Every writer has her/his own system for staying organized. Some writers prefer the old-fashioned pen-and-legal-pad method, while others prefer a more elaborate system to keep various projects, complex plots, and characters straight. Whatever your needs or your particular system, we’ve found a few tools on the Internet that you may want to investigate, including software for a wide variety of uses. Let us know if you have any feedback on these or other writing tools that work for you.

Ashleywilde Publishers. Software to help generate solid story plots and outlines.

Autobiography Software Program. For family heirloom documents.

Backpackit.com. An online account where you can keep your to-do lists, notes, and ideas organized.

Biography Software Corporation. For biography writing and genealogy.

Circa Letter Notebook. A notebook specially designed to keep your paper note-taking system organized. Pages can be moved around from section to section, and printed notes can be easily inserted.

Character Pro for Writers 2.0. Character development software.

Dramatica Pro 4.0. Story and character development software.

Great Dialogue Software. Interactive database with thousands of dialogue samples.

LifeJournal. An interactive journaling software designed for writers.

New Novelist.com. Software to help novice writers complete a novel.

StoryView. Software to help plan and present story ideas for novels and screenplays.

StoryCraft Writer’s Software. Story development software

StyleWriter. Software designed to run within your word processor. This program analyzes documents and offers editing, a dictionary-thesaurus, an outliner, and writing guides.

Writer’s Companion. Brainstorm, organize, edit, and publish ideas in one program.

Writer’s DreamKit 4.0. Fiction writing system for the beginner or intermediate writer.

WriterScreen Software. Retains story writing in one place and keeps it organized.

WriteItNow. Novel-writing software.

Novelists and researchers can use these virtual note cards to organize ideas and facts for works in progress: Miss Lonelynotes, SuperNotecard, and Writer’s Blocks (Ashley software).

If you’re looking for idea generators these are helpful: Idea Fisher, WriteThis, and Xerotron.

And, finally, these software packages offer help in editing:

BookWright. An add-in template for editing and formatting book manuscripts.

Editor Software. Offers more coverage and precision than spell-checker and grammar-checker programs already installed.

ScriptWright. Add-in template for editing and formatting screenplays.

WordDog Plain English Editor. For more clear and concise writing.

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Author’s Submission Service Since 1994

The following are a few general guidelines for script formatting (the formatting suggestions listed below are based on letter-sized 8.5 x 11 inch paper):

1. To allow for three-hole punching, set left margin at 1.5 inches; right at 1 inch.
2. Use 11 or 12 point Courier New font. Use one space after end-sentence punctuation.
3. Place page numbers in the upper right-hand corner, 1 inch from right, ½ inch from top, with ½ inch between number and text.
4. Capitalize sluglines and scene setting indicators. "Interior" and "Exterior" are abbreviated INT. and EXT. Example INT. LIVING ROOM — DAY (note punctuation and spacing).
5. Descriptive text is 60 characters, or six inches wide, left justified and single-spaced.
6. The first time a character appears in descriptive text, the character's name should be in all caps. After that, initial cap only. Sound effects also appear in descriptive text in caps.
7. Capitalize character names for dialogue and set at 4 inches from left margin.
8. Place parentheticals one or two tabs (depending on length) to the left of the character name. (Parentheticals give extra information about how a line is to be delivered. Use sparingly.)
9. Dialogue is indented left and right and is 3.5 inches wide.
10. If descriptive text interrupts a character's dialogue, insert (cont'd) or (cont) to the right of the character's name, the second time the name appears.
11. Try not to break dialogue across pages.
12. If a character is speaking off-screen, insert (O.S.) to the right of the character's name. If you want to indicate a voice-over, insert (V.O.) to the right of the name.
13. Double-space between dialogue blocks and blocks of descriptive text.
14. Ideal page length for feature film or full-length stage play is 110 to 115 pages, about 2 hours.
15. For the title page, center the title and your name in the middle of the page. Don't use quotation marks. Type your name and address in the lower right-hand corner.
16. Copy your script on three-hole paper and bind with metal fasteners.

Setting up your own computer

Using the above margins and tabs, any word processing program can be set up to format a screenplay. You can also purchase screenwriting software that automatically formats as you type. Final Draft 6.0, Hollywood Screenwriter, Movie Magic Screenwriter 2000, and Scriptware are popular, screenplay-formatting programs.

http://www.writersrelief.com/
Author’s Submission Service Since 1994