Celtx

[Camy]

I spend a lot of my time frittering. It's obvious, really.

So a while ago I came across Ywriter. This is an excellent tool for writing a novel (should you have a novel to write). But it's for novelists. There have been occasions where I've fancied *cough* having a bash at writing a screenplay ... or a radio play ... or indeed a comic - yeah right, aren't you lucky! Writing with Ywriter would get me the story, but to convert it to any other format would be a real pain in the bottom.

Until now.

Check out Celtx. No, really, just do it. I think you'll be amazed.

Hmm. It's lucky I never thought about being a copywriter, really.

[Richard Norway]

I spend a lot of my time frittering. It's obvious, really.

So a while ago I came across Ywriter. This is an excellent tool for writing a novel (should you have a novel to write). But it's for novelists. There have been occasions where I've fancied *cough* having a bash at writing a screenplay ... or a radio play ... or indeed a comic - yeah right, aren't you lucky! Writing with Ywriter would get me the story, but to convert it to any other format would be a real pain in the bottom.

Until now.

Check out Celtx. No, really, just do it. I think you'll be amazed.

Hmm. It's lucky I never thought about being a copywriter, really.

If you're interested in screenplays, take a look at 'Final Draft' for software. It's the most popular formatting software used by most screenwriters. Your creativity has to come up with the story though. You can find the software online for $ 229 at

http://www.finaldraft.com/

or you can browse through the store and buy for $ 169 at

The Writers Store

2040 Westwood Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90025

866.229.7483

If you're also looking for information on the specifics to screenplay story, I recommend Roberts McKee's book titled 'Story.' It's excellent and can be used for story elements in novels and short stories too.

You should try your hand at screenwriting as you're so close to the industry. I love it. Things in your story are much more tied together than in a novel.

Hope this helps.

Richard

[The Pecman]

I agree completely with Richard above. I own Final Draft and have tinkered with it enough to see it's a very well-designed program; it makes writing screenplays almost effortless.

McKee's books are excellent as well. If anybody wants to peruse The Writers' Store and their current book line-up, it's here:

http://www.writersstore.com/

Be warned that they charge near-list prices for a lot of products, so you might want to investigate Amazon or eBay for better deals on used books.

And me personally: I'm not a fan of Microsoft as a company, but at this point, MS Word is embedded in my DNA. I'm probably stuck with using that until the day I die. I used the late, lamented WordStar throughout the 1980s, but finally switched over to Word on the Mac in 1988 and never looked back. Great novels (and many bad ones) have been written on Word, and I personally don't think you need anything more than that -- plus a good imagination and some time. But for screenwriting, the formatting is so critical to selling the script, you need something like Final Draft. No studio reader will get past page 1 if your formatting isn't perfect.

[Camy]

Final Draft sounds great, but I think Celtx does a lot Final Draft doesn't. It is not only for writing, it seems to be a complete production tool. Also it will convert a screen play to a stage play or for audio production etc. Finally, it is open source (based on Mozilla) and free.

Two friends of mine saw McKee lecture on screen writing, and said it was very good.

Camy