Scrivener has been my default go-to but mostly because I've been attached to it for a while. I reckon there's a lot of better tools nowadays though.
this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2023
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I’ve looked at a lot of the other tools that exist and none have the polish and sheer capability of Scrivener. If you just need a place to write, other tools are great. But if you want formatting and output control, Scrivener is unparalleled. And when you’re ready to publish, you can easily produce whatever format you need with intelligent, automated exports. It’s incredible.
I will second that all day every day. Scrivener has the ability to scratch all my little writing itches like nothing else has. I’ve been using it so long I’ve still got the old version and it’s just a comfy writing blanket for me at this point.
I thought about updating to the new UI version but I think I’m beginning to understand the crotchety old timers of yore and their attachment to typewriters.
I mostly write notes and technical texts. Started off with Evernote, then tried a bunch of things: Obsidian, Notion, Joplin, ended up using Logseq. IMO Logseq is perfect for people who value their independence from the cloud: it is local-first, stores everything in text, works well with Git.
I would have really appreciated not being tied to it's editor, but so far it's the most convenient app I used for my purposes.
Emacs + orgmode. Quite technical, not for the faint of heart, but it is an amazing tool to keep everything in plain text. If you are not a technical person, probably this is not for you, as it requires quite the tinkering, but once configured to your workflow, it is very good.
Second place for Manuskript (source code), that is an open source scrivener-like application. I like it a lot, but I always go back to emacs, but probably someone here can appreciate it.
Although I like GNU Emacs a lot (it is my IDE, my scratchpad, my IRC client, my Matrix client, my Gopher browser and my part-time e-mail reader) and I use org-mode for my TODO lists and structuring for my more complex blog posts, I (personally) consider it inadequate for writing long-form prose. I always feel that it expects me to have a list wrapped around it. I know that org-novelist exists, but it tries to enforce a workflow that's not mine.
I just had a brief look at Manuskript and it crashes immediately. I think I'll wait for 1.0.0 before I try again.
Similar: I use Codium with a vim input plugin and keep everything in plaintext as well. I write in markdown and use small scripts and tools like pandoc to produce epub versions that I can take with me on my phone. I use the notation features in my e-reader to do editing. All content except for a couple fonts and images are textual, making it ideal for tracking changes with git.
I’m one of those writers that has to really be in the mood to write or else it feels forced. So, to limit my distractions or case of “Ugh, okay I’ll just look for 5 more minutes…” which turns into a hour.
I found those really neat program called Ommwriter. Its literally just text. There’s no UI or anything. I think you can customize the background, but I haven’t felt the need to change anything.
Obsidian. Previously Visual Studio Code (well...), WriteMonkey, Notepad++, but in the end—VSCode has a great idea for the UI, and I already write in Markdown, so Obsidian was a natural choice the moment I learned it exists.
This post finally loaded for me! So its a little late but, I use Libre Office for writing (and VSCode if Interactive Fiction), Google Docs for notes, and sometimes for the writing itself if I need to edit on the go, and Notebook.ai for worldbuilding, and their timeline functionality.
Honestly? Google Docs. I just love the access I have to it no matter where I am.