The Day Has Arrived For Wicked Writer’s Software

Posted by Tom Colvin

October 30, 2007

It’s Halloween, and I just couldn’t resist the pun: a wicked day to get to know WikidPad. And this software is truly “wicked.” [Oh, I didn't mean to insinuate that writers are wicked. Hmmm, well, on second thought...]

I learned about it from Jeremy Osborne’s blog discover fire. He’s undertaking a series of posts about his turn to open-source software, a move precipitated by his entry into the ranks of the self-employed, no longer a beneficiary of expensive company-supplied software. Now with thinner pockets, he’s experimenting with the free stuff.

Jeremy’s series will take weeks, if not months to spin out into his blog. That’s because he’s determine to write very detailed reviews, more like tutorials actually, with carefully developed screenshots to underscore his points. It’s the way, in my view, that the best software reviews are done.

His first review presents WikidPad. To prepare you for today’s post, I presented here last week a link to the Five-Minute Guide to Wikis, the best introduction to this type of software I’ve run across. I hope you are now primed for more.

In fact, the video guide deals with only one aspect of this kind of software, its collaboration features. Such wikis are found online or in a network, where multiple people can access it and make contributions.

Jeremy presents us with something altogether different, looking at wikis as a desktop knowledge base. Readers of this blog will be most intrigued, as he walks us through his use of WikidPad as a creative and organizational tool to help him with his emerging novel.

Jeremy, by the way, plans to participate very publicly in Nanowrimo, whose participants pledge to turn out a 50,000 word novel within the 30 days of November. He tells me that he will be posting his work online as it comes out. Those of us who are voyeurs can look over his shoulder to monitor his progress [Go, Jeremy, go!] — which may mean that his Open Software Series will take a backseat for awhile.

But back to WikidPad. This free, open-source software is downloadable, to be installed on one’s own computer. Jeremy’s tutorial illustrates the enormous power of this software to build up an intricate web of information. Wikis, you see, have fine-tuned the facility of interlinking pages via, what Jeremy calls, wiki words. Jeremy’s post shows just how useful this facility can be for writers.

So, don’t waste minute: Read Jeremy’s tuturial now. And remember, this software tool is free.

In the meantime, I’m debating about creating a wiki to house my Standard Operating Procedures Manual to help me administer this blog, which becomes more complex month by month with blog software upgrades, competing theme templates, a tangle of plug-ins [some which work and some which don't], reminders about pixel-size for screenshots, and on and on. My biggest decision will be between an online wiki, which I can consult even while travelling, or WikidPad on my laptop. I’ll know by Thanksgiving.

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2-For Novelists, 8-Specialized Writing Tools, Uncategorized

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