Is there a need for better software for writers?Is there a special software for writers?Do You Use Any Version Controlling Software/Methods As Writers?Are there any free programs for screen writersSoftware for analyzing a manuscript?Is there any good time-line software out there?Is there a good project management software for writers?Software for instructional bookAre there tools/software for planning your story using nested mindmaps and references to characters?Mariner Software for writersIs there a writing software that you can sort scenes like slides in PowerPoint?
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Is there a need for better software for writers?
Is there a special software for writers?Do You Use Any Version Controlling Software/Methods As Writers?Are there any free programs for screen writersSoftware for analyzing a manuscript?Is there any good time-line software out there?Is there a good project management software for writers?Software for instructional bookAre there tools/software for planning your story using nested mindmaps and references to characters?Mariner Software for writersIs there a writing software that you can sort scenes like slides in PowerPoint?
Software developers don't ever work in text editors, instead they use IDEs (integrated development environments) full of code assistance tools, etc.
Why don't writers use similarly advanced writing environments full of writing assistance tools, text analysis, and functions for improving their productivity? Is that because there is no actual need for that or is it a product opportunity here?
Full disclosure:
I'm a software developer looking for opportunities across different fields and I also tried to write a book several times in the past. I always ended up realizing that I'm not good at writing, though it would be great if I could provide some value to good writers (unlike me) and help them be more productive.
software
edited 4 hours ago
Cyn
20.5k14496
asked 5 hours ago
maulerosmauleros
292
New contributor
mauleros is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Software developers don't ever work in text editors, instead they use IDEs (integrated development environments) full of code assistance tools, etc.
Why don't writers use similarly advanced writing environments full of writing assistance tools, text analysis, and functions for improving their productivity? Is that because there is no actual need for that or is it a product opportunity here?
Full disclosure:
I'm a software developer looking for opportunities across different fields and I also tried to write a book several times in the past. I always ended up realizing that I'm not good at writing, though it would be great if I could provide some value to good writers (unlike me) and help them be more productive.
software
edited 4 hours ago
Cyn
20.5k14496
asked 5 hours ago
maulerosmauleros
292
New contributor
mauleros is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
4
I'm also a software developer and had the same idea a while back. Someone suggested that I take a look at Scrivener before investing time in writing something. I not only gave up on the coding project, I bought both of their products. They have free trial downloads, so give it a try.
– Henry Taylor
5 hours ago
1
IMHO modern AI is advancing to the level that it can give a useful critique to the writer and perform human-level editing. I expect to see significant advances in that area in the next 5-10 years.
– Alexander
4 hours ago
2
FWIW I find the software-driven model of 'writing' to be rather depressing. I know a gent who recently discovered grammerly and while it 'improves' his writing, it decimated his voice.
– DPT
4 hours ago
Even when programming, there are plenty who don't consider the code assistance tools (and rather rudimentary editing abilities) of an IDE to be preferable to using at text editor that lets one edit text efficiently. When writing non-code text, this is even more true.
– Ray
17 mins ago
add a comment |
Software developers don't ever work in text editors, instead they use IDEs (integrated development environments) full of code assistance tools, etc.
Why don't writers use similarly advanced writing environments full of writing assistance tools, text analysis, and functions for improving their productivity? Is that because there is no actual need for that or is it a product opportunity here?
Full disclosure:
I'm a software developer looking for opportunities across different fields and I also tried to write a book several times in the past. I always ended up realizing that I'm not good at writing, though it would be great if I could provide some value to good writers (unlike me) and help them be more productive.
software
edited 4 hours ago
Cyn
20.5k14496
asked 5 hours ago
maulerosmauleros
292
New contributor
mauleros is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Software developers don't ever work in text editors, instead they use IDEs (integrated development environments) full of code assistance tools, etc.
Why don't writers use similarly advanced writing environments full of writing assistance tools, text analysis, and functions for improving their productivity? Is that because there is no actual need for that or is it a product opportunity here?
