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iPad Good For A Writer?

robanga said:
There are even a few apps for writing these, although apparently Final Draft has something coming for the iPad.
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Yeah they do, Final Draft is great, I've been using it for years. I really hope they release it for iPad pretty soon, I've signed up to try thr beta when released, so lets home I have an iPad for them.

Really want to get into my writing more seriously this year.
 
HelixOmnimedia said:
New Year, taking my writing more serious an developing a lot of really good projects. In the past I have done a lot of script writing and use FinalDraft - i'm excited that they are working on an iPad version, but I really want to get into novel writing.

Now I don't know if there's any specific software that writers use, I've only ever used Microsoft Office... So my questions is: Is an iPad good for a writer?

What software/apps would allow me to write with the iPad and then transfer to my iMac when at home?
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No it isnt, writer myself and if you want rsi and a lot of pain: write long texts on the ipad.

Short bits, or with a bluetooth keyboard its better but still not great. Copy paste and the such remains a pita .
 
I have no problem using a touch keyboard. What I was wondering is how easy is it to use the soft keyboard with the iPad on a flat surface like a desk? I would think that it would rock back and forth due to the curved back. Can anyone attest to this? This is the only thing keeping me waiting on the iPad 2. Thanks
 
Gatteau said:
IMO, a MBA is a much more fitting machine for a writer.
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I began to write a novel on an iPad and found that I would prefer something like this.

The specific reason was that the 'keyboard' angle and the screen angle are the same on the iPad, which created issue with glare and hand/wrist angles.

A laptop was more 'laptop' friendly for typing (for me)


The iPad with a BT keyboard would also be fine but then you have two pieces of hardware.
 
Just got an email from FINAL DRAFT - it is coming to the iPad Spring 2011. This will make that part of writing on the go far more easier (scriptwriting). Now I can't wait for an iPad and the realese of this app.
 
depends how fast you type on a regular machine.

I type at 100 wpm on a desktop, 85 on a laptop, 30 on the ipad... and that's with a ton of errors because apple's auto correction sucks.

Actually, the issue I see is that the lack of ram causes a stutter when typing quickly which in turn causes the auto correction to kick in at odd times... assuming the wrong word.

If I was writing full time, I'd get an 11" air base model.. close enough to the size and weight of an ipad.. much faster.
 
This all depends on your writing, writing style, and your view on the page.

My workflow involves usually the initial writing done on the iPad with Plaintext and the Apple Keyboard Dock. I find that the dock, while giving me the ability to cmd+a,c,v with my text but to also use TAB. The dock also gives me a wonderful idea of what the idea will look like on the page (the iPad is roughly the size and shape of a page of paper).

When I am finished with my initial draft, or seek to correct, it's wonderful to use it as a compliment to my workflow as a second monitor that can hold Evernote, Dictionary, etc.

But if you are switching between the iPad and computer, pick an iOS text editor that is compatible with Dropbox or another service so that you can focus on the writing.
 
i would suggest depending your budget macbook air 11 is the best choice. its just a amazing little machine with mac osx.
 
Tolstoy's wife, Sophia, is alleged to have written out, in longhand, seven complete manuscripts of War & Peace before the novel was submitted for publication. I'm always reminded of little facts like that when I read complaints from people about this or that computer's shortcomings as a writing tool.

I use my iPad for quite a lot of my writing. For shorter passages, notes, etc. I use the on-screen keyboard. It has its shortcomings, as have been well noted, but it also has its advantages - I find, for instance, the ability to access special characters (€; é; etc.) by simply pressing and holding the appropriate key very helpful. I also find that the auto-correction feature is a real boon. Its been many a month since I've misspelled maintenance or successful (two words I'm embarrassed to say I struggle with to this day.)

For longer and more contemplative work, I use the Apple Keyboard dock. This accessory appears to have disappeared from Apple's stable of accessories, which is a shame. While the keyboard dock was clunky in appearance, it held the iPad firmly, provided very good tactile feel, and kept the iPad charged.

For me, the main strengths of the iPad for writing are these: One, it is totally silent. There is no hum from fans or spinning disk drives. Nothing disturbs my concentration save the soft patter of my fingers on the keys or the song of birds on my porch. If I walk away for an hour,a day, or a week, the iPad springs to life instantly, returning me to the point where I left off.

I tend to turn off Notifications when I'm doing a long passage of writing. I don't need to be interrupted by news flashes, or be reminded that Top Gear is starting in 5 minutes. Which brings up another great strength of the iPad: For some reason I find it focuses me on the page in front of me. It has about the same screen real estate as a typewritten page, and I find that without all the visual clutter of menus, clocks, buttons, and the like - I'm much better able to crack out text that stays on message. (I'm not a huge fan of "multi-tasking" - especially for writers. Research is one task, writing is another.)

