Guest Post by Gene Lempp – Writer’s Tool Review: WriteWay Pro

Today, I would like to welcome Gene Lempp for a guest post! Thank you Gene, for sharing your knowledge here!

I recently completed a 30-day trial of WriteWay Pro and liked it so much that I purchased the program. Whether you’ve used writing software before or not, this is an excellent program. I’ve heard WriteWay compared to Scrivener (another popular writing platform), although to date, I’ve not used the latter. At a later date I plan to test Scrivener out so I can do a comparison review of the two programs. [Manon notes: I wrote a review of Scrivener, you can find it here]

Like many, I started out using a written journal and an assortment of Word and Excel documents. Over time this grew to be such a mass that I began looking for ways to organize the material. I tried out a dozen different programs but each one only offered a singular use; file organizer, story board, etc. As none were designed with writers in mind, none worked quite the way I wanted. Then I found WriteWay through a post by Kait Nolan and now I’m hooked.

So what does WriteWay Pro have to offer the overworked author?

WriteWay Pro offers full project organization. If you are familiar with the Treepad system, it allows for an organizational chart on the left side starting with your Book, then up to nine Acts on the second tier with Chapters and Scenes following in hierarchy (see the screenshot on the left). Each of these can be titled as you wish and color-coded making it a quick reference story board. The writer can attach up to nine Note Cards to each of these objects and access them with a single click. I’ll cover Note Cards in a minute.

The tree also adds the feature of a Scratchpad where you can store scenes that you aren’t sure about the ultimate placement of yet but want to keep around for easy access.

Templates, Characters and Notes

WriteWay Pro comes with user-adaptable templates for Characters and Note Cards. Character Bios can include any information you desire and allow for the easy insertion of pictures. Up to nine different types of Note Cards (Plot, Character, Scene Sketch, Revision, Dialogue, etc.) can be attached to each item on the organizational tree allowing you to track all the layers of your story with ease.

Charting

If you’re a chart lover, like me, then WriteWay has several to help organize and track your progress. By imputing your expected word count and desired end date, WriteWay will let you know how much you need to write per day to reach your goal. You may also exclude any days you don’t plan to write and the program will adjust your goal accordingly. The Daily Log allows you to watch your progress throughout the project. See the screenshot on the left for a sample.

Useful Features

WriteWay Pro also comes with a Research organizer that allows you to keep all of your hard-earned research one click away from your writing.

The Future Book Projects file allows you to store all of the shiny new ideas that emerge while you are working on your current project. By simply entering the Future Books file, you can drop in your idea or addition or promote an idea to “full project” status.

Ever come up with a great tidbit of dialogue or a snippet of a scene that left you searching through hundreds of files or post-its when you needed it? WriteWay Pro comes with a Miscellaneous Pages option that lets you keep all these nuggets in an easy to find spot.

The program also assists when it comes time to write the dreaded Synopsis by helping fill in the basics so that you can concentrate on the details.

WriteWay uses RTF format, allowing for easy movement of material between it and Word, Wordpad, Notepad, Jarte or any of the host of  RTF-based word processing programs out there.

The Help File

WriteWay Pro comes with the best Help File I’ve ever used. Designed as a built-in tutorial, I was able to learn WriteWay over the course of about three hours by simply reading through the Help File and looking at each item listed as I went along.

If you’re like me and tired of trying to wade through a mountain of notes and files to get your project moving, I’d highly recommend WriteWay Pro as an option. It comes with a 30-day trial and a short learning curve.

Find the download of the Demo 30-day trial here and more product information here.

My deepest thanks to Manon for hosting me today.

Peaceful Journeys!

Gene Lempp is a post-apocalyptic science fiction writer pursuing publication. He blogs about the uses of history, archaeology and myth in his Designing from Bones series. Gene lives in Northern Illinois and is a friend of trees, squirrels and a resident chipmunk named Bob. “Only the moment seems eternal and in a moment everything will change.”

You can also find Gene Lempp on Twitter.