booksforwriters

Books And Software For Writers

Software.

I get mail from confused would-be writers and all I can say is - I feel your pain. Which word processor for manuscripts? Start a discussion about the best software, and it's like discussing religion. All I can say is what works for me. I have tried pretty well every app for Windows and Mac (and Linux, but I'm all better now) and I keep coming back to Word, the 2003 version. (For Windows - the Mac version annoyed me no end.) Word 2007 will never get its mitts on my hard drive, though; I loathe the tabs. I also don't care for Open Office's word processor, which lacks a few key things I've come to rely on in Word.

There is, however, an excellent alternative app called Atlantis, which is available for PC, U3 and flash drives. If Word 2003 ever vanishes, I shall use Atlantis exclusively.

For screenplays and other specialised formats, there are two apps I use; one is Final Draft, which is the industry standard. There is also a superb free app called CeltX, which I prefer for two-column scripts to Final Draft AV. I recommend the Writers' Store for really good service and helpful advice - plus they're a treasure-trove of how-to features, books, and seminars once you're on their customer list. Highly recommended.

Basically - general word processing is horses for courses. Try a demo version and see what suits you best.

Books

I have a shelf full of books. Few have been read more than once, and even fewer get regular use. But there's some excellent stuff out there.

BOOKS WORTH READING ANYWAY:

JACKSPEAK by retired Surgeon Captain Rick Jolly OBE is a guide to Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Fleet Auxiliary slang. It's a handy phrasebook to have if you're visiting my home town, Portsmouth, where navy patois has permeated the civilian dialect over the centuries. JACKSPEAK is authentic and well-researched but it's also utterly hilarious. The illustrations are by Navy News's splendid cartoonist Tugg.

Now the serious stuff. Dr Jolly was the commander of the Ajax Bay field hospital - aka the Red And Green Life Machine - during the Falklands War, where every British soldier who came in alive left alive as well. That's a phenomenal testimony to the skill of the military medics, as well as their bravery: they even operated with unexploded bombs around them. Read all about it in the good doctor's personal account of the war, The Red and Green Life Machine. You can order Rick Jolly's books from this page at Amazon UK.

GENERAL FICTION

The Writers' Book Club in the UK (and Writers' Digest in the USA) does very good offers and I don't regret taking their book of the month deal. Worth a look, if only to get the excellent Write Right by Jan Venolia, a quick grammar guide I used to recommend when I taught plain English courses. Click here to see the latest titles.

SPECULATIVE FICTION

My top picks (mainly SF and fantasy):

The Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction (John Clute and Peter Nicholls, St Martins Griffin)

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (Adrian Room, Casell)

And one oddity: The Complete Book of Self Sufficiency (John Seymour, ISBN 0751364428). If you write anything that involves the gritty detail of agrarian life, this is the book to get hold of. It's not written for writers, of course, but it's a treasure trove of information on everything from building a thatch to keeping cattle. Highly recommended.