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NovelWriter 1.0 – A markdown-like editor for writing novels

novelwriter.io

121–130 of 277 posts

Re: NovelWriter 1.0 – A markdown-like editor for writing novels

#121

Looks fantastic! But, too late for me. I'm writing a novel now in emacs' orgmode (spacemacs) with lots of customization. The killer app for me is orgmode's foldable hierarchies of text. Beyond that even typing speed isn't my main bottleneck, it's ideas and sitting down in front of the keyboard and actually typing.

> it's ideas and sitting down in front of the keyboard and actually typing

This is the crux of the challenge for every writer. At least for me, I use "finding the right tool" as a way to procrastinate from actually writing...

Re: NovelWriter 1.0 – A markdown-like editor for writing novels

#123
post #17

Outside of the more technically inclined; Does anyone who is a long-form (novel) writer actually use markdown? Outside of blogging, which it was invented for and makes total sense for syntax conversion of free formed text to html is there any real use for it? Obviously you don't have to use it if you don't want to, but it sort of feels odd to me that all these developers making writing/notes apps that neglect rich te…

It’s a problem I’ve grappled with for a while. I used to use Scrivener but eventually got tired of its syncing capabilities, as I took a lot of notes on my phone in markdown and wanted an easy way to integrate and transform these notes into longer form pieces. Scrivener does support this, but it’s definitely not the most polished feature of the tool and it kind of clunky and annoying to work with in my opinion.

Tried using vim+git for a while. This combo is great for portability, but my eyes get tired staring at a terminal all day, and while git feels nice, it doesn’t give you huge advantages and is just more work when many GUI tools like scrivener have good enough version control built in — some would probably find a complete git version history useful, and use branches for different drafts etc. but I personally have never needed this and find it’s just another distraction from actually doing the work of writing.

Now that I stare at a screen for several hours a day during my day job, I’ve settled on pen and paper for my own health. No idea yet whether or not I’ll be able to translate this into finished products or if typing out handwritten text will prove too tedious.

Re: NovelWriter 1.0 – A markdown-like editor for writing novels

#124

So I have been looking for something like this, and in fact the closest thing might be Highland 2. What I have been using is VScode with some scripts and other features. Really want an alternative to scrivener that keeps everything in markdown. The key thing I miss in all the other versions is something that will: 1. Count the words in a chapter/scene/section 2. Give me a total based on the "in work" chapters/scenes/…

Have you heard of Manuskript[0]? It's an open source editor with a lot of features similar to Scrivener, runs on Linux/Windows/Mac, and has a few features that Scrivener doesn't have that have helped me plan things more fully in the past. It's not perfect, but it's a solid tool. Also, it's backed by Markdown text files. [0]: https://www.theologeek.ch/manuskript/

I have used it, and I liked it but back when I used it:

1. It was only for linux (and I hope OS a lot)

2. I either didn't know, or didn't appreciate, that it uses Markdown.

Thanks for the tip.

(I also think there was only an option to install it from a site I did not know if I could trust, and I hate building from source.)

Re: NovelWriter 1.0 – A markdown-like editor for writing novels

#125

This has no word export option (unless I missed it) which makes it infeasible for a lot of writers. Like it or not, docx is the format a lot of folks in mainstream publishing expect. Context: My partner is a published author and I've pitched stuff like this at her on multiple occasions as an alternative to Scrivener. In addition to her laughing at my insistence that markdown is a superior way to write, she cites the…

I agree with her - markdown is totally not a superior way to write. It's a good way to mark up text, but writing isn't just marking up text.

Re: NovelWriter 1.0 – A markdown-like editor for writing novels

#126
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point I am getting at is that if an editor wants to use markdown in place of rtf, fine. But it should hide the syntax just like rtf editors do (unless you want to see it). No editor that supports markdown to date has been able to achieve the quality of editing that rtf editors already have. So in essence outside of markdowns original use case of web publishing, why bother using it?

Writing a novel is definitely a 'to each, his own' practice. I can format text all day. It's a huge distraction that allows me to also feel 'productive'; which gets in the way of actually writing. Using a markdown editor lets me do the formatting that is necessary for the work ( e.g. , italics) without being hugely distracted. > But it should hide the syntax just like rtf editors do (unless you want to see it). I'm u…

> quick-and-dirty character family tree for my own reference

KeenWrite supports inline TeX, Mermaid (via Kroki), R for calculations, and interpolated string variables:

https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite#screenshots

This allows me to create a family tree and, when I change a character's name, the diagram---along with every other reference to their name---is updated automatically. Here's a video showing how it works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_dFd6UhdV8

Re: NovelWriter 1.0 – A markdown-like editor for writing novels

#127
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

can you describe the complete process you use to convert your documents?

I only gave it a try for a chapter or two just to get a feel for what might be involved. I first tried pandoc. This mostly worked, except for the indentation of paragraphs. I took care of that by setting up LibreOffice's paragraph indentation, and used LibreOffice's search replace to remove the (now) extraneous new lines. My recommendation is to grab a decently long markdown document and give it a try.

[deleted]

Re: NovelWriter 1.0 – A markdown-like editor for writing novels

#128

This has no word export option (unless I missed it) which makes it infeasible for a lot of writers. Like it or not, docx is the format a lot of folks in mainstream publishing expect. Context: My partner is a published author and I've pitched stuff like this at her on multiple occasions as an alternative to Scrivener. In addition to her laughing at my insistence that markdown is a superior way to write, she cites the…

Acknowledge having an inbuilt export would be preferable but for what it’s worth; If you’re a dev it shouldn’t be too hard to leverage pandoc, especially coming from a clean text based format.

Something like:

$ brew install pandoc (install on macOS)

$ pandoc -t docx filename.md -o filename.docx

Ref: https://opensource.com/article/19/5/convert-markdown-to-word...

Re: NovelWriter 1.0 – A markdown-like editor for writing novels

#129

This has no word export option (unless I missed it) which makes it infeasible for a lot of writers. Like it or not, docx is the format a lot of folks in mainstream publishing expect. Context: My partner is a published author and I've pitched stuff like this at her on multiple occasions as an alternative to Scrivener. In addition to her laughing at my insistence that markdown is a superior way to write, she cites the…

Just to add here, the question is not “is markdown (or tex or binary strings or...) better”, but “can the person who determines whether I get paid open the file?” The fiction publishing world is cutthroat competitive. Trying to use nonstandard tools / “breaking the mold” adds even more friction to success.

This can be accomplished by exporting to PDF

Re: NovelWriter 1.0 – A markdown-like editor for writing novels

#130
post #36
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm close to 60,000 words into my latest novel and I'm writing in Ulysses using Markdown. Novels, in particular, rarely need more than headings and occasional italics or boldface.

how do you convert from markdown to standard manuscript format? starting to write in markdown or even plain text is fine, but once the first draft is submitted to the editor or sent to a publisher for consideration it usually needs to be a word or rtf document in standard manuscript format. once converted i am stuck using libreoffice to revise and edit the story. i found tools that convert from markdown to ODF (which…

i found an answer to this question here: http://www.autodidacts.io/convert-markdown-to-standard-manus...
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