Tools - Word Processors

Okay, this is obvious, but I wanted to mention them anyway.

Most word processors can get in the way of writing. When you sit down to write, particularly a novel, you want to write, not to worry about font, line spacing, pagination, etc. I don't know how many times someone has asked me why a particular set of text in Word is a different font or spacing from the rest of the document. It often takes a while to fix it. I've run into it too.

If you're going to write using a word processor, keep it simple. Use one font, one color, etc. About the only thing special you should be doing is italicizing. No indenting, no bold, no fancy first letter of a page, no graphics, etc. Just text with double spaces between paragraphs.

Okay, okay, so some of the greatest novels have special things in them -- illustrations, quotations, section separators, maps, etc. Your writing should stand on its own without all that gimmickry. I don't have a problem with these things, but they shouldn't be given much thought or effort up front. Wait until the document is done to add them. Even a graphic novel needs to make sense without the pictures.

I use Word to write. The reason I don't use something like WordPad is that WordPad saves files in .doc format, and then Word is the default application to open them. Also, WordPad doesn't have spelling and grammar checkers. Maybe one day I will write a "Writer's Word Processor," if I don't find one first.