Full disclosure:
I'm a software developer looking for opportunities across different fields and I also tried to write a book several times in the past. I always ended up realizing that I'm not good at writing, though it would be great if I could provide some value to good writers (unlike me) and help them be more productive.
software
software
edited 4 hours ago
Cyn
20.5k14496
asked 5 hours ago
maulerosmauleros
292
New contributor
mauleros is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 4 hours ago
Cyn
20.5k14496
asked 5 hours ago
maulerosmauleros
292
New contributor
mauleros is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 4 hours ago
Cyn
20.5k14496
edited 4 hours ago
Cyn
20.5k14496
edited 4 hours ago
Cyn
20.5k14496
20.5k14496
asked 5 hours ago
maulerosmauleros
292
New contributor
mauleros is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 5 hours ago
maulerosmauleros
292
asked 5 hours ago
maulerosmauleros
292
292
New contributor
mauleros is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
mauleros is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
4
I'm also a software developer and had the same idea a while back. Someone suggested that I take a look at Scrivener before investing time in writing something. I not only gave up on the coding project, I bought both of their products. They have free trial downloads, so give it a try.
– Henry Taylor
5 hours ago
1
IMHO modern AI is advancing to the level that it can give a useful critique to the writer and perform human-level editing. I expect to see significant advances in that area in the next 5-10 years.
– Alexander
4 hours ago
2
FWIW I find the software-driven model of 'writing' to be rather depressing. I know a gent who recently discovered grammerly and while it 'improves' his writing, it decimated his voice.
– DPT
4 hours ago
Even when programming, there are plenty who don't consider the code assistance tools (and rather rudimentary editing abilities) of an IDE to be preferable to using at text editor that lets one edit text efficiently. When writing non-code text, this is even more true.
– Ray
17 mins ago
add a comment |
4
I'm also a software developer and had the same idea a while back. Someone suggested that I take a look at Scrivener before investing time in writing something. I not only gave up on the coding project, I bought both of their products. They have free trial downloads, so give it a try.
– Henry Taylor
5 hours ago
1
IMHO modern AI is advancing to the level that it can give a useful critique to the writer and perform human-level editing. I expect to see significant advances in that area in the next 5-10 years.
– Alexander
4 hours ago
2
FWIW I find the software-driven model of 'writing' to be rather depressing. I know a gent who recently discovered grammerly and while it 'improves' his writing, it decimated his voice.
– DPT
4 hours ago
Even when programming, there are plenty who don't consider the code assistance tools (and rather rudimentary editing abilities) of an IDE to be preferable to using at text editor that lets one edit text efficiently. When writing non-code text, this is even more true.
– Ray
17 mins ago
4
4
I'm also a software developer and had the same idea a while back. Someone suggested that I take a look at Scrivener before investing time in writing something. I not only gave up on the coding project, I bought both of their products. They have free trial downloads, so give it a try.
– Henry Taylor
5 hours ago
I'm also a software developer and had the same idea a while back. Someone suggested that I take a look at Scrivener before investing time in writing something. I not only gave up on the coding project, I bought both of their products. They have free trial downloads, so give it a try.
– Henry Taylor
5 hours ago
1
1
IMHO modern AI is advancing to the level that it can give a useful critique to the writer and perform human-level editing. I expect to see significant advances in that area in the next 5-10 years.
– Alexander
4 hours ago
IMHO modern AI is advancing to the level that it can give a useful critique to the writer and perform human-level editing. I expect to see significant advances in that area in the next 5-10 years.
– Alexander
4 hours ago
2
2
FWIW I find the software-driven model of 'writing' to be rather depressing. I know a gent who recently discovered grammerly and while it 'improves' his writing, it decimated his voice.
– DPT
4 hours ago
FWIW I find the software-driven model of 'writing' to be rather depressing. I know a gent who recently discovered grammerly and while it 'improves' his writing, it decimated his voice.
