Software for Authors

Posted by Cassius
May 16, 2011 at 10:53 PM

Occasionally there are posts here asking about software designed for writing either nonfiction or fiction. My son writes both and I finally was able to corner him and ask what he uses:

MS Word (on both the MAC and PC) and NOTHING ELSE, except, perhaps, some notes on paper. He said that using special software requires learning new commands and operations, which slows down the writing process.

He creates a separate Word file for an outline of the document (book, article, etc.) and for each character or topic, as needed. (I assume he ALT-TABs between them.) He said that publishers require each chapter to be a separate file, in his case a separate Word file. He also said that each publisher has its own codes that it requires an author to use to indicate special formatting, such as italics. He adds these codes last, but to make this process easier, he uses Word’s WISIWIG formatting as he writes, and often will enter a special symbol just before specially formatted entries so he can find them easily using the FIND function. (He searches for his symbol and then enters the appropriate publisher’s code(s).

I’m not sure, but expect that if he had to include a large bibliography, he still would use Word.