Well, this is the last #HistFicThursday blog before I launch Beneath A Darkening Sky at an event in Thurso on Monday 13th . Shame it couldn't be a Friday 13th, but we can't have everything! One thing is for certain: October is the spookiest month. And not just because we have Halloween. Halloween could be a day later and October would still be the spookiest month... Look at how the light retreats at this time of the year: up here, the seasons' turning drains away the daylight at a rate of 2.5hours over the course of this month! Up here, anyway. Our ancestors knew, a long time before they tracked time using clocks, that this month we now call October was a time to look back at what has been and ahead to how we will survive the winter. Is it any wonder then that, with generations of people looking back, October became a month for souls and spectres? People we have loved and lost come back to visit our hearts, imaginations - and, perhaps, our homes - as we recall autumns of ...
Day 7 -Thursday 7th November 2019 – Software
Now the world has moved into the technological age we’ve largely abandoned the pen for the keyboard. I do still have one story which I love writing by hand, but by and large my writing is now done on a computer – usually my laptop.
It’s taken me a long time to settle into any form of writing
software, but these days I tend to gravitate towards Scrivener for my
writing. I (mostly) like the layout, and
I find its sensible approach understandable enough so that even I know
what’s going on! The use of the binder
and corkboard approach is really easy to use and keep tabs on. But I’ve got to be honest, I have no idea how
most of it works! Ultimately, my books
make their way into Word, are shaped and formatted, and then converted to .pdf
files. In this way, I feel like I’m
using the best aspect of all the software I have!
Here are a few considerations about choosing the best software
for you:
- What do you want it to do? If you’re after a word processor document, you really can’t beat Word, but it’s much more difficult to cross-reference research than in writing software like Scrivener. For a professional level, .pdf files are the most reliable, but when you’re converting them, remember to embed your fonts, or some of your characters can be distorted or lost.
- Software doesn’t feel loyalty. Don’t feel restricted to only one programme, you
can get the best of all
worldssoftware! - There’s no right and wrong. If you decide you’re happier writing your story on a different programme, on a typewriter, or by hand, that’s fine! Just find a willing volunteer who will copy it up for you at a later date. BUT always keep copies of your writing. You may not like it now, but I guarantee you will be disappointed if you lose it!
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