Another hidden boon for the iPad is I find I've dramatically reduced the amount of paper I waste in my home office. First drafts seem much easier to review on the iPad than on a computer screen. And, to be honest, I find the somewhat circuitous process it takes to print from the iPad discourages casual hardcopies. When its finally time to print, or do final editing, its pretty easy to transfer the file to a PC.

If there is a downside to the iPad as a writing machine, I would have to say it comes in the area of editing. Without a mouse to select words and paragraphs, one is left with the peculiar touch and hold method. Its OK for the odd edit, but not for re-arranging big chunks of text.
 
IaWriter

Actually, for me, typing on the iPad isn't as bad as others make it out to be (not talking about this specific thread). With the apple case, the angle it gives me is more than enough to type comfortably, though i wouldn't suggest writing with the iPad naked. Also, if you're still looking for a good writing app, I would suggest iA Writer. It was an app built with the writer in mind, it has an extra section above the keyboard that includes apostrophe, quotation marks, parentheses, etc things that would otherwise be sort of a hassle to access on the normal keyboard. Also, there's a focus mode, word count, reading time timer and dropbox syncing. There's more but those are the main things that attracted me to it. All of these things included in a $2-$3 app. The only problem that i see with is the fact that to properly edit it, it needs to be transferred to a proper wordprocessor or another program like scrivener(which is another awesome app, but for mac.)
 
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...just want to add that IA Writer is now priced at $.79.

'Seems like a no-brainer at that price, however, I've read that it lacks italics and I really need italics.

Does anyone know if it has an underline function or some other way of marking the text needing to be italicized during an editing process on a standard computer?

 
I think that the iPad would be *good enough* for writing, either using the virtual keyboard or a bluetooth keyboard.

However, if I needed a dedicated writing machine, I'd get the base 11" MBA. It is twice as much as the base iPad, but not much more than the higher-end iPads, only a little larger, larger display, great full-sized keyboard, epic battery life and much more versatile since it has a full-fledged OS.
 
Mickief said:
...just want to add that IA Writer is now priced at $.79.

'Seems like a no-brainer at that price, however, I've read that it lacks italics and I really need italics.

Does anyone know if it has an underline function or some other way of marking the text needing to be italicized during an editing process on a standard computer?
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Unfortunately, it doesn't, which sucks but maybe there'll be an update that does add italics and underlining. Still a great app for any writer, i'd recommend it.
 
Hey all,

I'm a writer with a few books in print. I write on a MBP and I doubt I will ever change. Damn thing is a beast. I didn't have enough battery to jot down a story for an anthology one day. I was flying back from a convention in Pittsburgh when I realized I had about 5% power left. My iPad was there so I figured what the hell.

I managed to type out a 2,000 word piece but it was painful. It was so hard to move text around, delete chunks and shift sentences. Not to mention it was a pain to set the editing options I like from the get go. No spaces between paragraphs, double spaced and .5 indent on first line. That's just how I like to write because my drafts look like that.

I am glad that I had the iPad handy but I could never write on it full time. My new novel is a hair over 105K words which is 300+ MSS pages. There is no way I could edit on the iPad. I need colored text, notes in the side bar, and the ability to open multiple copies to check for changes on old versions.

For light writing it's cool, if you can tame the autocorrect stuff - what a headache.

BTW I am a huge fan of Scrivener although I do all my editing and final drafts in Word. My editor said "Schriv-wut?" :)

-Tim
 
I'm a film producer, and am excited for the coming iPad version of FD. I also use my iPad as my primary computer so day to day usability is obviously of paramount importance to me.

I've become remarkably proficient typing with the onscreen keyboard in landscape mode. I haven't used any speed tests but I'd say I type fast enough for my needs (whatever that means!) I originally bought a BT keyboard and iPad dock and use them...never at this point!

As to software for novelists, I've never had a need but I know there are low/no interface writing apps available for this exact purpose: full screen writing, no distraction caused by any other "stuff" on screen. Good luck with the hunt!
 
There's a lot of reasons to get an iPad, but writing wouldn't be the top of that list, simply because of the lack of an actual keyboard. If you want the portability of an iPad, then many would suggest the new MacBook Air.
 
