Customer Reviews

Power Writer (Novel and Fiction Writing Software)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Power Writer is my favorite piece of writing software. It's a word processor for fiction writers. Formatting is a breeze and the Outline View allows you to move chapters of text with a couple clicks. It also makes it easy to find the section you want to work on. (Especially helpful during revisions.) My favorite feature is headers for Plot Points. The titles (-Joe loses wallet, Sally attends funeral, whatever) appear on the screen in grey type but do not print (unless you want them to) or add to the word count. You can shuffle them (and the accompanying text) at will. There's also a screen for notes (Story Tools). The main categories are General Story, Acts, Chapters, Plot Points, and Notes/Research. All your character descriptions, backstory, Must Accomplish Items and so forth are at your fingertips while working on your story or novel) If the Outline and Story Tools windows distract you, just hide them and view only the word processor.
Power Writer doesn't tell you how or what to write. It formats, outlines, and keeps all your notes in one convenient spot so that you never have to scrounge your desk for the Post-It note with a character's middle name or an inspired line of dialogue scrawled on it.
It's a snap to use too.
Highly recommended.

I thought Power Writer was exactly what I was looking for, and while it was a bit confusing at first, not a bad product over all. At the time bought it, I didn't know about the "three times and you're dead" rule. That is a killer for me. I don't how many times I have had a virus that forced me to reinstall my software, and most of the time I wouldn't have the opportunity to do a uninstall. This is the stingiest piece of software I have ever come across. I assume that if you try to install it a fourth time, there is a way of translating your work-in-progress from a Power Writer file to some sort of a text file without having to buy another copy.
Many EULA agreements, if you read the fine print, licence you to install a program both on a deskstop and a notebook, honoring most users' needs these days. Amen.
There are a number of irritations involving files and other external factors that make it seem that the person who did the specs didn't use computers very much. Worse, I lost some work, apparently because Power Writer wants to put the documents in its program file instead of where I want to store it. Any program that can't remember from one session to the next where the user stores his files is poorly designed in other ways. AND YOU DON'T PUT DOCUMENTS OF ANY KIND IN THE PROGRAMS FOLDER -- YOU PUT THEM IN THE USER'S DOCUMENTS FOLDER! If the user wants elsewhere, he'll move them elsewhere.
Sometimes you watch a movie that should have won an Oscar but ended being a stinker because of one or two bad decisions -- usually coming from the top. Power Writer is the software equivalent of that. I'm also returning it and going back to Word.

I write historical type fiction and so notes and research are really important to me. If you write Civil War era fiction then you learn that writing about the wrong buttons on the uniform makes you a fraud. Power Writer makes it very easy for me to keep all my notes in one place and easily refer to them when I am writing. I also like Power Structure from the same company. It's more organizing software but they're both fantastic.

(...) Power Writer is a word processor and database. It does keep all of your information in one place. (weblinks, outlines, character diagrams, and Chapter/Act goals). It does not write the story for you or help with plot lines or story goals....that is for the writer to figure out. It is such a fabulous tool for tracking information and keeping your mind on the work, but it doesn't in any way tell you how to do your story or build your characters. You can choose to fill out notes on characters, but it is not a requirement to start writing. I think Fiction writers will find this simple, efficient, and worth the money.

I think it is useful to any writer that just needs a way to organize thoughts, historical or environmental data, and keep their eye on the goals of the story.

See my review of Dramatica Pro 4:-)

Purchased this 2 years ago. The support crew at the time said a new version was "on the doorstep" but nothing on that since then. This program is pretty dated. It has some nice features, but really lacks the pieces that would make it much better than the word processors that just about everyone now has already. In particular, the program does not have any tools that track story timelines (promised in new version). The tools that it does have - like outlining and areas to store character data - can be fairly easily reproduced using features in standard word processors like Microsoft Word. I can not recommend the product in it's current version. Maybe if that new version would ever materialize...

I bought this product with the hopes that I could organize a fiction project that has grown to over 350,000 words (pre edited obviously). Importing the files from Microsoft Word was tedious, I had to save each as rtf format and then import. Considering I had 50-odd chapters when I started, that was a pain, but I did it.

The help files aren't very helpful, but email support was good. I've experienced some strange issues they've never seen before, never did get to the bottom of them, but they helped me make them "livable".

The tutorial didn't make a lot of sense to me, I'd prefer a different format because while you're reading it, you can't be doing what it suggests (setting up a file, etc) at the same time. That would be something to consider doing in the future...making the tutorial/help files in a pop up box that won't disappear as you play with/practice on the actual files.

With a lot of playing around & trying different things, a LOT of looking through help files and emailing support, I've figured the program out for the most part.

The best part about the software is the outline pane on the left, it has become invaluable to scan the entirety of the storyline (w/ plot headers) instantly. Also the ability to track characters is excellent (IF you take the time to keep the files up to date!).

