Comments | wisdomeagle: poll: writing habits

wisdomeagle

poll: writing habits

Dec 19, 2007 12:47

The question is where you write fanfic; I mean... primarily. I sometimes brainstorm in a notebook or write there if I'm away from keyboard; I do some line-editing in Semagic because it has a spellcheck, but I do most of my writing and revision in NoteTab ( Read more... )

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Comments 39

such_heights December 19 2007, 18:00:15 UTC

I often do handwrite as well, however, especially if I'm having trouble with something, I find that sitting away from a computer with pen and paper can be very helpful.

wisdomeagle December 19 2007, 18:04:56 UTC

:)

I do sometimes find that helpful, mostly when I'm struggling with a structure that doesn't seem to be linear.

malnpudl December 19 2007, 18:27:19 UTC

Ditto.

kaizoku December 20 2007, 02:59:02 UTC

Me too!

rydra_wong December 19 2007, 18:00:42 UTC

At the moment, Word.

(Plus a stash of wee little paper notebooks for jotting down ideas when I'm away from the computer, but I'm dyspraxic enough that handwriting is slow, painful and only semi-legible; I have a notebook by my bed for late-night ideas, and this often results in fun morning guessing games as I try to work out what the hell I was on about.)

But it's basically "Word because that's what's on my computer and has a word count"; I've been eyeing up other programs lately, including some of the programs designed for creative writing, like Writeroom and Scrivener.

wisdomeagle December 19 2007, 18:07:21 UTC

I have a wee little notebook where everything gets written down -- fanfic, nonfanfic, appointments, funny things people say, doodles, etc.

What kinds of features do those programs have? I hadn't heard of them.

rydra_wong December 19 2007, 18:18:18 UTC

They're fairly different. Scrivener's a mixture of word-processing and note-taking/organizing software designed for organizing large writing projects, with things like a virtual "corkboard" for notes (whereas my current novel-length WIP Of Doom is occupying umpteen nested folders of Word docs, containing outlines and drafts and notes for redrafts and notes from betas and deleted scenes and ...).

Writeroom is more the sensory deprivation approach to getting words down *g*.

They can both export text into a variety of other formats. I haven't tried either yet, but I'm squinting at them speculatively, with a view to possibly trying one after the WIP is finally done (switching horses in midstream not being a good strategy, I feel).

They're both for Mac, but I'd imagine there are similar programs for PCs.

thelastgoodname December 19 2007, 18:01:42 UTC

I have this Mac application called CopyWrite (the name appeals to me nearly as much as the application) that is designed to cope with multiple drafts, notes, excessive versions, etc; that is, it's designed for the way that I write. There are some things that it doesn't do as well as I'd like, but for the most part, it's wonderful and I wish it had existed long ago.

wisdomeagle December 19 2007, 18:08:05 UTC

Very neat!

tresa_cho December 19 2007, 18:01:49 UTC

If I get an idea in class i write it on paper but then transcribe it. Most of my fic is in Word. I might switch to LaTex now, though, because I'm trying to learn how to use it.

wisdomeagle December 19 2007, 18:09:13 UTC

Cool! (My dad wants me to learn emacs. It's kind of tempting because it does seem to have many awesome features, but a is a bit daunting!)

hermionesviolin December 19 2007, 18:04:06 UTC

*fills out poll* As if I actually write fic these days ;)

I ticked WordPerfect, since I feel it still is primary. I do some in gmail, but not a lot since I'm bad at focusing on stuff at work (plus, writing porn at work is a bad idea since I . . . kind of get into what I'm writing).

wisdomeagle December 19 2007, 18:11:49 UTC

*snerk*

Well, you wrote Secret Slasha. :D

In June I guess I drafted a lot of fic in email -- Juno, which has a crap interface -- but mostly as a stopgap. I def. prefer to use NoteTab.

(I didn't list "chat window!" as an option and now feel I should have.)

hermionesviolin December 19 2007, 18:16:04 UTC

Looking at my del.icio.us (the one I did for all my own fic, a la musesfool, not my recs one), my last year's Secret Slasha is still in the most recent 10. :/

(And yes! That is so Amy and pearl_o and etc. I feel.)

wisdomeagle December 19 2007, 18:22:44 UTC

I seem to have written ~15 full-length fics this year (though nearer twenty with the addition of h_e stuff not yet posted), which is half of what I wrote last year, which is like a third of what I wrote the year before. I do not like what mental health does to my creativity!

And yes. Exactly who I was thinking of. :)

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