In a recent post, I discussed how wikis aren’t just tools for techie but are also for writers. I threatened to discuss at length how I use a wiki to do my writing.
If you’re interested in learning about how I do that, then read on.
Over the last year or so, I’ve blathered on in this space about writing with a wiki. As you might have guessed, I’ve been practicing what I’ve preached and am using a wiki for a large chunk of my writing and planning.
It’s gotten to the point where my daughter no longer says “Are you going to write in OpenOffice/Google Docs?” and instead asks “Are you going to do writing on your wiki?”
During that time, I’ve talked to a few of my fellow freelancers (not just writers, either) about adding a wiki to their workflows. A couple have given it a shot — mainly with a hosted wiki called PBWiki. Some others, though, have shied away from the idea.
Why? Two reasons really stand out. One, they’ve heard too many horror stories about Wikipedia. Two, there’s a stigma among people that wikis are a tool for techies and that the average person can’t get a handle on setting up and using one.
Neither reason holds much water. You can use a wiki to plan and write — whether you’re doing it solo, or if you’re collaborating with one or more other writers.
A while back, I posted about how a number of authors in Japan are writing on their mobile phones (called keitai in Japanese). The audience? Other mobile phone users.
Admittedly, I’d probably never use a mobile to do any writing. The smallest device that I ever used for that purpose was my Psion Series 5. But this post offers some lessons in writing for mobile phones. The key points:
On a somewhat related note, I was reading a couple of blog posts recently by a Canadian translator living in Japan. These posts where a translation into English of an interview with a manga artist Naoki Uasawa. What’s unique about these translations is that they were:
… done on the train with the magazine in one hand while thumbing my on-the-fly translation into my cell phone with the other.
A very interesting use of the technology.
As I’ve mentioned in this space before, I use a wiki called DokuWiki for a number of my smaller writing projects. With a few modifications, you can turn DokuWiki into a solid Web-based word processor. And one which you can use to collaborate with other writers and to work with editors.
How? This article (it’s a PDF file) explains what you need to do. If you’re adventurous, or just don’t want to deal with wiki markup, then you can also install a WYSIWYG plugin to give DokuWiki a more word proceesor-like interface.
While wiki guru Stewart Mader wrote a book using a wiki, in my experiments with a wiki as a writing tool I’ve started off small. No books (at least for now); instead, I’ve been writing articles using DokuWiki.