K A Cartlidge

Archive for the ‘Writing and Tools’ Category

One of the first things a potential writer often does, and one of the things that many beginners get very distracted by, is to decide on their writing toolkit.

There are traditionalists who will use a typewriter or a notebook with longhand or even a Dictaphone or similar. The rest of us usually use a computer, whether a dedicated wordprocessor from the likes of Sharp or Brother, or a full system running Windows, Mac OS X or Linux.

Which leads to the question of software.

Over the years I have used Mac, Windows and Linux. On Linux I wrote using Kate, on the Mac I tried various stuff like MS Word, Copywrite and CeltX. On Windows I tried MS Word, WordPerfect, Wordpad, Notepad, Rough Draft, Sophocles, CeltX, Jer’s Novel Writer and many more.

Being by profession a C# software/web developer, I even rolled my own editors. Sometimes from scratch, sometimes using toolkits like Scintilla.

Then I had an epiphany. Two in fact.

• There is no such thing as the perfect tool. Unless it is written by myself for myself and I have unlimited time and resources to create it, there will always be something not quite right or omitted. To search for such perfection is a distraction from the actual act of writing.
• The best tool is the most productive tool. I code C# daily, and I use MS Visual Studio to do it. Why not use it for my writing as well as I am very comfortable and proficient in it’s use?

So can it do the job? It turns out it can …

• Install Visual Studio (the Express Edition is free from Microsoft, I use the Professional 2008 version but Standard is fine) and ensure the Editor preference for plain text files is to wrap lines.
• Create a blank Solution and add text files and folders to organise the project (see below).

It’s fine with large files. Multiple open files are no problem. It’s designed for developers so it has keyboard shortcuts galore so less need for the distractions of reaching for the mouse. It has full screen mode. Unlimited bookmarks. And an undo and redo feature that is unbeatable. It even has line margin colours to show which lines have been edited.

The way Visual Studio works is that a Solution can contain all the files that make up the book. That’s folders for notes, characters, different drafts or whatever. It’s also text files with synopses or query letters, web pages saved from the net or even map or character images. Basically, anything at all. Your entire needs in one easy location.

Here’s my structure:

Optional Extra.

The following gives online backups and the ability to create, view and roll back to a different version of the text than the one being edited. It also allows comparisons with the current backed up version to see exactly which lines have changed and how, plus the facility to work on different machines and just ‘check it in’ when done. Note that it may not work with the Express version of Visual Studio – I haven’t tried it.

• Set up a Subversion repository. My current webhost lets me do that with a single click.
• Install AnkhSVN into Visual Studio (it’s free). This gives right-click options for Subversion in Visual Studio and adds itself to it’s menu.

Summary.

It’s not the ideal option, but for me it gives familiarity, speed, minimal distraction, powerful editing, complete organising of the whole project, backups and version control. If you’re a developer as well as a potential author then it’s worth a try.

One final thing; it is missing wordcount.

If you are a developer than it’s worth me mentioning that I personally have my own C# class I drop into a subfolder of my Solution that knows my structure and with only a dozen lines of code or so gives me the option to press F5 and get a complete breakdown of my word count in moments for all chapters of all versions (incidentally, it also creates cover letters and complete RTF manuscripts with margins, headers, footers, line-spacing and so on – it makes for a really nice environment).

The other option is a seperate word count utility of which there are very many. The chances are, though, that word count is something you only need check infrequently so this is no real inconvenience. If you find you are checking word count continually (and you are working to novel lengths) then you are allowing your creativity to be limited by your target length and run the risk of compromised writing – just get it roughly the right length and leave the word count fetish for revisions.