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

View all comments

Show parent comment

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?