Whenever I attempt to write something, I do it in a common word processor (like Microsoft Word), but I was wondering if there is a special software for it.
Something that would help me keep track of the story lines, times, and characters in an easy and organized way as to not get lost in my own story
I've been using Scrivener, which is available as a free beta for NaNoWriMo participants.
It's a writer's project organizational tool that allows you to have many different associated files, and to view more than one on the same screen. For example, you could open a file about a particular character while writing about them, have an outline open while you work on non-fiction, etc. You can also move pieces (smaller files) around easily to rearrange parts of a work. When you're done, you can compile your manuscript to multiple formats: plain text, Word, et cetera.
I recommend yWriter. Free, easy to use, all the features you might want, free, and pretty compact. And it works on OSX and Linux under Mono.
Also it's free.
To elaborate on its features: It allows you to divide a story into chapters and to subdivide those chapters into scenes. In each scene, you can keep track of what characters are in the scene, where it takes place, what time of day it takes place; pretty much every conceivable detail is an option.** If you really like organizing down to the most minute bits of information, yWriter is a good idea for you.
** I'm sure it has more features, but to be honest I've never explored it that much.
I use emacs, editing LaTeX files, with a text editor I am used to (as in 20+ years "used to"). This has some advantages and some disadvantages. It allows me to separate text in whatever "file chunks" I find convenient (usually chapters) and allows me to re-arrange these in the document as a whole (by having a series of include statements, referring to the chapter).
It allows me to generate decently-typeset output in the end. I also have some conversion tools that allows me to generate other formats. However, it does not fit well with any publisher's work-stream and this is a potential problem for the future.
If you don't already have a substantial amount of time invested in a specific tool, I have heard good things about Scrivener (as in, it allows you to do the things I find to be a "win" with LaTeX+text editor, with "integrates better with publishers" as a big win).
Writeroom for Mac is what I use. Nice and simple with as little distraction as possible.
Over time I have found the only way to write in an uninterrupted flow from beginning to end is to write the thing as a text file in the text editor of choice (Notepad is perfectly suitable). Mucking about with notes organisers and chapter defabulators and character combobulators as I'm writing the actual novel itself just slows me down. However I spend months and months and months on notes beforehand so by the time I sit down I'm literally fishing the thing out of my head as if I'm recalling it rather than trying to create it fresh.
It's an approach rather than a bells and whistles laden killer app, sure. But I thought a luddite view might provide counterpoint.
Some tricks here: http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/2008/04/07/how-i-write-a-novel-revisited/
Tobias tends to work offline, using post-its for notes. He then organizes these and uses them as a starting point for an outline. He then uses Scrivener for organization.
I've tried many of the things mentioned above, but they never really worked for me. I have a tendency to get distracted by the shiny. So, when writing at my computer instead of with my fountain pens or typewriter, I use Pyroom.
Pyroom is a free, open source editor with no bells and whistles. It runs in fullscreen mode only, providing you with an eye-strain easing green box of text on a black background. The colors, box dimensions, font, and autosave behavior are configurable, and that's it.
I use Freemind (also free and open source) to manage my notes. Keeping them on separate desktops, I can shift back and forth as needed without getting distracted when I'm writing in Pyroom.
I write in Markdown, because it's easy to deal with in plain text mode and does not distract me from my writing. I put together a script to translate from Markdown directly to LaTeX for when HTML isn't my target output, and may add other formats down the road. I do use Markdown Extras to get support for footnotes, fenced code blocks, definition lists, etc.
I like to use Celtx. It's a free open source script writing tool but I find it really helpful for regular writing too. There are lots of add-ons available to specialize it to your specific needs.
It depends on what you're writing. For example, if you are writing screen plays (or even stage plays), Final Draft Pro is absolutely the way to go.
When I'm working on prose, I do tend to just use my standard word processor of choice (Microsoft Word 2010 on Windows, 2011 on Mac), but I keep my notes, timelines, outlines, etc. in a series of OmniOutliner documents -- think a combined outliner and spreadsheet, and you pretty much get the gist. (And also, you'll probably figure out why it's so darned useful while writing!)
I use Scrivener for most of my writing. I see some have touched on it already, but I think Scrivener deserves an explanation, because it is truly a great piece of software (and even though it isn't free, the price isn't that hefty, either).
Scrivener is a writing tool that is great whether you write short stories, novels, scripts and even essays or scientific articles. One of the big features of scrivener is that you can organize the project however you want, by chapter, by scene, anything. In the end, when you are ready to export, it all comes together into a single text.
