the final, non-beta version of OpenOffice 3.0, including the excellent OpenOffice Writer, a word processor that can easily compete with Microsoft Word.
I have been recommending OO Writer to my writer friends whenever they find themselves faced with the need to upgrade or replace their copy of MS Word, but I'm afraid many people hesitate, either because they erroneously believe one has to spend a couple of hundred dollars to get a professional grade product, or they don't understand that OO Writer is arguably more compatible with various versions of MS Word than the latest MS Word is.
Just to set the record straight, OO Writer is a world class word processor, developed by Sun (the makers of high powered computer workstations) and the Open Office Foundation. You can read about it on their website, OpenOffice.org, and download it from there. It runs on all commonly used operating systems, and does everything MS Word does.
In terms of compatibility, it's a drop-in replacement for MS Word. You can even configure OO Writer to read and write MS Word ".doc" format files as its default file format. Alternatively, you can use the disk-space-saving OO Word ".odt" format, but create a ".doc" version (or ".rtf", ".txt", etc.) as required by an editor, reviewer, agent, etc. OO Writer allows you to seamlessly translate documents between all the formats it supports, and also can generate PDF (Portable Document Format) file with no requirement for external software.
If you have MS Word and it's working for you, stay with it, but it doesn't make much sense to buy the latest version when you can get OO Writer for free.
Writer's Workbench Software
It never fails: when I demonstrate Scrivener during a "technology for writers" workshops at a writers' conference, I'm flooded with questions. It's a very impressive piece of software, a kind of kitchen sink system that includes word processing, note taking, story boarding, outlining, organization and cross-referencing of characters, plot details, settings, management of external documents and multimedia uncovered during research... the list goes on.
It's unlikely an author would use all of Scrivener's capabilities, but if there's something in the way of project organization you're after, chances are Scrivener can help.
Scrivener is only available for Apple's OS-X operating system from Literature & Latte at www.literatureandlatte.com, for about $40. I've looked diligently for a Scrivener work-alike for MS Windows, but have not been able to find anything close, at least not in a single program.
For Windows computers, Microsoft's OneNote at least partially addresses the research organizer part of Scrivener. A number for writers swear by it. If you poke around on the Internet you should be able to find it for sale.... in the $100 range.
For a Window's version of something like Scrivener's non-linear outlining, storyboarding, etc. you might investigate yWriter, which is free. Again, I haven't used it myself, and the UI looks kind of klutzy compared to Scrivener, but it has a lot of fans (and the price is right!).
Also, if you set up your Paragraph Styles definitions correctly using either MS Word or OpenOffice, you can go a long way in managing a big, hierarchically organized document like a novel. This technique is something I've presented at a number of writer's conferences and would cover in detail in a hands-on workshop -- I just haven't had the opportunity to do so, yet. MS Word users can look at Ink Byte's Software page for a MS Word template with paragraph styles set up for fiction writers to manage large projects; if you've attended one of my workshops, the template may be enough to get you started.
The thing that MS Word and OpenOffice don't do well is manage the diverse set of documents, scans, PDFs, photographs, etc. that one runs across during research. Scrivener performs extremely well in this regard. Microsoft's One Note can do this, too, but it's a Windows-only product and pricey compared to Scrivener.
Be Wary
Finally, I'll issue my standard warning for the use of these tools. Don't be distracted by them. Your job is to write. Choose tools that help you do that, but don't waste your time in an endless search for the perfect tool... it doesn't exist.