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makoyiLyX is a free-to-download, multi-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux) typesetting word processing program. I love, love, love it for novel writing for a few reasons:
The Pros:
1. It typesets gorgeous pdf files. This is because its a word-processor built over a LaTeX base - but don't worry, you don't actually have to know LaTeX language to get results - you can use the basic code at the end of this post. Though if you do want to, you can customize it in millions of ways to get beautiful output (there's tons of guides on LaTeX online so just google what you want to do and you can probably find out how in the first few search hits).
2. It has a convenient outline feature so I can always see which chapters are finished and which scenes still need written and can navigate to them with a single click.
3. It saves your cursor position when you close the file and takes you right back to the same place when you next open it up! This sounds minor but when you've got 100k+ words plus extra chapter outlines, it saves time and if you've loaded the program to try and pin down a sudden spark of inspiration, those are a valuable few seconds you don't have to spend scrolling to the part you're working on atm.
4. It doesn't lag on autosave, even for very, very large files. If you've ever worked on a 25+ chapter story in Word, Open Office, or LibreOffice, you may have noticed that it autosaves without warning and if you're not watching the screen, you may be halfway along the next line while it's still hanging to save your work and it may or may not catch up and add what you've typed in that time when it finishes. LyX doesn't have that problem, thank goodness.
5. You can easily insert your cover as the first page of the pdf. Just save the cover as a pdf page using a program like GIMP and then with the cursor at the top of your document, go to the Insert menu, select File, then External Material. In the pulldown menu under Template, select PDF Pages, then click the Browse button and navigate to your cover pdf. Lastly, click the LaTeX and LyX Options tab and then uncheck the box next to Show In LyX. Click OK and it's done. (The process for inserting illustrations is very similar - put your cursor where you want the illustration and use Insert > Graphics).
The Cons:
1. You need diskspace for the install. You need not only LyX but a LaTeX install as well (there's a Windows installer bundle with both parts, just look for the one that says it includes MikTek). Compared to Microsoft's Office Suite or a full Photoshop install, it's not outrageously huge, but it's no lightweight like Abiword so just something to be aware of.
2. There's a bit of a learning curve. It will take some time to get used to the quirks of LyX - probably figure that it will take about as much time to learn to do the basics on LyX as it did for you to learn to be a Moderate-to-Advanced Microsoft Word user. It's taken me about 9 months to get up to speed with LyX to the point that I can customize a lot of the pure LaTeX stuff with a little help from the internet. Personally, I think the results are worth it, but YMMV.
3. LaTeX, which LyX is built on, is designed to tell you in programmer-speak what went wrong when it fails to compile a document (into a PDF or an RTF, usually) so you will probably get a scary error message at least a couple of times. In LyX, this pretty much always refers to something in a red L-box or in the preamble (because that's the only custom coding there is to screw up). Fiddle with whatever you've changed since compiling worked correctly and by process of elimination, you should be able to get it working again.
4. Copy-pasting from LyX into Word or into Rich Text fic submission can cause weird formatting. If you're writing for those media rather than PDF, don't use the red L-Boxes and don't customize in the preamble. Just use Memoir class as is, then export to RTF which will open in Word.
Overall, I think the Pros outweigh the Cons. If you agree, give it a try. Here's a guide to get your started:
Get started:
1. Download and Install. Then open LyX.
2. In the File menus, select New to begin a new file.
3. Set up the following program features:
- Outline panel: Under the Document menu, select Outline to turn the outline feature on.
- Spellcheck: Under the Tools menu, select Preferences, then Language Settings, then Spellchecker and check the box beside "Spellcheck continuously" to turn on the Spellchecker feature.
4. Under the Document menu, select Settings.
5. In the panel this brings up, go under Document Class and select Book (Memoir), then in the box beside "custom", type "ebook, 12pt, openany"
6. Choose PDF Properties from the white box, check next to "Use hyperref support" and then click the Bookmarks tab and check next to "Numbered Bookmarks" so your pdf files will have a clickable outline to jump to any chapter. (Note: hyperref doesn't play well with the export to openoffice format).
