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Using Word never makes me feel like a writer. Doesn't matter how big the wordcount ever gets, I just don't make that transition from 'person using Word' to 'author'.
The minute I open MM Screenwriter 2000 and see my work, all in Courier 12pt, all laid out to industry standards, I think 'Oh, look! A script!' Doesn't quite feel like mine just yet, but it still looks like and feels like a real script.
Funny, huh?
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Strange Attractor
Heeeeyyy… Using Word makes ME feel like a writer, lol. Using Quark even more so — I can make my manuscript look exactly like a book, but then the computer file becomes really huge.
I read somewhere that not only can you program Word style sheets to do all the screenplay formatting, but someone sells or gives away the file with that formatting. So if you need to move on from MM Screenwriter 2000, that might be the route to go — an all-screenplay-formatted Word document.
My daughter has the writing bug now. (She's 12.) You gets all excited whenever her word count passes another thousand mark, like 1,000, 2,000. Then I show her my books — 60,000… 132,000… Hee hee.
By the way, have you seen the British movie “28 Days Later”? I just saw it today. It's been out on this side of the pond for about three weeks. Excellent movie.
JD
Ah… Quark. Not the most economical programme in terms of file size. 😉
Yes, I too have heard you can get Word templates for screenplay formatting, but I have to admit, having used MM Screenwriter now, I wouldn't want to have to go back to Word on a permanent basis. MMSW is a very simple programme and, apart from its obsession with American spelling, I can't so far find anything wrong with it. And it does all the formatting automatically as you type, which does appeal to me, I admit.
You know, I think there's a writing gene. Many people in my family have it, various aunts and cousins have at some point made a living from writing. And my three year old neice seems to have it too – she just loves books and she can't even read yet!
Nope, not seen 28 Days Later. I do like Danny Boyle &co. but I'm a wimp and was a bit worried about the violence. That said, I've seen clips, and the scene where London is deserted is quite amazing.
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