Support for Indie Authors discussion

Hi,
I tend to write in word and double check some sentences in Google Docs. In words I can add words to the dictionary such as spelling of foreign names and places etc. Can you do this in Google Docs?
Also Google docs always corrects me if I'm writing IN the past and assumes that 1940 happened already and therefor can't happen tomorrow. It's frustrating, but that said, I've been thinking of putting my whole manuscript into google docs to see how it compares.

I'm assuming though that Google Doc is better than Word. What are your thoughts?

I prefer Word. I find that unless I'm sharing it, Google docs clunky. It doesn't have the functionality of Word.

I actually like Scrivener for writing. The program is so flexible and I love the cards where I can move them around, Find things including my character sheets, outlines, etc. You can also use Prowriting Aid with it which I like. If you use dropbox, you can share what you are doing with others (it is free) or you can export it and send it to others.

I didn’t gel with Google docs. Probably just me. (I don’t much like Word, either). I do everything in Scrivener (even the post beta-read rewriting). Then I have to send it to Word because that’s all the editor works with. From then, I remain in word.
I like Scrivener because it’s so easy to navigate to any part of the story; chapters and scenes are all conveniently displayed in the binder.
And, if I’m fair, I like Word’s comments functionality. I’d never seen this until I got an edited MS back and saw them. I thought that was cool.

Thank you both.
Yes clunky is a good way to describe google docs. Another thing it does that I hate is that it messes up the "find in document" feature and misses stuff.
How is the grammar and spell check in Scrivener?

If Scrivener has a grammar checker, I’m yet to see it in action. It’s spell checking is probably not going rock the world either. It’s okay, but not very sophisticated. For example, I needed to write some French words, Word recognises them and adds the accents, Scrivener doesn’t. (You can add accents in Scrivener, but it’s a chore).

Ah ok thank you. That's a game changer for me, my new novels are set in Sweden and needs lots of names and places in Swedish.

Helen wrote: "Ah ok thank you. That's a game changer for me, my new novels are set in Sweden and needs lots of names and places in Swedish."

The Minnesota Historical Society has information. I have researched my husband's Scandinavian family and have gotten some information from their site. His father was Swedish.

Leona wrote: "Helen wrote: "Ah ok thank you. That's a game changer for me, my new novels are set in Sweden and needs lots of names and places in Swedish."

The Minnesota Historical Society has information. I hav..."

Thanks. I'm fluent in Swedish. I was wondering how Scrivener handles names and places in other languages, not how to write them.

You can have it learn the names, but adding the accents is a chore and for some reason it doesn't save them like word does. I have written in word and imported to Scrivener so I can move things around and find what I want in the chapters. When you import, it does import the accents. I'm currently working on a novel with a lot of foreign words, so I do write it in Word and import so I don't have to copy and paste words with all the accents and odd letters since word remembers them with the odd characters.
(If you have normal computer it isn't difficult, but with a Microsoft computer you have to open the character map, find the accent then copy and paste it. You can't use the numbers like other computers for the letter or character.)

As for grammar and things like that, I use ProWritingAid or Autocrit. I run my novels through one or both depending on what I'm looking for in my editing process. I haven't found a program checks grammar while writing. Spell check on word or Scrivener improves with the number of words you add and the more you use it.

B.A. wrote: "You can have it learn the names, but adding the accents is a chore and for some reason it doesn't save them like word does. I have written in word and imported to Scrivener so I can move things aro..."

Thanks,
Maybe I should keep writing in word and then put them in ProWriting or Autocrit like you do. Does it compare to Grammarly?

Grammarly is aimed at college and technical writing. It wasn't written for authors. Prowritingaid was and Autocrit is all about authors. I can't see paying a monthly suubscription for something that I don't use all the time. I have lifetime membersipts to Prowritingaid and Autocrit. Autocrit you can only do a chapter or two at a time while prowritingaid you can do the whole book. I dont' use all the features on them, picking and choosing what is the most valuable for that particular work.

Writing in Word if you are using a lot of unusual words with different characters and accents would be smart. If you only have a few, then you can use Scrivener which is a great tool once you learn how to use it.

B.A. wrote: "Grammarly is aimed at college and technical writing. It wasn't written for authors. Prowritingaid was and Autocrit is all about authors. I can't see paying a monthly suubscription for something tha..."

Thank you so much. I didn't know that. This is very helpful. I'm going to look into both. I have a lot of Swedish names and places so from what you're telling me, I'll keep writing in word and then I could put it in Prowritingaid to double check. Thank you!

By my experience, Google docs are slow on long text. When I used it in my alpha draft (2016-ish), to share the story with two fellow gamers, just 10 chapters (~25k words) were laggy. Not sure if anything changed from then...

Thanks Tomas,
I mostly notice that the format changes and it grammar checks more things than what Word does.