3 ms·

Well, for writing a novel isn't markdown more than enough? I usually use LaTeX and I don't know much about the tools around markdown, however I wouldn't suggest

by leni536 12y ago

Well, for writing a novel isn't markdown more than enough? I usually use LaTeX and I don't know much about the tools around markdown, however I wouldn't suggest LaTeX to a SciFi author right away. I assume it's kind of easy to handle with pandoc. Change tracking is quite easy this way: use your favorite diff utility. You can even version control your documents if you want. Also, what publishers do with the resulting .doc or .odf files anyway? I assume they throw away all formatting the author did and they do the typesetting in some more professional tool. If this is the case the author shouldn't care about typesetting at all and just pour the contents of his/hor novel in a text file. Markdown is suitable for this.

DanBC 12y ago
You totally miss the point: authors do not want to use MS Word. Stross only uses Word because it's what his publisher forces him to use. He apparantly uses Scrivener to write with Word as a final step for the publisher. (This is why the Register fucking sucks: their empty article failed to mention this; it's all in the comments and the comments are hidden.)
- leni536 12y ago
  TBH the shitty article tricked me to think that Stross uses Word (or from now Libreoffice) all alone. I do not know Scrivener, it could be a really good product and it seems that it works well for him for dealing with editors who are only willing to use .doc files. Although I missed the point I still have a point. And that's is that the author and the editors shouldn't mess with formatted documents since it only makes change tracking significantly more complicated compared to plain text files or markdown files. Of course you have to bump into editors who are willing to deal with plain text files or markdown files (I assume it's not going to happen).
davidgerard 12y ago
Please don't take this the wrong way, but it's likely that Stross knows 100% more than you do about what tools a working novelist needs to use or stay compatible with.

by leni536 12y ago

DanBC 12y ago

You totally miss the point: authors do not want to use MS Word. Stross only uses Word because it's what his publisher forces him to use. He apparantly uses Scrivener to write with Word as a final step for the publisher. (This is why the Register fucking sucks: their empty article failed to mention this; it's all in the comments and the comments are hidden.)

leni536 12y ago
TBH the shitty article tricked me to think that Stross uses Word (or from now Libreoffice) all alone. I do not know Scrivener, it could be a really good product and it seems that it works well for him for dealing with editors who are only willing to use .doc files. Although I missed the point I still have a point. And that's is that the author and the editors shouldn't mess with formatted documents since it only makes change tracking significantly more complicated compared to plain text files or markdown files. Of course you have to bump into editors who are willing to deal with plain text files or markdown files (I assume it's not going to happen).

davidgerard 12y ago

Please don't take this the wrong way, but it's likely that Stross knows 100% more than you do about what tools a working novelist needs to use or stay compatible with.