Software » Ramblings of an Amateur Writer

Software Review: Power Structure

Nov 032010

I really have no idea why I decided to give Power Structure a try. If you’re the one who recommended it, please let me know and I’ll give you credit. One thing for sure, I doubt I would have found it on my own. With NaNo on the horizon, I decided to give this piece of software a try for my manuscript. Before I get into my review, a little about this nifty little (BIG) program.

Whether you write screenplays, novels, plays, or other fiction, Power Structure software helps transform your good ideas into great stories.

The 90 second walk through from the website describes this program as a “tool that writes the way you think.” In many ways, I agree with the statement, but the program is not a no brainer. This wasn’t a piece of software I jumped right into. There were so many features, I ended up referring to the quick start manual, which I found very detailed and easy to follow. I probably would have been a frustrated camper without it. One thing I would have liked to see were descriptions of the archetypes in the quick start guide, but perhaps it’s available in the full version.

So the first tab (Story/Theme) is the overall synopsis of the manuscript. It’s quite useful and includes quite a few prompts to get a writer going. If you’re the type who starts with the big picture, I’d definitely suggest starting here.

The next tab involves the character creation. As an all-in-one product, I have to admit, this area was quite well done. It isn’t as extensive as Character Writer (see review part one here and part two here), but it is thorough and and has quite a few prompts to help a writer get a good sense of a character. It’s actually quite nice and pleasing to the eye.

For my review I chose the Campbell & Vogler’s Mythical 12 Steps (Hero’s Journey) template.

So plotting. If you’re using the Hero’s Journey template, the stages are preset making the task quite easy. Simply add scenes in the Journey Stages tab. What I found early on is as I inputted my entries, the program synchronized my data across the board. This was a good thing, as it reduced the need to duplicate entries. I liked that. If you decide to freestyle it with the Novel template, it takes a little more planning, since the program doesn’t automatically place the chapters in specific Acts.

One of the aspects I loved with Power Structure was the Plot Arcs. When I wrote Shadow Cat, I noticed I had quite a few loose ends when I went back to read. I had to patch them up and reread several times before I was sure I got them all. This helps prevent that. The story I used (Alley Cat) included 6 different issues (Arcs) I needed to address as I went through the story. Some were easy to forget as I plotted. But having them listed, I could easily identify which plots fell to the wayside and needed scenes to address them before the ending. Absolutely magnificent.

Another feature I really enjoyed as I entered the scenes into the program was the Conflict section. Stories are supposed to build, the problems escalate until it reaches a climax. The software includes an option to introduce a new story arc, heighten a story arc, and/or resolve a story arc. At the bottom of the respective tab, the writer can specify the tension level at the particular stage in the story. As I mentioned, the tension in stories build until the explosion. If the user flips to the Conflict Overview tab, the program displays a line bar graph depicting the tension level as the story progresses. It’s a nice feature for a quick look at the dips and whatever is the opposite a dip. One limitation with the conflict. The program only allows the user to heighten and/or resolve one conflict per scene. As it was, I encountered at least one scene where the tension heightened for two conflicts.

Okay. The short comings from the eyes of Reena.

Power Structure provided the basics then leaves the user on their own. Unlike Character Writer, Power Structure does not include additional questions to help define the character, plot, or scene. Take for example the subheading: Physical Attributes. Power Structure provides the prompts “Distinguishing Physical Attributes,” “How would an observer describe him or her?” and “How would he or she describe himself or herself?” Simple prompts such as these are pretty much standard throughout the program. Character Writer, on the other hand digs deeper: Scars? Hair color and style? Unusual heights and weights? Dress? All the things I fail to think about until asked. In truth, this isn’t a limitation to Power Structure. It just doesn’t baby the user the way some programs do.

One feature I didn’t spend much time on was the word processor. I will say it has a nice thesaurus, a spell check feature, and basic font formatting. What I didn’t find was paragraph formatting.

Other than some fields being a little glitchy (Sometimes I was unable to type in the field I wanted until I clicked out of the feature and clicked back again.) I didn’t really find too much wrong with the program. Really it’s quite a powerful tool. If I had extra money to blow, I’d certainly purchase it.

Software Review: WordWeb

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Oct 272010

Okay, if you’ve read my past software reviews, you know I’m falling in love with StoryBox (see review here and here). For a while, my lovely StoryBox lacked a dictionary and thesaurus. Mark Fassett (the developer) did get around to putting in a dictionary and thesaurus. (Three cheers! )However, before then, I had to make do with what I had.

Now I’m big into using a thesaurus and dictionary. So not having one drove me batty. I often pulled up MS Word for the thesaurus feature or headed to Visuwords (see review here). Then!!! a couple of folks in a writing list I frequent mentioned WordWeb and how invaluable it was to them. I decided to give it a try. Before I go any further, let’s look at the blurb WordWeb has for us:

WordWeb is a one-click English thesaurus and dictionary for Windows that can look up words in almost any program. It works off-line, but can also look up words in web references such as the Wikipedia encyclopedia. Features of the free version include: Definitions and synonyms, Related words, 5000 audio pronunciations, 65 000 text pronunciations, 150 000 root words, 120 000 synonym sets, Look up words in almost any program

Bottom line is, I love it! I can set this program to run in the background. Any time I need some help, I just push a couple of buttons (based on hotkeys I personally chose) and voila! It’s there. It has a copy and replace feature which makes substituting words very simple. For many programs, all I need to do is select a word, press my hotkeys and it automatically inserts my selection into the WordWeb program with the list of synonyms. I can see why so many individuals love it.