7. Choose "LaTeX Preamble" from the white box and paste the following, then change the placeholders for your title, name, etc with your real novel information:
\usepackage{calc}
\usepackage{fourier}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage{fancybox}
\usepackage{fix-cm, lettrine}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\chapterstyle{bianchi}
\newcommand{\HRule}{\rule{\linewidth}{0.5mm}}
\widowpenalty=900
\clubpenalty=900
\parindent=2em
\setlength\beforechapskip{-\baselineskip}
\addtopsmarks{headings}{}{
\nouppercaseheads
\createmark{chapter}{both}{shownumber}{}{. \space}
\makeheadrule{headings}{\textwidth}{\normalrulethickness}
}
\pagestyle{headings}
\newcommand*{\titre}{\begingroup
\begin{center}
\settowidth{\unitlength}{\Huge\scshape YOUR TITLE HERE }
\vspace*{\baselineskip}\vspace*{\baselineskip}\vspace*{\baselineskip}
\rule{\unitlength}{1.6pt}\vspace*{-\baselineskip}\vspace*{2pt}
\rule{\unitlength}{0.4pt}\\[\baselineskip]
\hspace{10pt}{\Huge\scshape YOUR TITLE AGAIN}\\[\baselineskip]
\hspace{10pt}{\itshape SUBTITLE or delete this whole line}\\[0.2\baselineskip]
\rule{\unitlength}{0.4pt}\vspace*{-\baselineskip}\vspace{3.2pt}
\rule{\unitlength}{1.6pt}\\[\baselineskip]
{\Large\scshape By YOUR NAME}\par
\vfill
{\large\scshape ---}\\[\baselineskip]
{\small\scshape PUBLICATION DATE}\par
\end{center}
\endgroup}
Note: This preamble sets the document to use Utopia font, an attractive and legible font you can legally use in commercial projects. If you want to change the font, delete where it says \usepackage{fourier} and use the Document Settings>Fonts options in LyX to choose a font.
8. Click OK.
9. At the beginning of your document, type Ctrl+L and in the red box that appears, paste the following, making sure to replace the placeholder with your title:
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter*}{YOUR TITLE}
\thispagestyle{empty}
10. In the red box, also paste:
\frontmatter
\begin{titlingpage}
\thisfancypage{\doublebox}{}
\titre
\end{titlingpage}
11. Click outside the red box on its far right and hit Enter.
12. Now type a summary or any front matter you want your document to include. At the end of the front matter, type Ctrol+L again and in the box, paste:
\mainmatter
13. Click outside the box on its right and hit Enter, then type the first chapter title. With your cursor still on the title line, click on the formatting pulldown (beneath the File menu, currently reads "Standard"), then select "Chapter".
14. Hit enter and begin typing your chapter.
15. If you do not write in order and wish to leave a scene summary for yourself before skipping to another scene, type the basic summary and then select "Subsection*" from the pulldown menu. An entry for this scene will be added to the outline. Repeat for each unwritten scene.
16. Preview your document as a pdf at any time by going to the Document menu and selecting "View [PDF (pdflatex)]" and wait until your PDF opens. You can make changes to your document in LyX and then see those changes immediate by selecting "Update [PDF (pdflatex)]" from the Document menu. (Save this PDF using your PDF viewer's Save As function.)
How to:
- Separate any sections with a line: type Ctrl+L and in the red box, type \Hrule (note: the capitalization is important!), then click to the right of the box and hit Enter before continuing to type.
- insert a pagebreak from the menu Insert->Formatting.
- Paragraph adjustments like centering, no indentation, etc can be changed using the button with the backwards P
- change text size and format with the button with the blue ab on it.
- insert a scene break: hit Enter, type *****, hit the paragraph settings button and change the alignment to center, click OK, hit enter, and resume typing.
- use italics: highlight the text and click the button with an A and an italic exclamation mark, or click that button, type, then click again at the end of the text you want italicized.
- write yourself a note about a section without it printing in the PDF or being added to the outline: use the Sticky Note button.
- To insert a note that does print in the PDF and outline, type it normally and change from Standard format to Paragraph.
- use the correct hyphens: type one dash for hyphenated words, type two dashes in a row for ranges of numbers, type three dashes in a row to use an "em dash" like you might use ellipses (…) to set a sentence fragment apart as when giving more information about something in a kind of aside from the rest of the sentence.
- insert ellipses (...): hold Alt and type just one period.