I'd say yes. That's one of the things I'm going to use it for as well. The ipad is great (and better than a laptop) in the sense that you can quickly and easily jot down and organize your ideas wherever you are. There's lots of productivity apps out there like mind mapping apps for example. Mind mapping, if you didn't know, is a sort of flow chart for your ideas, it's a very broad useful tool. For example you can use it to create a chart that explains the relationship between characters, or organize plot point ideas, the growth and development of a single character etc. and doing that kind of stuff on a touch screen interface is fantastic. There's also all kinds of word processor apps out there and I'm sure there'd be one to suit you. Just check out the app store on itunes (if you have itunes on your pc) or google best ipad writing or productivity apps for more info.

As far as the keyboard, you don't always have to use the touchscreen, and if you're going to sit down for some serious writing, you can use a bluetooth keyboard, or a usb keyboard in conjunction with the usb camera connection kit accessory. I plan on using this method when I'm ready to do some real serious typing. And the touch keyboard, as far as I can tell from using it, is fine for writing down ideas that you can reference later if you happen to be in a place where it isn't feasible to pull out a keyboard. And some are able to use the touch keyboard pretty well in landscape mode with some practice.

The biggest reason I'd actually choose an ipad over a laptop for writing is convenience, it's instantly on, you can leave it on, it's light, it takes no more than a couple seconds to boot into an app and there's a lot of other useful productivity apps that the iPad does really well that really compliment writing or any other creative activity (mind mapping was just one example). Sure a macbook air would be nice as well, but it's not as easy to pull out on a bus or similar area, and it's more than 2x the price.
 
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When the iPad launched, I chose to make it the only computer that I used for 60 days.

While the experiment was interesting, and I did learn that the iPad could effectively replace a laptop for almost all of my daily tasks, writing is where it fell down.

Even connecting it to a keyboard or using a bluetooth keyboard can't compare to using a laptop.

I'm another who says that, based on my own experience, you want a new 13" MacBook Air.
 
I'm a film director and writer - my screenplays have won a few awards and I'm working on my first novel now - my opinions -

First off, I agree with everyone above that a MacBook Pro is a writer's best friend, however, be sure to buy some COOL FEET so you don't get carpel-tunnel -

http://www.bluelounge.com/products/coolfeet/

Second, an iPad is great for organizing ideas and putting thoughts together - IT IS NOT GOOD FOR WRITING them out --- the best application for putting ideas and plots together is CORKULOUS for iPad -

http://www.appigo.com/corkulous

Third, I agree with everyone who loves SCRIVENER - that application (on MacBook, not iPad) is EXCELLENT - I feel sorry for anyone who writes a novel using Word - DO NOT DO THAT - Scrivener makes the organization and idea creation so much easier and it's all integrated

http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php

Lastly, ADOBE just released an app for the iPad called IDEAS which is great for drawing out notes --- PENULTIMATE is also good for notes on the iPad, although I think PAPERDESK is better than PenUltimate

Enjoy all! Good luck on everyone's writing!
 
HasanDaddy said:
I'm a film director and writer - my screenplays have won a few awards and I'm working on my first novel now - my opinions -

First off, I agree with everyone above that a MacBook Pro is a writer's best friend, however, be sure to buy some COOL FEET so you don't get carpel-tunnel -

http://www.bluelounge.com/products/coolfeet/

Second, an iPad is great for organizing ideas and putting thoughts together - IT IS NOT GOOD FOR WRITING them out --- the best application for putting ideas and plots together is CORKULOUS for iPad -

http://www.appigo.com/corkulous

Third, I agree with everyone who loves SCRIVENER - that application (on MacBook, not iPad) is EXCELLENT - I feel sorry for anyone who writes a novel using Word - DO NOT DO THAT - Scrivener makes the organization and idea creation so much easier and it's all integrated

http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php

Lastly, ADOBE just released an app for the iPad called IDEAS which is great for drawing out notes --- PENULTIMATE is also good for notes on the iPad, although I think PAPERDESK is better than PenUltimate

Enjoy all! Good luck on everyone's writing!
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Have you tried Storyist? A lot of the functionality you describe can be found in there. I've been using it for the past two years, and the organizational tools are amazing. They're also releasing an iPad version (with Dropbox syncing) in the next few weeks.

I used to use Scrivener, but once I tried Storyist, I couldn't go back.

I think they have a free trial on their website.
 
having both an ipad and an air, I can safely say I guess, and imho of course, that the ipad isn't good for novelist. It's ok for the occasional scribble (bt keyboard or not) but I would think the small air is the way to go for writers. But get an ipad too because writers need to read to be inspired. I am the worse when it comes to finding cost effective scenarios I guess, but really to me, there's one way here, and that is having both a laptop and an ipad.
 
Just curious, but is the reason you guys aren't completely sold on the iPad as a writing device because of the hardware or the software limitations. Hardware can be solved by a BT keyboard. Software will come over time.
 
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