– DPT
4 hours ago
Even when programming, there are plenty who don't consider the code assistance tools (and rather rudimentary editing abilities) of an IDE to be preferable to using at text editor that lets one edit text efficiently. When writing non-code text, this is even more true.
– Ray
17 mins ago
Even when programming, there are plenty who don't consider the code assistance tools (and rather rudimentary editing abilities) of an IDE to be preferable to using at text editor that lets one edit text efficiently. When writing non-code text, this is even more true.
– Ray
17 mins ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
IDE-like tools exist for writers. Scrivener is a powerful general-purpose tool (also with questions here). Madcap Flare, aimed at technical writers, has good support for updating links, defining "snippets" (xinclude blocks, essentially), variables, conditionalization, advanced build options, and more. Arbortext Epic is another tool in that vein. There are XML editors like Oxygen and Notepad++ that you are probably already familiar with as a programmer. That's just a sampling.
Many writers prefer to just write and find that too much tooling gets in the way. Some of them use tools for planning separate from writing. Maybe fiction doesn't need to be refactored as often as code (though it does need to be refactored sometimes, and doing that in an editor using search is a pain). There are a lot of different kinds of writing and writers, and generalizations like "writers don't (or do) X" don't always stand up to scrutiny. Some do, some don't, some would if they didn't cost so much, and some do sometimes, depending on the task at hand.
(Psst. Some software developers still use emacs or vim...)
answered 2 hours ago
Monica Cellio♦Monica Cellio
17.7k24195
* shamefully raises hand * I use vim to program. I also wrote my novel with pen and paper. :(
– Roddy of the Frozen Peas
59 mins ago
On a more serious note, this is a very good answer. I would also point out that other forms of writing (screenplays, graphic novels, etc.) have an even larger collection of specialized software to support the particular needs of those media (specialized formatting, asset management, etc.)
– Roddy of the Frozen Peas
57 mins ago
@RoddyoftheFrozenPeas good point -- I've always assumed that screenwriting, for example, has specialized tools oriented around the format's special needs, but I don't have personal knowledge there. (And back when I was still a programmer I used emacs, only using an IDE to orchestrate large refactorings.)
– Monica Cellio♦
55 mins ago
add a comment |
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IDE-like tools exist for writers. Scrivener is a powerful general-purpose tool (also with questions here). Madcap Flare, aimed at technical writers, has good support for updating links, defining "snippets" (xinclude blocks, essentially), variables, conditionalization, advanced build options, and more. Arbortext Epic is another tool in that vein. There are XML editors like Oxygen and Notepad++ that you are probably already familiar with as a programmer. That's just a sampling.
Many writers prefer to just write and find that too much tooling gets in the way. Some of them use tools for planning separate from writing. Maybe fiction doesn't need to be refactored as often as code (though it does need to be refactored sometimes, and doing that in an editor using search is a pain). There are a lot of different kinds of writing and writers, and generalizations like "writers don't (or do) X" don't always stand up to scrutiny. Some do, some don't, some would if they didn't cost so much, and some do sometimes, depending on the task at hand.
(Psst. Some software developers still use emacs or vim...)
answered 2 hours ago
Monica Cellio♦Monica Cellio
17.7k24195
* shamefully raises hand * I use vim to program. I also wrote my novel with pen and paper. :(
– Roddy of the Frozen Peas
59 mins ago
On a more serious note, this is a very good answer. I would also point out that other forms of writing (screenplays, graphic novels, etc.) have an even larger collection of specialized software to support the particular needs of those media (specialized formatting, asset management, etc.)
– Roddy of the Frozen Peas
57 mins ago
@RoddyoftheFrozenPeas good point -- I've always assumed that screenwriting, for example, has specialized tools oriented around the format's special needs, but I don't have personal knowledge there. (And back when I was still a programmer I used emacs, only using an IDE to orchestrate large refactorings.)