- use single "smart" quotation marks: use the single mark (`) located on the tilde (~) button for the first (open) mark and an apostrophe for last (close) mark
- enter a quotation at the beginning of each chapter: type the quotation, press Enter and type --- then the attribution for the quote, then highlight both lines and select quotation from the formatting pulldown (use quote if you separate paragraphs with extra space instead of indentation). Now click the highlighting off and put the cursor on the attribution line, then hit the paragraph button and select Right Align, then OK. Hit Enter and begin typing your chapter
- prevent a line break (also: what is that red line doing under that space?): holding down Ctrl while typing a space creates a "protected space" which instructs the program not to break a line there
- use a different font for the entire document: Delete the line that says \usepackage{fourier} from the Document Settings>Preamble. Then go to Document-> Settings -> Fonts and check the box beside "Use Non-TeX fonts" and select any font installed on your system. If you do this, you'll need to view the pdf by going to Documents -> Other Formats -> PDF (XeTeX).
- use a different font and/or text color temporarily: follow the directions for changing the font in an entire document, but also past the following in the Preamble
\usepackage{xcolor}
In the red box at the beginning of the document, add: \fontspec{Utopia} and then just before any other text you want to change, type Ctrl+L and in the box, type:
\fontspec[Color=COLOR NAME]{FONT NAME}
Remember to change back to your main text afterwards.
If you want to change the font but not the color, delete the square brackets and the text inside ([Color =COLOR NAME]). If you want to change the color but not the font, delete the content of the curly brackets but NOT the curly brackets themselves(FONT NAME).
Note: using the fontspec package and certain system fonts can cause problems compiling your document into a pdf, so before you put too much time into formating fonts this way, make sure you can still view and update the pdf once you change the preamble and make the first couple of font changes.
Advanced options:
1. This preamble loads the package for giant initials/capitals at the beginning of each chapter. I usually do't put those in until the story is done. Just put an L-box at the start of each chapter with the following contents:
\lettrine[ante=``, lhang=0.33, loversize=0.08, lraise=-0.02, findent=0.20em, nindent=-0.33em]{}{}
The initial letter does in the first curly brackets and the rest of that word and a few words after it go in the second set. If you aren't starting the paragraph with dialogue, delete: ante=`` . Depending on the letter, you may need to adjust the values given and sometimes it is necessary to use protected spaces for the first and second line of text or insert horizontal space at the start of the second line if there is a paragraph break between lines 1 and 2.
2. Memoir class has a lot of options for different title pages, page headers, and chapter styles --- just google for them or browse straight to the memoir package over on ctan.org and read the documentation pdfs. You can choose different ones by deleting the ones I've put in the preamble and substituting your own. Some of them don't compile in LyX or with the newest versions of Memoir class, but you can personalize the code if you're up to learning that much LaTeX. Again, just google whatever you're trying to do and you'll probably find people who've had similar questions asked and answered.
Troubleshooting LyX:
You may or may not encounter some of these problems in LyX, but here's how to solve them just in case...
1. Most of the Classes say Unavailable - This is generally down to an incorrect setting in MikTeK. Open MikTek settings (Admin/Root required) and change "Install missing packages on the fly" to "Ask Me First". Then click Refresh FNDB, then close Settings and open LyX. Under Tools, select Reconfigure and wait. Allow all the packages it says are missing to be installed (choose one of the CTAN archives if you can't reach the default one). This may take 10-20 minutes and you'll have to babysit it to click all those messages but you only have to do it once.
2. I need to add a class file that isn't listed. I have the .cls or .sty file, now what do I do with it? - Locate the AppData folder for your MIkTek (try C:/Users/your-username/Appdata/Roaming/Miktek), then click through the version number folder, then tex folder, then the latex folder and paste your files there. Then in Miktek settings (Admin) click Refresh FNDB. Now there's a tricky part. You need to specify a layout file for LyX to use as you type. Follow these directions for Windows or these for Linux. Now to load them in LyX, go to Tools, then Preferences, then select the Paths option from the list and under Path Prefix, type a semicolon at the end and then type C:/Users/your-username/Appdata/Roaming/Miktek (or wherever the miktek appdata is in your system), click Save and close the window, then do Tools>Reconfigure. Close LyX and open it again and test it on an unimportant document first (make sure it compiles to pdf or your output of choice too).
3. I want to print out and hand-bind my story in hardback. How do I get LyX to order the pages for binding? - This isn't hard to do, but should only be attempted if you can understand the documentation that comes with the package download. Just use the booklet class. Read the documentation and choose the preamble TeX you need from the options listed. At the least you'll be editing the preamble with TeX to set: your page sizes (also needs done in memoir via LyX package options), your pages per "signature", and set "print" to "true". Print, then go back into the preamble and set the print option to false so you can again view the pdf in reading order.