yWriter

[Paul Whybrow]

We’ve discussed Scrivener several times on the Colony and I know some of you love it.

https://colony.litopia.com/threads/how-do-you-keep-track-of-your-novels-inner-world.6318/#post-75825

I’ve avoided writing apps since I returned to creative writing in 2013 but realised that I could do with assistance when I started writing my sixth Cornish Detective novel last autumn. In a foul mood after six months of technical gremlins, I wrote scenes in separate chunks, intending to connect them later. This proved trickier than I’d anticipated in a who-knew-what-when? way. It’s coming together at 50,000 words out of 80,000, but an organisational app would have made things easier.

I went over to using Linux three years ago, which I love, but some software, such as Scrivener, is Windows or Mac only. It is possible to use Windows apps with a compatibility layer called Wine, but it can be a bit unreliable.

I searched around for a Linux writing app equivalent to Scrivener, finding that yWriter was the best-reviewed.

Despite it looking easy to install, I had a horrible time getting it to work. After many hours of frustration and constructive swearing , I stumbled upon a solution, which was to move the downloaded zip file from my Downloads folder to Documents. Don’t ask me why this worked, but it did.

I’m currently learning how to use yWriter by watching YouTube instructional videos. One thing that I like about it is it’s free, whereas although Scrivener has a free trial period, it costs £43.



I know we have a few Linux users on the Colony.

Have you tried yWriter?

Any tips?

 

[RK Wallis]

Sorry, I use Scrivener. I think I got it free when I won Nanowrimo about 4 years ago.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I've decided against using yWriter. After several attempts to get the app to work, in which it froze after I'd entered my name and book title, I scouted around and found a Google group who'd discussed it.

Google Groups

The thought of not being able to access my work puts me off. I'm going to try the free trial period of Scrivener through Wine.

 

[RK Wallis]

That'd put me off too!

Scrivener's a steep learning curve, but so worth every penny. We put my Scrivener files in the cloud so it's always backed up. There are a few of us who use it, so there's always someone around with tips. My first tip, watch YouTube and see how you import a Word doc into Scrivener. I went about it the long way of copying and pasting each scene, but there's a quicker way than that.

 

[CageSage]

If you have a NaNo Winner's code, you can get a good discount on Scrivener (it's never free), which is what I did.

Don't have one? Do the trial, see how you like it, and if you do ...

50% off Scrivener for all NaNoWriMo winners!
Scrivener is an award-winning writing app for Mac, Windows and iOS that has been enthusiastically adopted by best-selling novelists and novices alike. All NaNoWriMo winners can receive a 50% discount on Scrivener’s regular license (or Scapple, a simple but powerful tool for making connections between ideas) by entering the following code into the coupon code text field in our web store up until November 1, 2020.
COPY COUPON CODE -- I'll give you this if you want to go ahead with it.