You can append all the research files you need to the project, for fast in-application reference. You can add labels, status and even your own meta-data to separate pieces of text, so you have a say on how it all will be sorted.
You can have two parts of text viewed side-by-side, for comparison or reference, you can even have that second chapter in the same window where you are just writing chapter nineteen, because their events are closely linked - all without any copy-pasting.
I find Scrivener a very streamlined piece of software for writers and am happy with it. I use it for almost all my writing.
There's Writer's Cafe. It has many features that support writing.
Here is a description from the website:
Writer's Café is a set of power tools for all fiction writers, whether experienced or just starting out. The heart of Writer's Café is StoryLines, a powerful but simple to use story development tool that dramatically accelerates the creation and structuring of your novel or screenplay.
Writer's Café also includes a notebook, journal, research organiser, pinboard, inspirational quotations, daily writing tips, writing exercises, name generation, and a 60-page e-book, Fiction: The Facts, distilling 20 years of writing experience.
Runs on small laptops such as the Eee PC - Windows and Linux. Writer's Café is designed to be a playground for the imagination, making writing fiction fun and fulfilling. But it's also a serious tool for professionals, with highly configurable formatting, import/export and reporting facilities.
I've heard from pro writer friends that Scrivener is very good, but it is only only for the Mac right now. I've also heard that there is a Windows version coming out soon.
There are many tools you can use, as listed above, though in the end the best thing to use is what works for you. Try out what looks good and see if it helps you out. If something gets in the way of your writing it can't be to helpful, can it?
Myself, for many years I used TextPad to do all my writing in. Useful application that did plain text and did it very well. Over the last couple of years I've been moving to Word 2007, mostly because it has a homogenize checker, something that is still a problem for me.
For windows users wanting a distraction free writing environment something (similar to Writeroom on the mac)
I use a variety of tools:
But, the most powerful tool I'm using right now is Evernote because it lets me write little inspirations, scenes and ideas on any of my systems including my iPhone and iPad and they are all synchronised. I also collect all my odd snippets of research in there using the web clippings - the fastest way to grab a portion of a web page along with the URL and a reasonable amount of formatting.
To add to the list, Storyblue is a writing tool I developed. Index-card-esque, keeps your characters/scenes/notes organized and immediately available while you write. Cross-platform via Adobe AIR.
Lets you set writing goals: Words per day, and X words by [date]. Keeps track of your progress with pretty graphs :).
I want to keep it opinionated and simple; No long forms to fill out with character information (eyebrow color, girth), or built-in web browsers to store every page and article I find...
I find the Ulysses (mentioned above) is a great tool for writing longer form stuff on the Mac.
For everything else I like to stay in plain text editors to keep formatting issues from distracting me while I write. My text editor of choice is TextMate, but that is probably over kill for most.
OmmWriter is my favorite. It's a full-screen editor similar to Writeroom, but is designed to inspire creativity. It has calm backgrounds you can choose to see behind your text, as well as music that helps you zone out and get your writing flowing. I personally really enjoy writing in it. Runs on Windows and OS X.
I've started my own tool since I didn't like yWriter and Storybook. You can get it here: ePen
The main idea behind ePen is to be as unobtrusive as a pen:
I like Liquid Story Binder. It's not free but totally worth it.
And I second yWriter. I have found it to be unreliable though :(
I have found Dramatica useful, and I tend to use Final Draft for my work. However, I think any word processor you're comfortable with is good enough - applications that assist you in tracking your notes and story are more important than writing app itself.
Mac users should take a look at Ulysses, in addition to the other Mac writing tools mentioned in this thread. They offer a 60-day trial that's fully feature-enabled. They just dropped the price significantly, too.
Scrivener seems nice, but wasn't the right fit for me; it seems to be designed primarily for long-form fiction. The Ulysses interface is simpler and seems more generalized. For example, I started keeping several journals in one Ulysses project using collections, and it fits pretty well for that purpose.
All that said, as a developer geek, I'm not sure that anything beats plain text files using an editor that you're already comfortable with.
You might like to take a look at PangurPad, it is a web based full-screen editor for creative writing that has all of those features you ask about: keeping track of story timelines, characters and notes etc. It also keeps all of your writing backed up automatically with a cool auto-save feature. I've been using it for two weeks now and it's fantastic. It is very new though but you can sign up for free to try it.
I would recommend Xiosis Scribe. Its got all the features I need in one app. Mind mapping, research, lots of time saving features in the editor and content separation from layout. It can also be configured to work like Dark room and can manage your document better than Scrivener.
I dumped word for it, and have never looked back.