bell notificationshomepageloginNewPostedit profile

Topic : Re: Using software with my writing? I am looking for a good writing software. I'm not talking about something to perform just grammar/spelling checks, like word, which is great, but not what I'm - selfpublishingguru.com

10% popularity

I use something no-one has mentioned, LyX. It's designed for mathematicians and physicists to write documents full of TeX/LaTeX-typeset equations, which is how I happened upon it, but it's much more multi-purpose than that. It can be used to write scripts and, if you know what you're doing, novels. (I've used it for that purpose several times, but first it was how I wrote a PhD thesis.) It has a number of advantages over Word (but these might also be features of other options people have mentioned), such as:

Easy breakdown of document into parts, chapters, sections etc., be they numbered or unnumbered;
It works out how to position everything for you in a WYSIWYM, not WYSIWYG, format;
Ability to create invisible "notes".

But there are disadvantages:

You write a .lyx file but export from it to another format that can be read without LyX (LyX notes' contents won't show up);
The WYSIWYM format has some colour settings that, while having no effect on the output, can annoy you as the user unless you spend a few minutes changing them;
The document's settings may take a bit of customisation to look like a novel (I set the document class to Memoir; if you need any further help, look at the TeX SE).

I cannot speak for other programs, but there will be surprisingly long lists of pros and cons for everything, and ultimately the software is less important than your ideas.


Load Full (0)

Login to follow topic

More posts by @Ravi5107385

0 Comments

Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best

Back to top