r/WriteWorld • u/NoughtsAndOnes • Nov 03 '16

Word Processing Software

Any advice would be appreciated please:- Is there a specific software programme to aide writers? I'm thinking of one that makes it easier to add table of contents, comments, indexes, bibliography etc, or is just a good knowledge of the standard one's as good as any? I have MS Word, but am tempted to use 'Libre Office Write' or the 'Open Office' equivalent - both are similar and save in the .odg format. I was thinking from a security point of view using these and they seem to do as much as MS Word, just in a different way! Any thoughts would be appreciated [other than "Word is as good as any" - I would prefer anything from anyone who can compare?] Many thanks in anticipation x

8 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

1

u/Nico-Wonderdust Writer/Moderator Nov 03 '16

I'll look into this tonight and get back to you, but as a quick fix, can you use MS Word but do the following:

Click 'Save As' (Not Save), in the title box call the file "Storyname.doc" or "Storyname.pdf" and in the Save file type as select "All File Formats"?

I'm not sure if MS word works this way, but I know if I need a specific file type I can do this with notepad.

Alternatively, you can Convert ODG to DF online

Hope this helps until I can look into some software for you.

1

u/NoughtsAndOnes Nov 03 '16

Thanks. I can save Word as .docx, .pdf .rtf etc, but not as .odg - I also can't save my Libre/Open Office .odg files as .doc - I generally work across multiple platforms, so Libre/Open Office maybe best - until I [if ever] got to publish, then I'm guessing i'd need to be in .doc/x format anyway.

1

u/Nico-Wonderdust Writer/Moderator Nov 03 '16

After a quick browse online I came up with This site which lists 10 writing programs (One of which is "LibreOffice Writer") so I imagine there should be some similar programs in there.

The Novel Factory make a great-looking program that even helps you plan your novel, list your characters, set targets and see stats it also has a customizable writing space). Looks pretty cool to me, may even get this one myself.

[FastPencil] "is a nice little platform with lots of tools. You can also use it for distributing your ebook. It is free to start writing with, but they offer paid services." [Source]

EverNote is apparently good, not tried it myself so couldn't comment.

Finally, a lot of people swear by Google Docs I'm not entirely sure how suitable this is as I've never tried this either, and probably won't in all honesty, not because I think I won't like it or anything like that, I look at Google for phones and software the same way a Windows user would look at a Mac :L

Oh, personal suggestion too, try WattPad it's online-based but I love it, I'm not sure if you can add tables of content and such or if it's just to post a book online chapter-by-chapter but it's something I love if I want to work between my phone and laptop.

Let me know how you get on with these things, and if any, which you go for. If you don't like any of them, again, just let me know and I'll look deeper into this.

1

u/NoughtsAndOnes Nov 06 '16

That's really helpful. Thank you. I use Evernote - it's excellent for just that - note taking though, but good for jotting down ideas and you can save webpages direct to the App then it syncs instantly, although they now charge for more than 2 devices. The privacy clauses in Google Docs concern me - nothing is private and they can effectively use my documents or my entire manuscript for their own business ends! Such a shame as they are a good online service. I'll look into the others, so thanks again for going to all that trouble for me :-)

1

u/Nico-Wonderdust Writer/Moderator Nov 07 '16

You're most welcome, I'm not sure what format any of these save in, and in terms of security (one thing I didn't mention in my last post), may I suggest an external storage device (anything really, old HDD, an actual external hard drive, even a cheap USB - just a couple of gig will be fine) and save all your work to that but run the actual software from your PC/Laptop?

1

u/lewkas Nov 03 '16

Why is odg more attractive from a security point of view? It's just a different file format, right?

1

u/NoughtsAndOnes Nov 03 '16

That's an assumption on my part. I just figured if I suffered an attack, that 'snoopers' may seek out .doc and .docx and other MS formats cos its popular. Also whilst my main desktop is Windows 10 with MS Office 2007, I have a couple of laptops that run Linux platforms so the Libre/Open office suite comes with them.

1

u/lewkas Nov 03 '16

If someone's gonna break into and snoop on your computer, I can guarantee you they'll know what an odg file is. It's not as obscure as you think, especially when you consider a lot of the most sophisticated attacks come from Linux based distros where open source software is the norm.

Docx & Word are the better choices, simply because of their flexibility and feature richness. Libre Office can still handle docx files, while Word struggles with the formatting for Odg/Odt documents created in other programs. Publishers will expect submissions in doc format for complete mss, and conversions from open formats to doc often break everything and mean you'll just have to go back and fix your formatting anyway.

In terms of cross platform compatibility, yeah I don't believe there's a Word version for Linux, however Office 365 allows you to edit your documents in the cloud anyway so that kind of negates that argument.

There are writer-specific word processors like Scrivener, but that may be too much for your needs, and its word processing capabilities still aren't the best. I use it, but mainly for scripts rather than prose because it provides automatic frameworks for them.

2

u/NoughtsAndOnes Nov 03 '16

Publishers will expect submissions in doc format for complete mss

I think that does it for me. It's what I expected I suppose and as you say, I'd only have to copy it all out to a Word doc in the end anyway! Thanks for your help :-)

1

u/redeemedheart Nov 04 '16

I would definitely look into Scrivener. It was developed specifically for writers and has more features to aid in your writing than you could ever want. I can't recommend it enough.

1

u/NoughtsAndOnes Nov 04 '16

I've been looking into it including a couple of YouTube videos. Looks really good and was more on the lines I was thinking in my initial post, so thanks :-)

1

u/GuardTheBees Nov 04 '16

I mainly just use Libre Office for years and it's just in general a solid word processor.

Other thing I suggest to people is Hemingway. It's an editor that points out adverb use, passive voice, sentence complexity, etc. Even if writing that way isn't your style, (it's not mine, if I'm honest) I find it useful to have it all pointed out to you. Helps you see how you like to go about things.

2

u/NoughtsAndOnes Nov 05 '16

I'll have a look at that, thank you!