If simply gives you the creative space to organize your ideas, characters, notes, chapters, scenes, research…etc. WriteItNow – Great balance of customizable GUI, useful features, and does not try to tell how or what to write at all. From there on, I dug some more and unearthed a few other interesting software. I was giving up by that point, until I came across the PC equivalent in WriteItNow and Liquid Story Binder XE. Scrivener and Storymill, Storyist…etc was like that, but they were for the Mac only, and I’m a PC guy. I then stumble upon some software that were far more useful and flexible–ones that stay out of your way and lets you write the way you write and tell the story that you want to tell, while providing you with a flexible space to do it in. What about an ensemble cast, or if the timeline is played out in not in sequence (such as Pulp Fiction)? What if there’s no protagonist and the main character isn’t supposed to triumph or lose but simply is (such as American Psycho)? Rigid software like that are only marginally useful for those who want to write the most mainstream and predictable Hollywood movies. I can’t think of anything worse for a writer than to force some clichéd Hollywood story structure onto any story idea, regardless of what it is. And you also have to follow a rigid pattern of small and large defeats and triumphs in the structure of your story. Contour is particularly laughable because it only allows you to create one character–the protagonist, and then you must tell the software how your protagonist is an orphan at the beginning of the story, then a wanderer, then a warrior, then a martyr at the end. All of them get in your way if you know how or what you want to write. Other software in that category includes Contour, WriteWay, Storybase, Master Storyteller, Story Weaver…etc. If I was the kind of person who couldn’t write my way out of a paper bag, had no original idea, and understood nothing about dramatic pacing, structure, character development, then maybe I’d try Dramatica Pro, but anyone who actually knows how to write would hate being told or prodded constantly about how and what to write. Then the software’s story engine tells you how you can construct the conflicts between your characters and how they can become your plot points, themes, and so on. The worst of the bunch is Dramatica Pro (AKA Storyview), where you have to answer a ridiculous number of questions about your characters, their background, their personality traits, their motivations, their various psychological traits, and a bunch of other stuff that may or may not have any relevance to your story. I personally think software like that are useless for people that actually know how to write and does not want to be lead by the nose by some writing software designer who has his own idea of what a good story entails. The most popular type seems to be the “creative writing aid†software, where the software holds your hand and actually helps you develop your storyline, characters, conflicts, pacing, structure…etc. To my surprise, the market seems to have grown quite large, with a lot of different software competing for your money. I simply got tired of having all these different files of notes, character profiles, prose, screenplays…etc in various folders. I recently researched into the writing software market to see what’s changed since the last time I checked, which was several years ago.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |