I've been doing some creative writing for a local contest and I have to say, Pluma is hard to beat for a "Get out of your way" text editor for writing.
Configured like I have it set up, it seamlessly backs up to a folder mirrored to my Google Drive account every 10 minutes, and allows me to toggle between one or more files simultaneously (one file for the work itself and one for notes or reminders, for instance).
After finishing you can always run the work through something else for page layout... but for the act of writing itself, there's a lot to be said for apps like Pluma and it's use of plain text files instead of some app specific format.
For creativ writing I like to use Focus Writer! In my colour configuration of UM is Pluma looking very dark - to dark for non-dark writing!
But I appreciate as well as you the comfort of a simple editor to write - especially - creative text. In Focus Writer sometimes I like the “type noises” to have the feeling of writing on a typewriter. You see, I’m nostalgic!
I use a Caja for editing and drafting my novels and Pyroom when I want distraction free writing. I write in markdown and use my own custom scripts to layout/decorate the text and compile to HTML and PDF when I want them.
I keep the drafts in my owncloud instance on digital ocean and it works very, very well.
I’m developing scripts that make worldbuilding and planning easier and consistent. I use Gnumeric/LibreOffice to visually edit my scene outline and scripts to process them.
Basically I’ve boiled down the way I used to work with Scrivener and replaced the workflow with entirely free software.
I started last year’s Nanowrimo just after I started using Ubuntu MATE full time. I had hoped that it would be the world’s first novel created in Ubuntu MATE but I guess I’m not the only writer here but that’s an awesome thing!
I’m halfway through the draft and will release it under a CC licence when I finish it.
I haven’t done any creative writing in a while but I’m hoping to get back into it in the not-too-distant future. I will most likely end up using Pluma for it. It’s just too simple to want to use anything else… other than maybe nano…
I really like the concept of using text files but I also can’t give up TiddlyWiki. It’s so easy backing up a single file and it has built-in encryption.
I tried writing in a personal wiki (VoodooPad on OS X) but I didn’t find it half as useful as I wanted it to be. It was good for worldbuilding but not much else.
As for encryption and backup, you can achieve the same by keeping your text documents in an Encfs container stored in whatever backup/sync service you use.
Each to their own though, if TiddlyWiki works for you then who am I to judge; the above is just my thoughts.
Good point about the encryption. The convenient thing about TiddlyWiki though is that it’s a single html file that can be used in any modern browser…no need to install software. Interlinking notes is handy. As you said though, to each their own.
Since I split my time between Windows, Manjaro, and Ubuntu Mate, I use Google Drive. It is always backed up and it is easy to share with stories with me editor. I should give a text editor a try for writing stories just for the halibut. The other day I downloaded and started experimenting with a program called yWriter. It is a free program written by a programmer who also writes sci-fi stories. It has a lot of tools that look pretty helpful. Unfortunately, it is only for Windows. I guess it could work with Wine.
That sound like something I would like to do. How would you suggest I go about getting a CC license for an ebook? I can't find any information specifically for ebooks.
My apologies for not exactly answering the original question here but I think this might be kind of relevant to the discussion. I just completed development of a single-pane outliner for Linux that’s targeted at writers (although more specifically for drafting blog posts, articles, etc.) – I can only guess how well an outliner would actually work for writing novels (which it seems to me would require more specialized software)… Anyway, you can find Hiero on my new blog “Productive Penguin” (http://productivepenguin.blogspot.com/2015/07/an-outliner-for-linux.html). Hopefully, you find it useful.
I guess it could work with Wine.