Anyone using writing software?

Functionality seems to be in two primary categories
1) outlining, organizing, moving scenes around, etc
2) analytics...looking for overused words, complex sentences, cliches, offerings synonyms, etc

Seems to be useful for novels, overkill for stories.....but as we start looking at assembling series for novellas and editing for ebooks, I wondered if there was maybe value.

Personally, I write my stories in a simple Notepad, though I use OpenOffice for my "real" work. I even eschew spellcheckers -- it took me a long time to learn English well and I want to show my skills as they really are, not as the computer improves on them.

And those software functionalities are the same, in my mind. They might make it easier, but it wouldn't be just MY story anymore

I think that using spellcheckers and other similar tools just makes the story more readable and enjoyable for others and has no reflection on an author's skills or talent. I, personally, have a very difficult time concentrating on a story that is full of errors in spelling and grammar. (And yours are not, Fulgur.)

As far as the more complex software, I agree with Gail that it is probably overkill for stories, but could come in handy for longer work. I can catch a lot of the obvious mistakes just by letting the story sit before a final edit.

Yes, FiBlue, I meant that since my stories don't generally contain many errors anyway, I can get by without spell checker -- I didn't mean everyone can.

You, however, touch on an important consideration -- we all read books which are well-written as for both content and language, so we tend to think that good writers necessarily have to be good spellers -- but I think that is not a general truth.

Basically, I think people should use these functions if they need it

Coming late to the table, but better late than ... on the other hand ...

I still use WordPerfect. Fell in love with it back in the good old MS-DOS days, and have never felt a need to get a replacement.

I use the spellchecker; it sometimes catches things I miss, but it's its ist far from prefect. I find the grammar checker more of an annoyance than a help.

Since I enjoy writing plays, and especially screenplays, I suppose a dedicated program would be of help. Has anyone had experience using one?

Finally, let's face it, a program is never a good substitute for a careful final edit before submitting something for others to see.

I use Word, but I know of someone who writes everything out longhand first before transcribing it into a word processing program and the author George R.R Martin still writes ALL his fiction (not sure if that includes the screenplays for his one episode of Game of Thrones per season) on an old DOS box that I believe runs WordStar.