22 October 2007
Tips and Tools
Posted by Denise Kendrick under: Things We Like .
D and I have been writing together for a lot of years. In the early years, we were pretty much set with using LiveJournal or Yahoo Instant Messanger to get our stories plotted out and written.
But as our plot lines became more and more complex, so did our needs for editing and writing.
The both of us being computer geeks, we looked online to find the tools that would make our lives easier. Of course, D being more a programmer, looked for tools to make the perfect application for us. Me being a web2.0 junkie, I looked for a pre-exisiting web app that would work well enough.
I feel that I’ve at least tried out every tool that could be helpful, or harmful to an author, co-author or publication, which doesn’t make me an expert, but also doesn’t stop me from spouting off like one.
So I’ve made a list.
Google Docs.
So sue me, I’m a fan of Google. I am a kool-aid drinking member of the google faithful. The great thing about Google Docs is the sharing feature, no wait, it’s the dual real time editing… or maybe it’s the in depth revision changes tab. Meh, whatever it is, I’m all for it. Not to say that’s it’s perfect. If you don’t watch how you organize things, you’ll eventually have a folder full of 300 WIP’s and no one wants to look at that.
Writewith
We thought that Writewith would be an answer to the issues we were having with GoogleDocs. And it does, pretty much. You have the added features of setting tasks for yourself, your editor or writer or your co-author. You can leave notes to remind you of something you need to include to delete in the chapter. Etc. The part that I think broke the fun of it for Denise and I was the inability to do any kind of advanced organization. You end up with a very mix-matched list of chapters for different stories and the only way to get them into order is to filter them by tabs. Meh. But in a pinch, it’s a handy tool.
Basecamp - or more specifically Writeboard
Writeboard is another early favorite of Denise’s and mine. We were big fans of the ease of use and the revision list. But there was no main landing page to access all the writeboards at once. That quickly became the downfall of writeboard because we lost track of the unique URL’s used for each board created. You can take advantage of the rest of the Basecamp apps, but the free sections fill up quick. It’s good if you’re only working on one story/novel at a time. More than one and the only way to make it useful is to pay for it.
Zoho
This is the so called Microsoft killer. Zoho is a collection of online and mostly free applications that will replace desktop publishing. Word, excel, powerpoint, etc., all of it here in one handy sign on. Looking specifically at the editing application, again you have a familiar interface, handy sharing capabilities and a fairly good
So, those are the ones we’ve actually used.
Some others that I know about, but haven’t tried would be:
Publicsquare
I was excited about this one, but Denise wasn’t certain it was what we needed.
OpenEffort
Man, I am really excited about this one. Yes, we would so use it for a purpose not intended, but it’s the only option on any of the pages that allows you to drag and drop your chapters. I’m still hoping to talk Denise into trying this one out.
There are more, but at this point, I’m becoming a wordy wordy hor. So I’ll just direct you to google for the rest. 
There are some really helpful ways you can utilize these tools. Finding the one that works well with you is key.
-RD