– Monica Cellio♦
55 mins ago
add a comment |
IDE-like tools exist for writers. Scrivener is a powerful general-purpose tool (also with questions here). Madcap Flare, aimed at technical writers, has good support for updating links, defining "snippets" (xinclude blocks, essentially), variables, conditionalization, advanced build options, and more. Arbortext Epic is another tool in that vein. There are XML editors like Oxygen and Notepad++ that you are probably already familiar with as a programmer. That's just a sampling.
Many writers prefer to just write and find that too much tooling gets in the way. Some of them use tools for planning separate from writing. Maybe fiction doesn't need to be refactored as often as code (though it does need to be refactored sometimes, and doing that in an editor using search is a pain). There are a lot of different kinds of writing and writers, and generalizations like "writers don't (or do) X" don't always stand up to scrutiny. Some do, some don't, some would if they didn't cost so much, and some do sometimes, depending on the task at hand.
(Psst. Some software developers still use emacs or vim...)
answered 2 hours ago
Monica Cellio♦Monica Cellio
17.7k24195
* shamefully raises hand * I use vim to program. I also wrote my novel with pen and paper. :(
– Roddy of the Frozen Peas
59 mins ago
On a more serious note, this is a very good answer. I would also point out that other forms of writing (screenplays, graphic novels, etc.) have an even larger collection of specialized software to support the particular needs of those media (specialized formatting, asset management, etc.)
– Roddy of the Frozen Peas
57 mins ago
@RoddyoftheFrozenPeas good point -- I've always assumed that screenwriting, for example, has specialized tools oriented around the format's special needs, but I don't have personal knowledge there. (And back when I was still a programmer I used emacs, only using an IDE to orchestrate large refactorings.)
– Monica Cellio♦
55 mins ago
add a comment |
IDE-like tools exist for writers. Scrivener is a powerful general-purpose tool (also with questions here). Madcap Flare, aimed at technical writers, has good support for updating links, defining "snippets" (xinclude blocks, essentially), variables, conditionalization, advanced build options, and more. Arbortext Epic is another tool in that vein. There are XML editors like Oxygen and Notepad++ that you are probably already familiar with as a programmer. That's just a sampling.
Many writers prefer to just write and find that too much tooling gets in the way. Some of them use tools for planning separate from writing. Maybe fiction doesn't need to be refactored as often as code (though it does need to be refactored sometimes, and doing that in an editor using search is a pain). There are a lot of different kinds of writing and writers, and generalizations like "writers don't (or do) X" don't always stand up to scrutiny. Some do, some don't, some would if they didn't cost so much, and some do sometimes, depending on the task at hand.
(Psst. Some software developers still use emacs or vim...)
answered 2 hours ago
Monica Cellio♦Monica Cellio
17.7k24195
IDE-like tools exist for writers. Scrivener is a powerful general-purpose tool (also with questions here). Madcap Flare, aimed at technical writers, has good support for updating links, defining "snippets" (xinclude blocks, essentially), variables, conditionalization, advanced build options, and more. Arbortext Epic is another tool in that vein. There are XML editors like Oxygen and Notepad++ that you are probably already familiar with as a programmer. That's just a sampling.
Many writers prefer to just write and find that too much tooling gets in the way. Some of them use tools for planning separate from writing. Maybe fiction doesn't need to be refactored as often as code (though it does need to be refactored sometimes, and doing that in an editor using search is a pain). There are a lot of different kinds of writing and writers, and generalizations like "writers don't (or do) X" don't always stand up to scrutiny. Some do, some don't, some would if they didn't cost so much, and some do sometimes, depending on the task at hand.