Obviously, the more you put into this software, the more you'll get out of it. This software does not "prompt" you to do anything, but the tools are all there if you so choose to type the information in. When your story covers 35 years of a family's history, with several interwoven back-stories and sub-plots, you're wise to track it all from the beginning.

My only regret is not having this software 5 years ago when I started this project; it would have made it so much easier! For the money, I definitely recommend this software.

I ABSOLUTELY love this software, and while others are close to it, this one is far more superior. It has alot of different functions and makes writing notes easy, checking off plot points easy, and organizing extremely easy. If you are unorganized, this is perfect for you! The only problems I've faced are little glitches and bugs in the software here and there, but whenever I email, they do get to them and fix them. Because of this, it's important to get the new updates off the web whenever you get the chance. I do wish they had a troubleshooting section also, but overall this is a great program!! I would highly recommend it for both beginners and more advanced writers like myself. Just remember to go through the tutorials before you use it or it tends to get a bit frustrating.

I never write reviews but I had to for this product. Although, this product does take a little time to familiarize yourself with how it works, it's worth it. You also have a wonderful support staff that is available to answer all of your questions. I've called them numerous times and each time they were patient, helpful and solved my problem.

I was relunctant to buy this product at first with some of the reviews that were written, but I'm a happy Power Writer customer!

Like the other reviewers, I like this software. It is my software of choice for writing my book (and I researched quite a few before picking this one). The thing I like most about the software is the ability to create plot points on the left hand side. I can easily create new chapters with plot points in them and then drag them where I want them to go. This makes looking at the summary of my book really easy. It also writes the plot point (in a different color) at the top of the writing part of the program, so I know where I am.

The area I am not very impressed with is the notes section. I suppose it is more than sufficient for most books, but I write epic fantasy and I have a ton of locations and characters I am trying to keep track of. I also like to do research on medieval topics, and like having a place to store all that information. My software of choice for the organization part of my writing is called MyBase by wjjsoft (there's a free 16 day trial online). This software is not specifically designed for writers (although writers do use it), but it's designed for anyone doing research who has a lot of data to collect. The left side has tabs for as many subjects as you might like. Within those tabs are folders within folders to keep track of ideas. For a little extra cash you can buy their web capture add on (totally worth it) to capture entire web pages for scrutiny later (don't have to be connected to the web). What makes all this worth it is the fact that it zip files everything that is closed so that you don't have this massive program that is majorly slow. It's really fast all the time. Now that's a research software worth having. Makes the little notes section in this one look like child's play.

As you can see, I use both software, and I am happy. Even though you could use the MyBase software to write your book, you'd have to export it to do spell check. This software is much nicer for that purpose. I love seeing the summary on the left side.

There's my 2 cents.

**Edit on 9/28/11** Just found out that a software called Scrivener is coming to Windows users in November 2011. I remember running into the Scrivener website and absolutely drooling over their amazing looking screenshots. I was very jealous of Mac users because it was only available for Mac at the time. Well, they are on the verge of giving Windows users the same awesome software. I just downloaded their free Windows beta software, and the tutorial video is amazing! Hopefully the software will be as good as the video looks. Just had to pass that info along. If you aren't worried about running into a bug or two, you can download their Scrivener beta software at their literatureandlatte website. It is about 45 MB in size. Not to mention they will charge less than half of what this software costs for something that that will likely blow Power Writer out of the water in terms of a professional writer's software. I'm fired up!

Wow! I thought this would be simple after reading the reviews, but I've had trouble getting powerwriter to save to CD or any other medium. I keep getting an error that the CD is full or the wrong media. VERY frustrating. The initial package is relatively easy to use although I don't like the fact that you do not receive instructions with it. You have to rely on 4 tutorials which are brief. The help topic list has no troubleshooting section. Right now, I'm calling tech support regarding the saving problem. As far as I'm concerned, that's the deal clincher. If I can't save my work, what good is the software package? I found it MUCH easier to copy the work to Microsoft Works and save it to a removable disc that way. Then I decided I may as well stick with MS Works and ditch this program. ..... Since writing this review I have spoken with tech support. They told me that this progam will not automatically burn to a cd or dvd THROUGH POWERWRITER because it doesn't "recognize" the windows accessory. I was told I could save directly to another type of external device that PowerWriter understands, but not windows. Then I was instructed to save the file to my hard drive, close powerwriter, locate the file and then use windows to save it to the cd. HUH? That's a lot of work to go through when I can just use Works. I did as he instructed and followed all the steps and YES it will save to a cd, but this does NOT solve the problem of being able to backup your work without buying an external drive. Basically, my understanding is that Powerwriter does not recognize or understand windows and needs other supportive technology. I have uninstalled the program. I would rather spend my time writing (I have chapters due at the publisher's for goodness' sake!) than wrestling with this long process.