Malazan Empire: Final Draft - Malazan Empire

Jump to content

Page 1 of 1
  • You cannot start a new topic
  • You cannot reply to this topic

Final Draft (The Program)

#1 User is offline   Acorn 

  • Sergeant
  • Group: Malaz Regular
  • Posts: 87
  • Joined: 18-July 12
  • SHHH!!


    The walls have feet.

Posted 01 January 2013 - 05:21 PM

I've heard mainly good things about the program itself as a tool for writing and formatting. I've never even seen the program in action, so I'm a bit skeptical about getting it.

Has anybody here used the program Final Draft?

Is it worth the trouble, even if you're mostly just starting to write the story up in manuscript form?

Is there something else better?


I currently use Treepad, business edition. It's a hell of a good program for organizing. If you haven't seen it, it appears on your screen like a Windows Explorer window with Folders and subfolders. But each Folder is shown on the opposite frame as an article. Inside you can do most everything you could do in Microsoft Word. It's great for writing up notes, character info, outlines, chapter summaries and more... But for some reason it doesn't much help me get things written out in large quantities. It seems to stifle my creativity... I don't know why, and it probably sounds silly. But I think it has something to do with the program being too organized, too structured, if that makes any sense....

So I've considered Final Draft, people give it decent reviews online, but I'd rather see if anybody hear has experience with it before committing ot the purchase!

Cheers!
0

#2 User is offline   Gnaw 

  • Recovering eating disordered addict of HHM
  • View gallery
  • Group: High House Mafia
  • Posts: 5,966
  • Joined: 16-June 12

Posted 01 January 2013 - 05:54 PM

what is your operating system?
"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." - Viktor Frankl
0

#3 User is offline   Defiance 

  • Vicariously I live while the whole world dies
  • Group: Malaz Regular
  • Posts: 1,472
  • Joined: 24-December 09
  • Location:IA
  • Interests:Malazan, RPGs, writing

Posted 01 January 2013 - 09:59 PM

I'm pretty sure my friend uses Final Draft for writing screenplays and such; if it's the program I'm thinking about, he thinks it's pretty decent. That said, if you're planning on using it to write a novel with, I have no idea whether or not it'll be good.

Personally, I'm weird and type out all of my first drafts using Notepad. It doesn't have shit for formatting and you have to rely on ctrl+f to locate things, but on the other hand it's about the least distracting program possible. It allows me to focus solely on what I'm writing. Open my notepad file, turn off my wi-fi, and I'm usually good to go for a few hours.

On the other hand, I keep all of my character/setting/plot notes in Microsoft Word. It's not the best program for it, but by effectively utilizing headings I'm able to quickly jump to whatever I want to find.
uhm, that should be 'stuff.' My stiff is never nihilistic.
~Steven Erikson


Mythwood: Play-by-post RP board.
0

#4 User is offline   Acorn 

  • Sergeant
  • Group: Malaz Regular
  • Posts: 87
  • Joined: 18-July 12
  • SHHH!!


    The walls have feet.

Posted 02 January 2013 - 01:19 AM

@ Gnaw:

I'm running on a Windows 7 (64bit) Dell XPS laptop.

It's not crazy-awesome, but it's a decent laptop. Decent for gaming and such, plenty of space for my massive amounts of pictures, music, movies and books and more...

@ Defiance:

I can't seem to get the font and all just right for me in Notepad. It drives me crazy trying to type in it for anything I plan on referring to over and over. If you like the simplistic form of Notepad and the benefits of Word, Treepad Lite (free version) might work for you.

It isn't terribly distracting at all once you use it for a short while. And it's a pretty straight-forward program.

But I'm interested in getting the format and all done correctly. It helps me write when I have things in the proper format, because it keeps me focused on what it is I'm doing.. IE, if it looks like a Screenplay, I write it more easily.. But if it is just typed out, everything looks wrong when it's not formatted the right way, which makes me go over it again and again instead of just writing more...

Maybe I am just broken in the head =p
0

#5 User is offline   Isa 

  • Fist
  • Group: Malazan Artist
  • Posts: 209
  • Joined: 10-November 10
  • Location:Sweden

Posted 02 January 2013 - 10:25 AM

I use Scrivener and I love it. In writing mode, it's wonderfully neat, but it's also great for organizing your research and getting your text in order. I manly use the fiction format but it comes with screenplay, poetry etc. There's a pretty generous trial period so I would highly recommend that you try it :(
0

#6 User is offline   Use Of Weapons 

  • Soletaken
  • View gallery
  • Group: Malaz Regular
  • Posts: 2,237
  • Joined: 06-May 03
  • Location:Manchester, UK
  • Interests:Writing. Martial arts. Sport. Music, playing and singing, composition.

Posted 02 January 2013 - 12:42 PM

I use OpenOffice's Write program. Pros: free (free!), powerful, easy to format and organise, link and search, edit, global find and replace (danger, Will Robinson!). Cons: I'm probably not using it to the max of its capability. But it's plenty for me, and I keep my directories organised so that I can find notes and research easily.

I've tried using LaTeX for writing, as there's a plugin for Windows that let you format according to the submission guidelines for any given publisher, which was frankly awesome. But writing in LaTeX code didn't help my writing flow, so I gave it up after a while.
It is perfectly monstrous the way people go about nowadays saying things against one, behind one's back, that are absolutely and entirely true.
-- Oscar Wilde
0

#7 User is offline   Gnaw 

  • Recovering eating disordered addict of HHM
  • View gallery
  • Group: High House Mafia
  • Posts: 5,966
  • Joined: 16-June 12

Posted 02 January 2013 - 07:52 PM

View PostAcorn, on 02 January 2013 - 01:19 AM, said:

@ Gnaw:

I'm running on a Windows 7 (64bit) Dell XPS laptop.

It's not crazy-awesome, but it's a decent laptop. Decent for gaming and such, plenty of space for my massive amounts of pictures, music, movies and books and more...




https://www.mariners...e.com/products/

very nice stuff at reasonable prices

but they are a Mac only shop
"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." - Viktor Frankl
0

Share this topic:


Page 1 of 1
  • You cannot start a new topic
  • You cannot reply to this topic

1 User(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users