Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Celtx for Writing Novels

A few years ago I found an open source script writing program called Celtx. My brother and I wrote a screenplay using it, and I've used it to write the audio/visual scripts that later became the promo and tutorial movies for my games. There are several very cool features in Celtx like a built-in database for keeping track of character details, an index card view that makes reordering scenes easy, and an easy PDF export. I've always thought this program was almost perfect for novels. It just needed a little more attention.

Well, it just got that attention in the new version 2.9 that was released on February 8, 2011.

Up to now, I've been using almost ancient tools to write my stories (ancient in computer terms, not ancient as in 'abacus'). First I have the actual novel, written in OpenOffice.Org's Writer. Next I have a sort of ad hoc database, stored in a multi-page spreadsheet in OpenOffice.Org's Calc -- one sheet for a chapter list and summary, one for character details, and a third for keeping track of revision history. Finally, I had a simple text file for storing notes on future ideas that hadn't found their way into the novel yet.

I've always wanted a program just for writing - one program to rule them all, if you will. Celtx gave me that for writing screenplays, but fell short for writing novels. Now they have specific novel support, and things are much better. I spent some time over the past few days copying my unedited second novel into Celtx to see how it works.

The "Master Catalog" is still there, allowing me to easily keep track of information about my characters, locations, and anything else I can dream up. This works as well as it ever did, although some of the fields they provide just don't apply to me yet (I don't spend much time thinking about parking on Mars but I imagine it's better than at my current apartment). Having access to a place that lets me store more information than a spreadsheet and in a much more readable format is a boon. It even lets you import pictures, so if you have a favorite actor you envision as your character or some concept art you can add those to your character card for future reference.

Next is the "Novel" component. This is a simple text editor with some custom header areas. This is not as robust as Writer or Word, but it is more useful than notepad because of the way it's tied in. Fill in a chapter header and you instantly have an entry added to the Chapter List on the left side of the screen. This does two things very well: lets you easily add chapter entries and allows for easy reordering. The index card view works even better in that regard, since it gives you a nicer view of your chapters and lets you drag and drop them to change the order.

This is not to say the software is perfect, but it has come a long way toward being my one-stop shop for novel writing. What I feel is missing from Celtx is this:

  1. Word Count -- I keep track just to see where I'm at and what sort of progress I'm making. You can select text and right-click on it to see the word count. Effective, but hidden. I'd prefer to see the word count in the chapter list and have an overall total displayed somewhere as well.

  2. Scenes -- Having each chapter be an item in a list and an index card is great, but each chapter is not one scene. I usually have several scenes in a chapter and would love to have an interface to let me move those around and insert new scenes more easily.

  3. Export -- I want two methods of exporting. First, a fully formatted novel ready to send off to CreateSpace for printing (using my own custom template, if possible). Second, a fully formatted novel in DOC format ready for me to send to Smashwords.

Celtx has worked well for the few projects I've created with it. This novel writing component is a huge step toward making me want to use the program full time. It's missing a few things, but considering that this is the first official version to support novel writing at all, it's an exceptional effort. It's even motivated me enough to look into writing add-ons to get the additional functionality I want.

7 comments:

  1. Hi Everyone!!

    I know this is an article about Celtx but I work at Scripped.com and they just released a celtx version that lets you sync your Celtx scripts with Scripped.com, so you can write Online and offline. You can download it from sourceforge here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/scripped/files/ or by searching there for Scripped.

    Check it out, it's free! It's same as celtx but also works with Scripped which is really convenient!!

    ~Jenny

    Outreach Director
    jenny@scripped.com

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  2. Thanks for this review, it was exactly what I was looking for! I too have been using Celtx for scripts (I'm a Creative Writing MA student focusing in adaptations, specifically to film), but I am taking a novel writing workshop this semester. I got the email from Celtx about their new novel feature and wondered how others felt about it. You convinced me to finally go Celtx pro! I bought the premium download and already have the apps on my iPhone.

    Thanks again!

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  3. Hi Devinski,

    Thanks for leaving us a note. Also, good luck with your novel writing workshop. Where are you getting your MA? I went to Seton Hill.

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  4. The so-called "Novel template" is still missing two essential formatting functions: paragraph indenting and double line spacing. Until these are added, Celtx cannot be used for professional novel writing. Please join us in asking for these functions to be added a.s.a.p. by making requests on the Celtx forum for "Feature Suggestions":

    http://forums.celtx.com/viewforum.php?f=7

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the heads up, Harry. I haven't updated my installation of Celtx since I wrote this post over a year ago. Sad to hear they still haven't fixed some minor things like indenting and line spacing. I know they work on a lot of features for their program, but something like indenting text is quite literally a one line fix in their CSS code. Granted, I don't know offhand what implications that fix would have on the other types of scripts they support...

      I've been noticing some other odd things in my manuscript. Sometimes when I hit the Enter key, I get a new paragraph, and other times it just moves to the next line. Also, the exporting options are quite limited (text or html). I've been manually copying the whole novel into Writer for editing and passing to beta readers. I hate having to do that, but I'm not going to give up on Celtx any time soon. The built-in database is so much nicer than using text files or spreadsheets. And starting a sequel inside the same Celtx project, and getting to keep all the same database entries from the first novel? Priceless. :)

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  5. I use Final Draft for scripts, but I like the features you describe for writing novels. Well, except for the lack of both paragraph indenting and double-line spacing! How can you use it without that? Have those features been provided since the most recent post above, in April?

    I have an old install of Celtx on my computer that I've never used, version 2.0.2. It looks like I'd have to create a "Celtx account" to get updated and get the novel-writing features you describe. Is Celtx no longer free? Do I have to keep my files on the 'cloud?'

    I'm scriptwriting now, but I'll be novel-writing in a few months... Thanks for your opinion.

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    1. No, those features are still not present in the latest version (2.9.7). I get by without indenting and line spacing by doing my writing and editing inside Celtx, then copy-and-pasting the text into Writer to handle formatting. This is obviously not ideal, but I love the other features inside Celtx enough that I put up with it. The bulk of my work is done inside Celtx. I really only deal with nice formatting when giving copies to other people or preparing for publishing.

      You do have to register for a free account to download the program. Once inside their website, click on the "Software" link in the top right area of the screen, then click on the "Desktop" link to get an installer for your computer. However, you do not have to keep your files in the cloud. Their cloud services are all optional addons.

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