[FeatherWatt]

What do you use for writing, KindleBoards? Word? Libreoffice? Google Docs? Napkins? A nearby wall and a can of spray paint? I'd like to know!

Take a screencap of what you're working on (or something you've already released), and let's see what everyone's setup is like! (be warned; screencaps will be of stories that might contain naughty words) I'll go first.

This is Gedit, running on Xubuntu 12.04, full-screen with the "Cobalt" color scheme (and this is what it looks like when it's not in full-screen mode). No distractions, no buttons to fiddle with, not even italics support. I write in Markdown, which is a fancy way of saying that I use underscores to denote italics and then I run it through a little tool that turns those underscores into proper HTML opening and closing tags.

Why do it this way? Because this way I can write on anything - my writing folder is synced to Dropbox, and just about every computer or phone in the whole world can handle plain-text files. I can pull out my phone and do some writing wherever I go.

What do you write in, and why?

 

[FeatherWatt]

I write in google drive spreadsheets (because they're scripts). I can't show a screenshot because I'm sure my boss wouldn't like it, but it's your basic spreadsheet with character names and descriptions in one column, dialogue in another, and programming in the third and fourth columns. When I first started writing this way, I found it realllly hard to read because you have to follow multiple columns at once, but I've grown used to it. It's also available on any computer connected to the internet, which is a bonus.

Wow, that's strange and neat! Are you writing for a game or something?

 

[FeatherWatt]

Yup. Story-based educational stuff.

Do you know about the Games for Change folks? Might be right up your alley.

 

[FeatherWatt]

Wow, that's super wide!

Also, yay happy messydesk. Oh man now I've gotta show you mine. That's yours, on the screen. You'll see microcontrollers, e-cigarette paraphernalia, and the guts of an Atari 7800 in there. Also that weird-looking thing directly behind the laptop is a stand that rotates, so I can use my laptop as a portrait monitor, which is lovely for writing.

 

[FeatherWatt]

I need to take some snaps of the desk next time I'm in my office.

Yes. Yes you do.

(/wipes away drool)

 

[FeatherWatt]

About 90% of my WiP has been written on my phone.

Cool! Android, iOS, Blackberry, Windows Phone? Stock keyboard or add-on?

I write in Jota+ Text Editor, using Smart Keyboard Pro on Android. Here's what it looks like! I use a darker color scheme here so that I can write in bed without disturbing my SO.

 

[FeatherWatt]

Android (Google Nexus). I use MyDrive, but it's infuriating when you lose 3G and it just locks up. Need to find some typing software that will do the same thing, but allow you to work offline and synch at your leisure, rather than having to be permanently connected.

The Dropbox app for Android used to do that, but now it sucks. There's an app called DropSync that makes Dropbox do what it used to - which is, I think, pretty much what you want.

 

[FeatherWatt]

I spy, with my little eye, the unmistakeable form of an Arduino.

--George, who has two sitting on his keyboard, one a Nano...

Close! It's a Funduino Uno, which is an Arduino variant made specifically for first-time Amazon writers.

(you know, the same way that a Reliant Robin is a Porsche variant made specifically for first-time Amazon writers)

(by which I mean it's cheaper)

(and lower quality)

 

[FeatherWatt]

This ...

I can see I'm going about this all wrong.