Thread 105795159

Any of you guys write? What do you use? I've been looking into alternatives to LibreOffice. So far all I've found is an abandoned beta version of Scrivener for Linux, Manuskript, which is still in early development and has problems with data loss, and Wonderpen, which is proprietary Chinese software and similarly also has problems with data loss. There's also Trelby, but that's primarily for screenwriting.

>>105795159 (OP)
libre office is not the best tool to be using to write software on linux.

>>105795159 (OP)
What do you write? And where does it go? (will be published eventually somewhere or remain on your disk forever)

>>105795159 (OP)
https://alternativeto.net/category/books--news/novel-authoring/?license=opensource

>>105795622
Novels and short stories. The short stories don't leave my hard drive. The novel I plan on submitting for publication. If I fail to find an agent after like a year or so of querying, I'll consider self publishing, but there's a good chance it'll end up rotting on my hard drive as well.

I use emacs, mostly AuCTeX & org mode. People have written novels using emacs.

used to use writemonkey
currently use obsidian
will eventually write my own non-electron thing inspired by obsidian.

/qa/ LOST, the board is GONE. Get the fuck back your containment abomination of website.

>>105796190
Like the other anon, I use Emacs for any text-related work, be it programming, academia/research publishing, task management, creative writing, or whatever.

Inside Emacs I use org-mode for everything except programming. If I need to publish something, I write with exporting to different formats in mind; but this workflow isn't your typical WYSIWYG, but WYSIWIM. There's an endless learning curve (you don't necessarily need most of it, but the more of Emacsfu you know, the more things you can do with it). If you're curious, try searching the web for "emacs for writers" or something similar, there will be guides. LLMs should also help streamline the learning process and there's official manuals available. Emacs is also multiplatform and nowadays fully work on the phones.

There's also Obsidian, and it's also fully multiplatform. It uses Markdown underneath, so it's also WYSIWIM. It's inspired by org-mode in many ways but has a significantly smaller learning curve and is more streamlined for normies, so it might work better for you.

I guess check both of them and see what sticks. YouTube might help too to check to see how people do shit with both of them.

>>105795159 (OP)
I still use OpenOffice. It crashes once a month or so but it's fiiiiine.

I would like to know this too. I write chud articles.

Emacs + org-mode is all I've ever needed.

Word processors are dogshit and the only time I ever use them is if for whatever reason I need to be able to send a Word doc.

>>105795159 (OP)
i just use VimTeX in neovim
i know latex is grossly bloated, but i got used to it and comfortable with it many years ago in uni so it is what i use

Emacs, check out Emacs Writing Studio. Also, learn git if you don't already know it.

>>105795159 (OP)
Sounds like procrastination, anon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRpHIa-2XCE
But I will say this, latex pdf compilation on laptop is super fast, I think people got the wrong impression because of slow online stuff like overleaf.
I’d guess markdown to html compilation would be fast too.
I love browsing my well-formatted pdf from latex.

>>105795159 (OP)
>alternatives to LibreOffice
are you fucking serious? I can't tell if this is a meme. noir gigachad on a typewriter.
>tell me which docx editor to use.
idk dude, just use google docs. if you were writing something it would be published. you're talking about which tool to use to write something as if that matters more than the words in the program.
>start typing nigger.
it doesn't matter if you type it on word or libreoffice or google docs or a pen and paper.
>start fucking writing, self publish, sell copies, sell the rights to the movie
do something already.

>>105797753
hello saar, I print to pdf, can I self publish?

>>105795159 (OP)
Markdown is all you ne

>>105795159 (OP)
Why not LaTeX? You have minimal things to add when you want to typeset. Even just a text file is good enough for focusing on what you're writing. Maybe use a notes app like xournal or a mind mapping app app like minder or vym for organizing ideas and graphing out story events and character relations.
Nobody cares what your story looks like while you're writing it, so you really don't need WSYWIG software.

>>105798507
For mind mapping There's also Freemind, Freeplane, Xmind.
And if you track all your changes in git then you can have your story and ideas all source controlled. That's like 18 toys in one. Scrivener who? Am I right? The only thing you might need a service for is grammar checking.

>>105798547
Nevermind, Eloquent can be an offline grammar checker and it's on Flathub.

>>105798547
https://writewithharper.com/ for grammar

>>105796653
Do you publish them anywhere? I've written some chud articles myself, but they always seem too schizo to put out there.
>>105796798
I won't lie. I have been dragging my feet a little these past two weeks, but even before that when things were going well, I was thinking about looking into alternatives.
>>105797753
>start typing nigger
>do something already
I've been writing. I'm at around 110,000 words. The reason I'm looking into alternatives is because LibreOffice isn't great for working on longer documents. It's also cumbersome to have multiple windows open to reference notes/outlines as well as finding specific chapters or scenes within the manuscript.
>>105798507
>>105798547
>>105798570
>>105798626
LaTeX seems like it has a pretty steep learning curve. I'm looking for something a bit simpler. Also, I don't like grammar checkers. I feel they restrict style.

>>105798955
You can setup a LaTeX template and then pass your text file through pandoc to combine it with the template.
https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/342235/someone-provide-a-tutorial-link-for-pandoc-txt-to-tex
Besides LaTeX really doesn't get in the way when you're writing, you can just use it to annotate chapter headings and things. And you can make it output your table of contents automatically.

>>105799030
Plus, because word wrapping exists, in a text file or a latex file you can resize your windows any way you want while writing (so you can have lots of windows open) and not have to mess with the final output formatting.

>>105799061
Plus, you're not even locked in, you can convert your existing doc file into latex and back again. (with perhaps formatting getting a little messed up in the process)
https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/46015/converting-ms-word-doc-to-latex-by-command-line

This is mostly aiming at Excel but could be worth checking:
https://eylenburg.github.io/excel.htm
OnlyOffice, it's very good at docx compatibility but has a fairly basic feature set.
Softmaker Office if you wanna pay and give it a shot (the FreeOffice version isn't really too interesting) some people say it's as good but has more features.
If you just need to write, what's stopping you from using VSCode with Markdown/TeX/Typst and Pandoc?

>>105799125
If you're on Ubuntu, Debian, or Mint, all you have to do to try it out is
sudo apt update
sudo apt install texstudio pandoc

Or texmaker if you prefer that over texstudio.
And texlive-full if you don't mind a 3.5 GB install.

>>105795159 (OP)
Use Vim and LaTeX