Tools for Writers and Beta Readers

[raspberryhat]

This thread is for discussion of the various tools available to writers. If you're trying to find out if there's a tool to help with a particular job, here's the place. Maybe you want a simple spell checker, or perhaps you want a way of comparing documents. If you're after for a good free word processor, here's a good place to look. Trying to get Word to do something particular? Ask here. Maybe you just want to find the perfect fountain pen. Others may well know the answer. Of course if you've discovered some wonderful new feature or tool that you think will be a help to all, do share...

[raspberryhat]

Here are my own thoughts on tools. Just some basic thoughts on the features and tools I find most useful.

I tend to make lots of notes of ideas on paper, but I like a word processor for all actual writing.

I like Microsoft Word (2003 version) as a word processor. I always have the spell checker turned on. I make sure to set the language to English US. That's only relevant if you're not American though Helps me remember spelling differences. Color and Colour etc. If Word does show a spelling error, I always try to make myself correct the word rather than getting Word to tell me the right spelling. I've found my spelling has improved a lot by doing this.

If I am commenting on a Word document that someone has sent me, I like to use the Track Changes feature. Tools Menu->Track Changes (or ctrl-shift-E). This lets me embed comments inline and make it easy for someone to see my thinking. As a writer I also find it useful to receive comments in this format. If someone corrects the text with TC switched on, I can just use the Accept Insertion/Deletion function to put their change straight into my version of the document.

I don't use the Word grammar checker, though it is very configurable and can do a lot if you're willing to take the time to set it up. I try to learn my own grammar.

I find that when I've got a late draft that printing a copy out helps me spot additional typos and errors that I just don't seem to spot on screen.

When I am working for long hours on a non LCD screen I make sure I've got the screen refresh set to at least 85Hz. It's much much easier on the eyes. Depending on the type of lighting you have, a lower refresh rate may or may not effect you so much.

Word can save documents in older version formats (2002, 98, 97, 95 etc) as well as Rich Text Format or HTML. I'll save to older formats if my beta doesn't have the same version of Word I use. I don't find Word's HTML format that good. It depends if you ever think you'll tinker with the HTML as to if this is a problem for you.

I use Word to prepare documents for posting by getting it to properly line space paragraphs. In 2003, you can do a search and replace on format. If you search for ^p and replace all with ^p^p you'll replace all paragraph marks with double paragraph marks. Be careful to only run this once though. If you run it more than once you'll get two blank lines between paragraphs etc. Always check your document after doing a replace all. If it's gone wrong you can undo it with ctrl-z.

I like to use Word for searching for possible extraneous adverbs. It's not in any way exhaustive, but I find a search for "ly" exposes a lot.

Also, possible extra space before open quote can be found with a search for space open quote; i.e. ' "' or " '" depending how you write speech.

Search for “said” is a good way to remind me to think about how I am positioning people’s speech. Maybe I’ve just been lazy and “said” when the character could have “murmured”, “opined”, “shouted” whatever.

I tend to be quite inconsistent with capitalisation of things like Slayer or Watcher. I check myself with a search and replace all of slayer for Slayer and watcher for Watcher. Of course the replacement can be un-capitalized.

I like to use Word to search for "it's" and "its" to make me check to see if I've got my apostrophe usage right or wrong.

Another thing I find is that I seem to often end up with several double-spaces appearing in my drafts. Usually after editing I think and usually just after a full stop or sometimes before an open quote. I run a quick search for " " (double space) to pick these all up.

Aside from Word, I also like Open Office which is free and includes a word processor which can read and write most MS Word formats. You'll need Java to run some of the more advanced functions. The website explains.

I occasionally use a tool called Diff Doc which is very good for comparing documents side by side. I find this quite handy for comparing documents.

[raspberryhat]

For anyone who’d like to know how to check/adjust the refresh rate of their monitor…

This is ONLY relevant for CRT monitors.

This procedure is for Windows XP and should work for most configurations.

Right click on the backdrop. Select Properties from the menu. This will bring up the Display Properties window.

Select the Settings tab. This will show the screen resolution and color quality you currently have.

Click the Advanced button. This will display a screen of detailed configuration information for your monitor and graphics card.

Select the Monitor tab. You should see details of the monitor type you have and for the Screen refresh rate you have selected.

Generally, for a CRT monitor, you want the screen refresh rate to be as a high as possible.

Make you sure you leave the Hide modes that this monitor cannot display box checked that way you won’t be able to ask your monitor to do something it can’t manage.

The screen refresh rates listed in the Screen refresh rate combo-box depend on the values you have selected for Screen Resolution and Colour quality on the Display Properties/Settings screen.

Graphics cards with smaller amounts of memory will not be able to support high resolution, high number of colours and high refresh rates.

For the sake of your eyes, it’s always worth trading resolution for refresh rate and subsequently number of colours. If the Monitor Settings does not offer you anything higher than 75Hz, try going back to the settings screen and reducing the number of colours or the resolution. Then go back to the Monitor screen and see if it shows a higher refresh rate.

