: Re: Do Writers Use LaTex/TeX for writing? I'm quite interested in the LaTex/TeX system and am wondering if any other fellow writers use it frequently to write in.

@Vandalay250

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For longer pieces, especially those with figures, tables, contents, or internal references, or citations.

For shorter pieces (such as an essay) I'd do it in Word or OpenOffice, since I normally don't need the power of Latex and getting it laid out properly won't involve much work.

Any writing of decent size, I use LaTeX because:

I only worry about content and not layout. If I'm writing a scientific paper, thesis, or dissertation, there is usually a latex style that I can apply once the content is there. If I need to apply a different layout (ie: change from two-column to one column), change figure titles, etc) this is as simple as applying a different style.
Managing internal references. Word does it but it's always been a pain personally to use. Latex handles it elegantly.
Citations. BibTex is awesome and works with pretty much every reference management software out there.
No mouse necessary. Latex has one hell of a learning curve. Making changes to layout can drive you to bang your head against a wall. However, once you've become comfortable with it, your output can speed up heavily. You stop thinking about formatting while you're writing. You don't worry about selecting the correct bullets, or making sure things are indented properly. You simply write text and put markers that define what that content is (chapter, section, caption, etc). Your style handles the rest.
Version control. Because Latex files are pure text, they go very easily with version controls and diff. Seeing changes between versions shows you exactly what changed.
Cross platform and repeatability. Because it's all text, you can edit it anywhere. Including vi through a shell. Latex will also always produce the exact same document, as a PDF if desired, so you don't have to worry about how someone is going to open it.
Equations. If you're writing equations, it really can't get much easier and much nicer output than Tex's math mode.

What I absolutely don't use it for:

Scriptwriting. Final Draft is much better suited to that task.

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