My Impression of WriteWayPro
23
| Oct 2009 |
A couple of people asked me if I've ever used WriteWayPro and if so, what I think of it.
It's my fourth day using the program. I think it's a fine program, and it does what you want it to do.
Strengths:
- Everything you need for your writing project is right there on the screen, so it's very easy to keep things organized.
- It's very easy to move scenes around or reference certain scenes, etc.
- It starts fast.
- You can set it to open to your last active chapter or scene, so you can start working right away.
- It's not that difficult to learn.
- Customer support is great. I've seen some really crappy customer support, but this is excellent. I'm happy with the response time and so on.
- Word count report and analysis are fabulous. I love looking at them and see how many words I need to write to hit my target completion date, etc. (I no longer need to mess with Excel, although I adore Excel…)
Things WriteWayPro can improve on:
- It's currently lacking auto-save, so you have to remember to save every so often.
- The composition screen shouldn't be in print layout (to use Wordspeak). It's a personal preference, but I find it very distracting to see empty headers and footers as I go from one page to the next. Since the composition font and the final manuscript font are different anyway (and lovely WriteWayPro formats everything for you automatically!), I don't see any point to having a ton of blank space on the screen. Besides, it really breaks the flow as I draft and/or edit. I wish I could hide the blank space like in Word.
- I'm not sure if it's just me or Word 2007 or what, but when I export the entire manuscript into rtf and open it in Word, the text looks justified, and the right side is smooth instead of jagged. But if I copy paste the entire manuscript to another blank Word doc, the format comes out fine. It's not a deal breaker, but it's something to be aware of if this kind of stuff really really matters to you.
- Unlike Word, which can check for typos as you type, WriteWayPro checks typos only if you click on the spell-check button. I find this to be somewhat annoying because I like to fix typos as I draft / edit.
- This didn't bug me, but it may bug you: the user interface is very basic and not as polished and fancy as the latest Microsoft Office. But it does the job, and I don't think it's something WriteWayPro should put any priority on addressing. If you simply must have the slickest GUI, however, this may bother you.
So there it is. Any questions? Have you used WriteWayPro or any similar software? If so, what do you think about it? If you've never used any, why not?
So the FTC doesn't come after me, here it is again: I'm not in any way shape or form related to or employed by WriteWayPro. I never received any monetary compensation for this post. I've downloaded WriteWayPro, and I am currently drafting my novel with it.
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:23 am · Link
I decided to download WriteWay Pro, using the coupon, but I haven’t really done anything with it yet, as it was late and I was tired, so not the best time to learn a program.
Was thinking about using it to outline novels/novellas etc at first rather than the actual writing, but I’m not used to thinking in terms of acts & scenes, just chapters. So that will take some getting used to.
I still think it will be fun & useful when I get the hang of it. :)
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:54 am · Link
I’m trying this out myself. The one thing it doesn’t have that I really wish it did, is a timeline chart or something. Keeping my timelines straight can be an issue for me, and I wish it had one.
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:02 am · Link
How many of us here commented because that’s the reason why we were allowed to read the post early? *g*
I plan to give it a try tomorrow.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:04 am · Link
I tried it a few years ago and didn’t like the look and feel of the interface. It was just a little clunky. However, the big plus for me at the time was that I could import pictures into the character sheets. Few other writing packages I’d looked at would do that.
I have Scrivener downloaded on the Mac but haven’t played with it enough to know whether I’m going to love it or not. I don’t have a lot of time to sit and learn how to really use it. It does have a much nicer interface than WWP.
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:47 am · Link
I have New Novelist software that I tried to use for a while. Although there are some interesting features such as a hero’s journey plotting structure template, there is no word count feature which turned out to be a big deal breaker indeed.
I am intrigued by your blogs and the comments above about WriteWayPro. I am going to give it some serious thought prior to NaNo.
Thanks for the review!
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:54 pm · Link
Portia — I think you can put all your chapters in one “act” so you do’nt have to fool w/ acts. Notes do not require you to break them down to the scene level.
ChrisQ — Have you thought about modifying one of their notes?
M — Just you LOL.
Joely — I agree Scrivener looks slicker. MS OneNote can do the picture if you’re interested.
Mandy — I’ve never used New Novelist. I agree no word count = no way.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:44 pm · Link
I have considered it. I’m still playing around with it.
October 24th, 2009 at 10:38 am · Link
Ah hah! Great suggestion… will disregard act structure for time being and just do chapters and scenes.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:00 pm · Link
I heard that Liquid Story binder is the windows equivalent of Scrivener
http://www.blackobelisksoftware.com/
Personally I couldn’t get on with it. Too many fiddly bits but there are a lot of people who swear by it.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:37 pm · Link
I’ve been using WWP for about 3 years now, maybe 4, and look at other programs but always come back to this one.
I would add that their spellchecker is horrible, but I like the program because it doesn’t make me look at red and green squiggly lines. I don’t want to deal with spelling and grammar until I finished the scene.
I use Word 2000, so it may be a 2007 thing. I’ve never had the problem with the edges, but I do notice that the headers contain the number 8.6 whenever I export. I don’t know why, and for reasons I’m not sure it drives me batty. :mrgreen:
I agree about the reports. They’re very helpful, and since I normally think and plot in scenes, it is very helpful to me. It also has features I don’t use, like storyboard. I’m glad you reviewed it, Nadia. IMO, it deserves recognition. :)
July 2nd, 2010 at 2:58 am · Link
I’m still searching for an excellent software programme that includes a Canadian dictionary. It drives me bonkers to manually change the spelling. Perhaps WWP will include it in their next upgrade along with suggestions I’ve read here.
August 7th, 2011 at 11:25 am · Link
What is the difference between WRITEWAY and WRITEWAY PRO?
Cost of wwp is…?
Can the text be formatted…as in create a style sheet? I indent the fist line and set the left and right margins.
Is it Windows 7compatible?
August 7th, 2011 at 11:28 am · Link
What is the difference between WW and WWP?
Is the first line of text automatically indented?
Can margins be changed?
Cost?
Compatible with Windows 7?
August 7th, 2011 at 3:04 pm · Link
Saul
You can set your own style in the book properties.
As for the tech specs and others (compatibility, cost, etc.), you should check out their website.