RTW: Software Secrets
It’s Road Trip Wednesday time again. This week, the burning question on the mind of the YA Highway team is:
What word processing program do you use to write your manuscript, and can you share one handy trick you’ve learned in that program that has helped you while you write?
Whether at home or at work, I’ve been using Microsoft Office products since… probably 1993. If I recall correctly, back then you could buy Word and Excel as separate products, and I don’t think the concept of an “office suite” had kicked in. But I digress. That said, I’ve been using Word for a very long time. And old habits die hard. I wouldn’t call myself a Microsoft enthusiast (indeed, from a design perspective, Apple products are pure genius). But thanks to Microsoft products (whether Word, Excel, or their software development tools), I’ve had reasonably steady employment for almost 20 years, despite my degrees being in Theology. So I can’t complain.
Clearly, then, my default word processing tool is Microsoft Word. I did purchase Scrivener for PC, and have used it some. It looks like a great tool, and I can see how useful it could be. But so far, it hasn’t dislodged Word as my go-to writing tool. Possibly the time-saving and organizational features of Scrivener don’t correspond to the way I work. The idea of using flash cards to help summarize and organize chapters is good, but it’s not one I’ve really felt compelled to use. But should I feel the need to take that approach to my writing, it’s good to know Scrivener can accommodate more than adequately.
Aside from the “Save” button, the most useful writing feature I can think of in Word is the ability to get an instant word count.
In Word 2003, the word count is available as a toolbar. Just select the “Word Count” toolbar from the “Toolbars” drop-down under “View”:
In Word 2007, you can display the word count on the status bar just by right-clicking and selecting “word count.”
I’m sure later versions of Word make the word count available in similar ways.
If you’re a Word user, what’s the coolest feature you’ve found? What Scrivener feature can you not live without? If you’d like to join in the Road Trip, blog about your favorite word processing tool, and add your link to the comments on YA Highway!
I’m totally a Word user. I bought Scrivener almost a year ago, but it just seems like more fuss than I feel like dealing with. I’m used to Word, I know how it works. There’s no learning curve involved. Right now I feel like my time is better spent working on writing and not fiddling around with a new program. Plus, all of the bells and whistles on Scrivener (like the flashcard thing you mentioned) are not things I’d ever really use. I’m using Word 2010 and I too love the readily available word count. 🙂
I’m totally with you on making the best use of time. Yes, Scrivener might help me organize my novel, but my novel doesn’t need organizing–it needs writing! And I know how to use Word to do that. 🙂
Hi Colin! Sorry I haven’t commented in a while — it’s been a busy summer. I agree that the word count is great. It’s really nice to be able to highlight a scene and know exactly how long it is. At the SCBWI conference, I talked with an editor about “manuscript real estate.” I’d never heard of or thought about this before, but she was telling me that the amount of real estate you give a scene in your manuscript should be proportional to how important it is. For instance, in my manuscript, she said, you spent 3 paragraphs showing me X, but only 1 showing me Y. Is X that much more important than Y? And if so, why? Word counts can help you to see if you’ve spent too long on something that’s not very important.
Thanks for the comment, Laurie. I’ve been a bit lax in my blog visiting over the summer too–sorry! 🙁 That’s a great point about manuscript real estate. Very true, too. Something I need to remember. I’m often tempted to spend pages on something because I think it’s cool and interesting, but really has little to do with the main plot.
Flash cards? I didn’t know about the flash cards! hmmm.
Word count: 2010 has it right there on the bottom bar along with page count, but I had no idea of the other trick! I flip back and forth between 2010 and 2007. Thanks for the tip!
Yes, Scivener has digitized the popular writing help where you put summaries of each chapter (or scenes within a chapter) on flash cards. You can then lay the cards out (or pin them to a board) to create a visual representation of your novel’s/chapter’s structure. This allows you to re-arrange cards and play with the structure, see where plot holes are, etc. Or you can use it to help write a synopsis.
I can see how that might be helpful to some, but not everyone works that way.
Until this summer, I was a loyal Word user. Then I finally gave in and downloaded the free trial for Scrivener. I was hoping for a tool that I could use to structure my revisions and I fell in love with it. I’ve always had trouble keeping track of my plot progression and where the story slows down. I love using the notecards to summarize each scene so that I can see how everything fits in.
I just started using it for writing and I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. I love the target word count feature for the MS and for the writing session. I’ve always had trouble with outlining but I find that my plots meander too much. I’m hoping that using a new document for each scene and summarizing it with the notecards will be a good compromise between structure and pantsing.
You raise an interesting point, Rachael–perhaps Scrivener is more useful for plotters than pantsers. I’m not a total pantser, but I don’t think I’m a detailed plotter either. I can work with notes in a notebook that keep me going in the right direction, but I don’t plot to the nth degree. Scrivener seems as if it would appeal to the detailed plotter, and perhaps that’s why I haven’t taken to it so much? Just a thought.
Oh, yes. The save button really is a great feature! I was writing about my favorite key in my post. Yes, it is the delete key.
Although Word does “autosave,” you never want to rely on that. Save often. Write a few sentences, hit save–or control-S–and do this so often it becomes a reflex action. You never know. Oh, and keep a backup, preferably on an external drive, or on a virtual drive somewhere on the “cloud.”