News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

March 20, 2007

software

Writers writers everywhere, but not a word to write

Posted Mar. 20, ’07, 11:30 AM PT by Kate Marshall
Category | Software

Pages.jpgOur illustrious co-editor, Dan Moren, isn’t the only one who struggles with finding that Perfect Writing Application(TM). Let’s count the many word processors I’ve tried and in some cases, paid money for over the years: Mellel, Nisus Writer Express, CopyWrite, Pages, and that hulking behemoth, Microsoft Word.

I know it’s not really the software (be it a generic word processor, or dedicated writing application, like Dramatica Pro) that counts, but what you actually write and how much it doesn’t suck. That being said, I like Pages for now since it bridges the gap between MS Word and AppleWorks, the poor, abandoned Apple software. I’m currently using Pages for the first draft of a novel and so far, it hasn’t gotten in my way; a BIG requirement for any application. Despite using Word for so many years, I haven’t had to fumble around too much while learning the Pages way of doing things; also another important feature.

Besides, how can I resist if the icon for Pages is a fountain pen and ink bottle?


7 Comments

BruceJudson said:

Hi:

I am the author of multiple books on my Macintosh, including several award winners and bestsellers. (See About Me at Ventures Without Capital.

Like you, I have also tested every writing platform under the sun. I think that writers have this vague hope that somehow the perfect software will make it all easier. In the end, I have used Word for each book.

My end conclusion is that I needed a system that was particularly good with footnotes (and keeping track of sources), and everything else was ultimately unnecessary.

I think we all hope that something will make writing easier: Unfortunately, the muse will always be a fickle friend.

--Bruce Judson

March 20, 2007 12:01 PM
Walt Basil said:

Kate, have you seen Jer? I haven't tried it, but Dan liked it as I recall.
http://www.macuser.com/software/promising_writing_prospect_jer.php

March 20, 2007 12:11 PM
Tim said:

I am too a fan of Pages, and I just don't get why people like word, words interface is too busy and confusing the symbols are not as easy to see what they mean. Pages is simple yet powerful and I especially love the implementation of Notes which is excectuted perfectly. I also love how it divides up words over the line in a more sensible way than moving the entire word over to the next line. I can go on and on why I love Pages but I think I will stop here. (My uses right now are that of a student who writes papers)
Tim

March 20, 2007 12:53 PM
Sean Coffee Author Profile Page said:

Not exactly what you’re looking for because it falls into that “write now, format later” subset of editors, but Scrivener is beautiful. (literatureandlatte.com)

Download the demo, take the tutorial, read through the forum (which, for my money, is one of the best software support forums out there) and you will believe.

March 20, 2007 1:21 PM
Kate Marshall said:

@Sean: I think I have seen references to Scrivener before but was suffering from Writing Software Overload at the time. I'll give the download a whirl. Thanks for the tip.

March 20, 2007 3:49 PM
Babusi Sibanda said:

I am a novice in the area of writing software. Can someone please send me a short 3-5 list of writing software with links totheir sites

March 21, 2007 1:28 AM
Toby Junker said:

One Word:
LaTeX

It doesn't get in your way, you can use a plain text editor if you like, it produces superbly formatted and layouted text with beautiful fonts. It is particularly well suited for scientific writing. I admit, the learning curve is a bit steep and not being WYSIWYG is a bit confusing at first.

March 21, 2007 6:05 AM

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