Preferably a collaborative review incorporating suggestions, different perspectives and approaches. So I regard this as an initial draft, which I will adapt and extend. I have designed a simple table which gives an overview of each piece of software my original intention of going into much greater depth would have overwhelmed this thread, so I will do a mini-review for each program that seems interesting enough in this context. Having put in two tables, I think that just the tables overwhelm this post. I think that I will end up putting them all in their own 'mini-reviews' and just have a few overall conclusions & tables here, with links to those reviews. The form of most programs for writing seems to be based on the same structure as Outliners & Notetakers many of which transmogrified into PIMs before their near extinction.ĭespite the existence of these programs, most, it seems, still use Word - maybe because using what you are used to avoids a learning curve. It's not unreasonable for writing words down, functions well for editing, and can publish in a number of formats. And a review of writers' tools needs to cover the whole process of writing from the original idea in the writer's mind to the publication in the hands of the reader.īut it covers no earlier stage of the writing process. There are a number of stages shared by most types of writer. Research and Collection - A collection of external references, files, documents to be used when writing.Own material - Potentially a range of things including ideas, observations, conversations overheard, nice phrases or wordings, incomplete compositions.Brainstorming and development of ideas - mostly a process of possibilities that firm up into a plan different to own material because it is focussed on the project.Publication - formatting into a final stage.Revising and Editing - an iterative process that is likely to involve other people at some stages.Organisation - a detailed working up of the plan. Most likely a docx for a traditional publisher, a pdf for an academic work or a whole succession of different format for the independent.įor maximum use a review also needs to address the needs of all types of writers, not just Authors who might appear on a Literature syllabus (or the more modest writers resident in Grub Street). In fact, many people have to write as part of their work - students and academics, technical writers, bloggers, journalists and columnists, copywriters, novelists, playwrights, poets, lawyers, doctors, business people, politicians and speechwriters. So, in an effort to make the review fit for all needs, I will look at the software from the perspective of a reasonably comprehensive cross-section of the writing community (but not including mathematicians, programmers etc who use specialised editors). A senior professor with an active research programme.I hope that this will cover the needs of students at all levels. A writer of literary fiction - books, plays and screenplays.A writer of large scale, multi volume, huge world fantasy fiction.A journalist with weekly columns and a blog.Their needs are very different to those of a student because most papers are written in collaboraton with others and they may be working in a number of different fields and over a very long time. Also does pieces for media whenever asked.
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