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Mac Forum / Applications / Mac Applications / May 2008Writing/quotes app
Which app can you recommend for collecting notes and quotes from books, with the intention to write your own book? It should have search/find facilities and be able to make its own layout. Thanks. > Which app can you recommend for collecting notes and quotes from books, > with the intention to write your own book? It should have search/find > facilities and be able to make its own layout. It's one of the places the Mac really shines: My favorites in this regard: Scrivener Avenir Jer's Novel Writer The following might well be good for you, but it really depends on the way you right and the way you snatch and stash external material for organizing: DevonThink Journler MacJournal  SignatureThank you and have a nice day. > > Which app can you recommend for collecting notes and quotes from books, > > with the intention to write your own book? It should have search/find [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Scrivener > Avenir Avenir is now StoryMill, from Mariner Software. > Jer's Novel Writer > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Journler > MacJournal I'm just trying Scrivener, and for your purposes I think it is excellent. It isn't aimed for page layout, though. It's intending for writing (including research) and then sending the material to another program for final tidying. For just collecting things for occasionalreference, but not for writing a book/article/screenplay, perhaps DevonThink. Circus Ponies seemed excellent, but too complicated. Most of the programs have a thirty-day trial, so you should probably look at several. Signaturehttp://www.decohen.com Send e-mail to the Reply-To address; mail to the From address is never read > > > Which app can you recommend for collecting notes and quotes from books, > > > with the intention to write your own book? It should have search/find [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > Most of the programs have a thirty-day trial, so you should probably > look at several. Avenir still exists too. And it seems to be the same as StoryMill. However, it is more suited for people writing novels. It is my intention to write a literary cookery book, so I'll be collecting lots of quotes from other books and inserting recipes. I need to see many notes at the same time, write something about/with those in book form. So far Scrivener, DevonThinkPersonal, and NoteBook seem to have the best qualities. I am trying them out. What programme would you use for final tidying? > Avenir still exists too. And it seems to be the same as StoryMill. > However, it is more suited for people writing novels. It is my [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > best qualities. I am trying them out. > What programme would you use for final tidying? One of the great things about Scrivener is that it is easy to set up separate chunks and move them around, which I can see you wanting to do. Final arrangement may depend on whether you plan to self-punlish or are aiming to find a publisher. In the former caseyou will need to think carefully about layout,in the latter it just needs tobe neat and tidy. Microsofy Word should actually be fine in either case, and you don't need to buy Word itself, Neo Office or perhaps OpenOffice should be fine. Signaturehttp://www.decohen.com Send e-mail to the Reply-To address; mail to the From address is never read > > Avenir still exists too. And it seems to be the same as StoryMill. > > However, it is more suited for people writing novels. It is my [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > need to buy Word itself, Neo Office or perhaps OpenOffice should be > fine. Thanks, Daniel. Yes, I'll be doing a lot of moving around and I have stored NeoOffice somewhere on my Mac. Haven't used it yet, still using good old AppleWorks for my letters. I guess the adding of illustrations (I may think of making my own drawings) is done in NeoOffice then. I just saw that Scrivener can't have images in the draft section. But anyway, adding ills is something that is done at the last moment I assume, and certainly separately if by a regular publisher. NoteBook looks a bit childish, but it has good notes possibilities. You can simply collect all the relevant ones by doing a find operation and have them all open on one page. What I must check out is whether the apps are suited for inserting words in foreign languages. French comes to mind. > Thanks, Daniel. Yes, I'll be doing a lot of moving around and I have > stored NeoOffice somewhere on my Mac. Haven't used it yet, still using [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > What I must check out is whether the apps are suited for inserting > words in foreign languages. French comes to mind. I think it depends on how you'll be manipulating textint he "final tidying". Here you should use what ever is easiest and whichever you feel is best equipped to never ever ever ever crash. That's why I rule Word out. It may have never crashed for others. But I have found there is something about unicode that makes it iffy, and I periodically use Japanese. A couple of authors I know use Word (one on Windows, one on the Mac), and keep all chapters in separate files, which is fine as long as your chapters are really hard-wired structures. Otherwise, not so good. I've used Apples's Pages as my default for a few years and have really gotten comforatable with it, but again it depends on how you like to work. CopyPaste and other such multiple-buffer utilities could be a godsend when endlessly manipulating big chunks of text. Oops, where in hell did that paragraph go?!? Also a thoroughly cocoa-based program will allow you to drag/drop large blocks of text, and/or to the desktop for a moment, or to DevonThink, etc. Regarding Notebook; notice that it allows for audio notes too, which can be handy when you're really not in a good typing situation, like rummaging throught he stacks in a large library, listening to granma tell the story of how kilt a bar, and so forth. SignatureThank you and have a nice day. > > Thanks, Daniel. Yes, I'll be doing a lot of moving around and I have > > stored NeoOffice somewhere on my Mac. Haven't used it yet, still using [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > feel is best equipped to never ever ever ever crash. That's why I rule > Word out. You might take a look at TeX/LaTeX, especially if you intend to insert a lot of recipes (or anything else which needs special formatting). It has much more powerful formatting capability than "word-processors". It will also give you a very nice looking document (I think it has the best page-layout capabilities around; makes "Word" output look like something knocked out on a typewriter by comparison. And IMO is far better suited to something the size of a book than Word. It's a bit daunting to start, but there are some very good books to get you up to speed. Once you get used to it (which won't take long), it's a breeze. Since all