Refresh issues may only be an issue on equipment older or cheaper equipment. Anything fairly modern should reasonably support 24 bit color at 1280 by 1024 all at 85Hz.

Realistically, for most applications, 16bit colour will be fine. There’s rarely a need for 32 bit, 24 is good enough for most applications and for word processing 16 bit should be fine.

[Trom DeGrey]

As far as writing goes, I utilize several different tools. I have a filing system for W/T stories as well as original fiction. There are places for research, drafts, beta comments and ideas. I have a separate file folder for the story that I'm currently working on. It can hold all the things I've already listed as well as supplies and a notebook for writing exercises when I get stuck. I keep notecards with me all the time and jot down ideas for future scenes and conversations so that when I'm writing, I don't get ahead of myself thinking about another scene. I jot it down and go back to what I'm working on. I write everything out by hand first. I use white legal pads and fat pens or pens that have grips on them to combat writer's cramp. I write faster than I type, but I really do this more because I feel more physically connected to what I'm writing. I have a desk that I write at and my roomies know that if I'm at the desk they need to leave me alone. I try to make out a writing schedule and stick to it, but I'm not very good at that.

As for beta, raspberryhat pointed out Track Changes to me and it has been great. In the past, I would send back grammar etc. problems in red and content feedback in blue. Track Changes has made doing beta wrok much faster and I highly recommend it.

[justin]

I was going to reccommend OpenOffice.org, but raspberryhat has beaten me to it. I just have one correction, you don't need Java in order to run OOo. You only need Java in order to export in some formats, such as DocBook.

The two features that I really find helpful are the autocompletion feature and the ability to jump to any heading. When I'm writing a story I make all the chapter titles into headings, then I can jump to any chapter using the navigator.

The only downside is the size. The windows version is about 75meg, so you'll need broadband to download it.

[raspberryhat]

Good catch. Catching me for Word user I really am. I've only being working with Open Office for a little while and just installed Java when it suggested. I've amended my initial post. Must check my facts I do like Open Office and have recommended it to several people. It's maturing very nicely.

[justin]

Another good free word processor is Abiword

Like OpenOffice it can read and write Word format files, though I don't know how good a job it does so you'll probably want to test it out before using it. It also has the advantage of being a lot faster. It only takes a few seconds to start up as opposed to the thirty odd seconds that OpenOffice takes to open.

Though there are disadvantages compared to OpenOffice. For me the thing that stops me using it is the versions that I've tried remove any pagebreaks from a document when saving in the OpenOffice format.

Still I'd reccomend trying it out. If you don't need all the extra components that come with OpenOffice (Spreadsheat, graphics program and so on) it might suit your needs more.

[raspberryhat]

It's obviously quite resource hungry. On first run (after boot) OpenOffice takes about 10 seconds to start on mine. That's on an AMD FX-55 with 2Gig of RAM and RAID 0 disks. Second run it's much much quicker though...Depends on the system I s'pose.

[maudmac]

I've been a huge fan of RoughDraft for several years now. I reckon I've written upwards of 150,000 words using it. I first found it when I was searching for a program that would help me write a short screenplay, but RoughDraft has several other modes. It was created by a writer, for writers. It doesn't have many bells and whistles (you can't insert tables or pictures or such), so it's pretty small. But it has the features most writers would need for most writing projects, be they prose, screenplays, stage plays, whatever. It's got the word counter, spellchecker, dictionaries/thesauri (WordWeb), find/replace, clipboard, etc.

The best feature, in my opinion, is the side panel. The side panel is an area to the right or left (you can move it) of the main window. There are four tabs: Files (which will let you access any file on your computer), List (keeps track of your Find results), Ins. (Insert - lets you insert AutoWords, special characters, and clips from your clipboard), and Pad (simply a place for notes). It's the Pad that I love so much. The Pad file is saved along with your main file and opens with it, too. So they're always together. I use the Pad for all kinds of things - when something pops into my head as I'm writing, a question or problem, I make a note of it there.

There are a few annoying things about RD. Chief among them is the inability to insert a page break. This is only a minor annoyance (to me) though, because if I need a new page, I can simply create a new file. You can have as many as 100 files open at a time as tabs in RD. For most projects, I would just create a new file for each new chapter or section.

Another thing that's not an issue for me, but would make RD very unnattractive to some of you - no Mac or Linux version.

Oh, and if you already have RD 2.11, RD 3.0 just came out last month. Got some improvements, including the ability to print multiple copies of a single file. Finally!

And last but not least...it's free.

[The_Lord_J]

I've just come across a handy tool for planning your fic...this depends how your brain works (some people find just writing it out in a linear way easier, I prefer to have stuff organised under headings and subheadings etc so that it's visually easier to look at and find stuff).

Treepad.

http://www.nlsoftware.com/download/treepad.zip

Just lets you create a simple 'tree' (kinda like windows explorer) where you can add details in and search through it etc. I haven't got around to using it myself, but I might start using it soon.