Writing Programs

Hi all. I guess the first thing I should define a few things before I start.

There are two kinds of writers. Outliners and Pantsers and yes, their names tell you exactly how they write. Many writers have debated for years about which approach is better. No one has ever found a satisfactory answer.

Outliners make an organized list of what happens in their books. They make sure all the important clues are properly in place and the story flows in an arc that increases pressure and removes choices from the hero and heroine. All of it builds to a fantastic climax in the story and hurries quickly to the end. If they happen upon another idea, they think it out to it's conclusion to see if it works into their outline and if so, how much of a pain is it to adjust their outline to incorporate the changes. If not, they don't use it. If so, they know where to look for changes that need to be made.

Pantsers write their stories by the seat of their pants, on the fly, as they go along. They have characters in mind and a few scenes they want to write and make up the rest as they go along. They don't feel the encumbrance of an outline to stick too. If something pops into their head they go off on tangents. Sometimes these tangents work out, sometimes they don't. If they do, then the pantser runs back over the entire story and edits to make it ring true through out the story.

Now maybe you can see the debate over which way is better. I don't believe there is a real solution, I don't think one is needed really either. I think everyone's brain works differently and as long as a method works for you, it's all good.

Now I will say I'm a pantser. The one story I outlined, sits at 30,000 words has been there for more years than I care to admit. I'll get back to it eventually. Some of my best story lines come from the spur of the moment. What I don't like however is all the editing that comes later. My first book took six months to write. Eighteen months to edit enough to send it to the publisher and another round of edits with an editor to whip it into shape above and beyond the eighteen months.

It's a lot of work. Writing is work no matter which way you do it. Whether it's make it up as you go along or using index cards to keep things in order, writing is hard work.

I have found a couple of programs that I liked enough to buy. I downloaded the free trial version of each to play with them before I bought them. I've used trial versions of others, but they were difficult to use and I felt like it stripped my creative license for my own story. The programs I liked my husband bought for me for my birthday. I have started using them. To be honest, I hate all the editing I make for myself. I've deleted as many as 40 pages of writing to make the story flow nicely. I need structure. The two programs I have used, gives me the structure without sucking my creativity from the story.

Character Pro 5 is a character building program. There are canned answers that you can use, or edit a little or not use at all. It incorporates the major character archetypes. There are a huge series of questions to allow you to get to know your characters. A few years ago, I used it to try with a couple of characters I'm writing their story slowly. They are powerful characters for me and the end of a series I've had in my head for years. Anyway, here is the link to the character sketches I posted here a long time ago.

Archives

Quick Story 5 is a story generator. You can set you book up anyway you want. Three acts, 4 acts, sequences, or no structure at all. You can design your own structure. There are canned plot points that you can use, edit, or discard and use your own. I did find that if you use your own, the program puts it into the unstructured mode, so select the generate plot point button once, then add your own and then chose your structure. Then choose a basic or full plot. I found that it's a ladder with which to build my story. Once the ladder is full, I highlight the whole thing and put it into word. Each step on the ladder is a scene and all my chapters and scenes are laid out. Changing things around isn't difficult either. Now you can write in the program too, but I haven't done it yet since I really like Word.

Here is the link to these programs. The character software is on the right and both together aren't over the top expensive either. Both programs together costs $89.99. I've seen some programs for as much as $400. Yikes.


Quick Story 5 and Character Pro 5