formatting commands are entered into the body of the document as text and are human-readable, you can see exactly what's going on. Plus, you can do all your editing, proofing, and so on using whichever text editor you prefer. Also, I understand that it is far better at taking the best advantage of professional typesetting devices than Word. Isaac > > > Thanks, Daniel. Yes, I'll be doing a lot of moving around and I have > > > stored NeoOffice somewhere on my Mac. Haven't used it yet, still using [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > > Isaac Thanks, both gtr and Isaac. DevonThink is certainly something I am going to try out, next to Scrivener and NoteBook. Then TeX/LaTeX is on the list. > You might take a look at TeX/LaTeX, especially if you intend to insert a > lot of recipes (or anything else which needs special formatting). It has [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > Also, I understand that it is far better at taking the best advantage of > professional typesetting devices than Word. Strong agreement with all of the above. Some years ago --- well, decades ago, really --- when university faculty members actually had secretaries to do their typing, our lab had several reports typists who were whizzes at converting our hand-written technical notes into polished TeX, despite their lacking, in several cases, even a high school diploma, much less any college training. And if you're a logical thinker and have some comprehension of what a macro is, you can actually skip trying to learn the intricacies of the LaTeX macro packages (which can be more intimidating than basic TeX itself); just mark up your ms with your own home-made macros (things like \chaptertitle{}, \sectiontitle{}, \example{}, \footnote{}), with crude initial definitions for these; and when the ms is finished hire a TeXpert to write definitions for these macros that will provide the precise layout and style that your publisher wants. > > You might take a look at TeX/LaTeX, especially if you intend to insert a > > lot of recipes (or anything else which needs special formatting). It has [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > TeXpert to write definitions for these macros that will provide the > precise layout and style that your publisher wants. That is a skill I may have to acquire during the time I'm collecting my notes. There's a lot to learn obviously. Thanks. > Thanks, Daniel. Yes, I'll be doing a lot of moving around and I have > stored NeoOffice somewhere on my Mac. Haven't used it yet, still using [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > that is done at the last moment I assume, and certainly separately if > by a regular publisher. I've just checked the Scrivener help files. You can *insert* illustrations into a piece of Scrivener text (files are in rtfd format). But you would need another program to *create* the images, and there ight not be a lot of scope for placing the images exactly where you wanted. Signaturehttp://www.decohen.com Send e-mail to the Reply-To address; mail to the From address is never read > > Thanks, Daniel. Yes, I'll be doing a lot of moving around and I have > > stored NeoOffice somewhere on my Mac. Haven't used it yet, still using [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > ight not be a lot of scope for placing the images exactly where you > wanted. Yes; anyway, illustrations would come in at the last moment, that's not a problem. Scrivener at the moment looks like my first candidate. NoteBook has separate 'recipe options', but in fact a note is a note is a note. It doesn't matter how you call it, as long as the text block can be manipulated and moved around. And Scrivener seems to have the best exporting facilities. > Which app can you recommend for collecting notes and quotes from books, > with the intention to write your own book? It should have search/find > facilities and be able to make its own layout. > Thanks. It occurs to me that your post was purely about "collecting notes and quotes" and not about assembly and so forth. In that case I would recommend: DevonThink and possibly DevonAgent. I have Devon Office Pro, have had it for a few years, and use it most every hour of every day at some point. SignatureThank you and have a nice day. > > Which app can you recommend for collecting notes and quotes from books, > > with the intention to write your own book? It should have search/find [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > it for a few years, and use it most every hour of every day at some > point. Thanks. Collecting notes is the first step, then rewriting/writing something about them would be the next step. >> DevonThink and possibly DevonAgent. I have Devon Office Pro, have had >> it for a few years, and use it most every hour of every day at some >> point. > > Thanks. Collecting notes is the first step, then rewriting/writing > something about them would be the next step. If you already have n writing environment which you are thoroughly comfortable with, go with that, of course. But if not, Scrivener and Avenir are simply amazing. They have entire wings of the program that are for storage/retrieval/linking of various secondary research you've collected, as well as a writing environment build for writers, not for regular word-processing chores. And Circus Ponies Notebook is another I should have mentioned. It has some pretty impressive organizational abilities which even work in conjunction with dotmac. There's is some great writing software out there right now for the Mac SignatureThank you and have a nice day. > >> DevonThink and possibly DevonAgent. I have Devon Office Pro, have had > >> it for a few years, and use it most every hour of every day at some [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > conjunction with dotmac. There's is some great writing software out > there right now for the Mac Thanks. I've been comparing prices (which seem to be pretty the same) and am now checking them one by one. That is what I am looking for, a place to collect lots of notes first, then to write and combine. > Which app can you recommend for collecting notes and quotes from books, > with the intention to write your own book? It should have search/find > facilities and be able to make its own layout. > Thanks. Circus Ponies: Notebook Bare Bones Software: Yojimbo > > Which app can you recommend for collecting notes and quotes from books, > > with the intention to write your own book? It should have search/find [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Circus Ponies: Notebook > Bare Bones Software: Yojimbo Will have a look at them all. Thanks. >>> Which app can you recommend for collecting notes and quotes from books, >>> with the intention to write your own book? It should have search/find >>> facilities and be able to make its own layout. Endnote ? SignatureWes Groleau You're all individuals! Yes, we're all individuals! You're all different! Yes, we are all different! I'm not! ("Life of Brian") |
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