(Psst. Some software developers still use emacs or vim...)
answered 2 hours ago
Monica Cellio♦Monica Cellio
17.7k24195
answered 2 hours ago
Monica Cellio♦Monica Cellio
17.7k24195
answered 2 hours ago
Monica Cellio♦Monica Cellio
17.7k24195
answered 2 hours ago
Monica Cellio♦Monica Cellio
17.7k24195
17.7k24195
* shamefully raises hand * I use vim to program. I also wrote my novel with pen and paper. :(
– Roddy of the Frozen Peas
59 mins ago
On a more serious note, this is a very good answer. I would also point out that other forms of writing (screenplays, graphic novels, etc.) have an even larger collection of specialized software to support the particular needs of those media (specialized formatting, asset management, etc.)
– Roddy of the Frozen Peas
57 mins ago
@RoddyoftheFrozenPeas good point -- I've always assumed that screenwriting, for example, has specialized tools oriented around the format's special needs, but I don't have personal knowledge there. (And back when I was still a programmer I used emacs, only using an IDE to orchestrate large refactorings.)
– Monica Cellio♦
55 mins ago
add a comment |
* shamefully raises hand * I use vim to program. I also wrote my novel with pen and paper. :(
– Roddy of the Frozen Peas
59 mins ago
On a more serious note, this is a very good answer. I would also point out that other forms of writing (screenplays, graphic novels, etc.) have an even larger collection of specialized software to support the particular needs of those media (specialized formatting, asset management, etc.)
– Roddy of the Frozen Peas
57 mins ago
@RoddyoftheFrozenPeas good point -- I've always assumed that screenwriting, for example, has specialized tools oriented around the format's special needs, but I don't have personal knowledge there. (And back when I was still a programmer I used emacs, only using an IDE to orchestrate large refactorings.)
– Monica Cellio♦
55 mins ago
* shamefully raises hand * I use vim to program. I also wrote my novel with pen and paper. :(
– Roddy of the Frozen Peas
59 mins ago
* shamefully raises hand * I use vim to program. I also wrote my novel with pen and paper. :(
– Roddy of the Frozen Peas
59 mins ago
On a more serious note, this is a very good answer. I would also point out that other forms of writing (screenplays, graphic novels, etc.) have an even larger collection of specialized software to support the particular needs of those media (specialized formatting, asset management, etc.)
– Roddy of the Frozen Peas
57 mins ago
On a more serious note, this is a very good answer. I would also point out that other forms of writing (screenplays, graphic novels, etc.) have an even larger collection of specialized software to support the particular needs of those media (specialized formatting, asset management, etc.)
– Roddy of the Frozen Peas
57 mins ago
@RoddyoftheFrozenPeas good point -- I've always assumed that screenwriting, for example, has specialized tools oriented around the format's special needs, but I don't have personal knowledge there. (And back when I was still a programmer I used emacs, only using an IDE to orchestrate large refactorings.)
– Monica Cellio♦
55 mins ago
@RoddyoftheFrozenPeas good point -- I've always assumed that screenwriting, for example, has specialized tools oriented around the format's special needs, but I don't have personal knowledge there. (And back when I was still a programmer I used emacs, only using an IDE to orchestrate large refactorings.)
– Monica Cellio♦
55 mins ago
add a comment |
mauleros is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
mauleros is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
mauleros is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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4
I'm also a software developer and had the same idea a while back. Someone suggested that I take a look at Scrivener before investing time in writing something. I not only gave up on the coding project, I bought both of their products. They have free trial downloads, so give it a try.
– Henry Taylor
5 hours ago
1
IMHO modern AI is advancing to the level that it can give a useful critique to the writer and perform human-level editing. I expect to see significant advances in that area in the next 5-10 years.
– Alexander
4 hours ago
2
FWIW I find the software-driven model of 'writing' to be rather depressing. I know a gent who recently discovered grammerly and while it 'improves' his writing, it decimated his voice.
– DPT
4 hours ago
Even when programming, there are plenty who don't consider the code assistance tools (and rather rudimentary editing abilities) of an IDE to be preferable to using at text editor that lets one edit text efficiently. When writing non-code text, this is even more true.
– Ray
17 mins ago