Built in dictionary not extensive enough? No problem. The full version of WordWeb has a feature which allows the user to add dictionaries. Pretty cool.

There’s also this nifty feature which allows you to link to the web and search databases such as wikipedia. Very neato.

All-in-all, I have to say this program is an A+.

Software Review: StoryBox Revisited

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Oct 062010

It’s almost here! That’s right, Mark Fassett is set to release StoryBox 1.0 tomorrow.

The software for Novelists that lets you write the way you want to write.

Yeah? So what? Hmm. Let’s take a trip down memory lane. A few months ago, I reviewed this software version 0.54 (see review here). I found it easy to use, eye pleasing, and full of great features. It almost fit my needs perfectly. Awesome potential. It had a few glitches, but still a nice product in the making. Mr. Fassett put StoryBox through a host of fixes and added quite a few features in the process.

Being the needy person I am, I had a few wants of my own. A quick look at my wishlist when I wrote the first review.

Thesaurus – Got it! Woohoo!
Spellchecker while typing – I didn’t get this, but Mr. Fassett did add a spellchecker.
Tutorials and Help Guides – Got it! And it’s nicely formatted also.
I’d like the chapters to be automatically numbered in the File Drawer instead of every new chapter having the label “chapter” – Got it!
I prefer NOT to have a separate tab open when clicking on the the items in the File Drawer, it gives me a sense of clutter. Yes, I know I can close them all down in one swoop. Personally, I’d just like it to do what I want in the first place rather than cleaning up after the fact. An option maybe in the preferences? – This was already available, I just didn’t know how to do it.
Would like the labels for the character interview to be semi-permanent. That way I can do a simple tab to the input fields (as it is, the interview is a document with questions for the user to answer, but not separated into labels and input fields.)
Would love to have a find and replace feature – Got it.

As for the character screen? Well, not sure if I’ll get that. After all, it’s not called Reena’s Personal Writing Software. And the character template is very functional as it is. But 6.5/7 isn’t bad.

One big feature, Mr. Fassett added is the Outline Builder. I’ll be honest, I haven’t given it a real go. The idea behind it is to have a place to store important ideas for the story, then insert them as needed. In my mind, it’s a neat feature when used correctly. It works great for catching stray ideas such as scenes, dialogues, etc. In fact, if I used it, I’d have fewer problems with jacking up my word count, since I tend to jot my stray thoughts directly into the document.

He also added another features I’ve yet to try, the ability to Split and Merge Documents. Sounds wicked useful, but I’ve not had a reason to use it. If you haven’t tried StoryBox in the past, you probably won’t notice tweaks he’s made to prior features, so I won’t even get into them. For a full version you can visit his download page and see the journey for yourself.

Anyway. Today is your LAST chance to order StoryBox for the prerelease price of $25 Version 0.9.82. If you like StoryBox, now’s the time to buy. It includes version 1.0 and all the updates until version 2.0.

Software Review: Pandigital Novel Part II

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Aug 182010

Well, the Pandigital Novel and I didn’t exactly work out. It started all well and good until I got tired of the glitches. This isn’t going to be long since I already went over the features in the original review (see here). I’ll just go over the things which finally made me decide to throw in the towel.

Frequently locked up – Sometimes it’d lock up once or twice in a sitting, sometimes several times in an hour. I can’t express how many grrr moments I experienced with this thing. One time I had the hardest time even getting it to turn back on even after using the reset hole.
Using it to read pdf files is a pain in the butt – The eReader advertises compatibility with pdf and ePub files. Well, this is not exactly true. The quick page turning I boasted about in the first review? Not happening with a pdf file. It’s dinosaur slow. Plus, my first complaint “Frequently locked up” doesn’t even do justice to my experience. Try having the eReader lock up every 1-2 pages. Eek!
Transferring notes sucks – Now this might be irrelevant, since I’m not sure how other eReaders work with note taking. But scrolling through the notes I made for the novels tried my patience. Keeping notes on a sheet of paper would have be easier, even if it isn’t my preferred method. The constant flipping back to the notes screen and then to the actual novel wore on my damned nerves. I put off writing a couple of reviews for weeks because I didn’t want to deal with it. Add that to the fact I took quite a few notes with the pdf file before I gave up on that. Just thinking about the experience makes me want to strangle someone. But like I said, the note thing might just be a personal irritation. Since I’ve not tried other eReaders, I really don’t have anything to compare the notes with.

You might recall I made this statement in the original review. I think a good determination of value for the money is if I’d make the same purchase again. For $115? You bet your bottom dollar. At that price, it pretty much becomes an impulse buy. Even if I later got a Kindle, I wouldn’t regret this purchase.

After spending time with the Pandigital Novel for about a month, I renege that comment. Would I make the purchase again? Uhm, no. It’s not worth the irritation, AND I’m taking it back. All it does is sit on my shelf, collecting dust and reminding me how nice it’d be to have that $136 back. That’s right, I’ve yet to turn in the silly rebate.

To be honest, after my Pandigital Novel experience, I’m not even sure I want an eReader any more. It’s not like I’ll be saving money on books.

So tell me, what type of eReaders do you have? What are the joys and headaches you’ve experienced with them? Any recommendations?