Fiction vs. Nonfiction writing/software

Posted by Hugh
Sep 2, 2008 at 09:26 PM

I think you’re right, Steve.

Personally, I blame JK Rowling. ;-)

Fiction is an “aspirational” market, or wannabe as you say. If the market for fiction-writing software is growing, so is the market for “how-to” books. Everyone seems to think they can drop down to the local Starbucks for a few hours a week with their laptop and special software, having read Vogler, McKee or Field, and churn out a well-turned tale. But as a wise man once said: “Everybody thinks they haves a book inside them - and that’s where it should stay.”

I am sure that the market for non-fiction writing is “real” (or whatever the opposite of “aspirational” is). And of course as you point out, non-fiction may have functionality demands that fiction does not.

Incidentally there are several more pieces of fiction software than you mention: apart from the WriteItNows, Power Structures and Power Writes, there are New Novelist, Bookwriter, MyNovel and this new one (which you may have seen elsewhere): http://code.google.com/p/bookwrite/. For factualists there are as you say only the apps you mention and in addition perhaps Tinderbox.