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DESCRIPTION
Jer's Novel Writer is a relatively simple word processor with extra features to support large creative writing projects.

This program is all about momentum, and reducing the number of things that break the flow when I am writing. Jer's Novel Writer is designed to help me keep writing when the creative juices are flowing, and then find all the things I need to go over again when I am more in a nitty-gritty mood.

Features:

  • Margin Notes like you've never seen before.
  • Automatic Outline
  • Full-screen mode
  • Database
  • Bookmarks
  • Separate formatting options for print and screen
  • It actually knows what a chapter is (or whatever organizational structure you want to use).
  • A panel for general notes lets you keep track of story issues and ideas (and the last time you ate).
  • Word count
  • More accurate page count estimates
  • Better performance than most word processors for really, really big documents.
WHAT'S NEW
Version 1.1.8:

  • Key authentication (hopefully) more resistant to stupid email system muckups (a technical term)
  • Modified the "could not update the file" message to be less confusing.
  • Added more information in new release notification.
  • bugs fixed:
    • fixed bug updating format 609 files (thanks, Bill!)
    • Turned off Danger! warning
REQUIREMENTS
Mac OS X 10.3 or later.

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Developer:Jer
Downloads:14,581
  - Version d/l:1,276
Business:Word Processing
License:Demo
Date:06 Mar 2009
Platform:PPC/Intel
Price:$30.00
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Jer's Novel Writer User Reviews (15 posts)Write A Review
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May 13 2008

ELECTRICLEWIS  It's worth downloading this just to read the EULA - it's brilliant :D  
(Version 1.1.2)

praisebury
+4
[ Reply ]
Jan 4 2008

ZX81  Apparently, the link to Jer's hut just disappeared ; I was connected to his site about an hour ago;

Anyone knows what happened ?  
(Version 1.0.1.2)

praisebury
0
[ 6 Replies - Reply ]
Replies:
Jan 4 2008

MACUPDATE ADMIN  Just now tried to access the site, got this message:

"This Account Has Been Suspended - Please contact the billing/support department as soon as possible."

Apparently the developer forgot to pay his hosting bill. It's that time of year when people are very busy (family affairs) and are often short of cash as well.  
(Version 1.0.1.2)

praisebury
0
Jan 4 2008

ZX81  I found him ; have a look at this :

http://homepage.mac.com/vikingjs/iblog/C1702808668/E1959571706/index.html  
(Version 1.0.1.2)

praisebury
0
Jan 4 2008

ZX81  Found this comment from Jerry Seeger (JNW developer) :

"I was hoping that the servers for Jer's Software Hut would be stable enough that I could wait until I got back to the secret labs to find a new host, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The problem: the guy who kindly offered to host the Hut... his contact info is on the server that is currently down. Dang."  
(Version 1.0.1.2)

praisebury
+1
Feb 6 2008

MACMONOVICH  Anybody know what's going on with this program? I wanted to pay to get rid of the nag screens but his site's links are mostly all dead, his email address bounces back as non existent, I'm reluctant to send credit card payment to nowhere. What's up? Anybody?  
(Version 1.0.1.2)

praisebury
0
Feb 6 2008

MACUPDATE ADMIN  have a look here: http://jerssoftwarehut.com/download.shtml  
(Version 1.0.1.2)

praisebury
0
Feb 6 2008

MACMONOVICH  The purchase goes nowhere, there is no response with a serial or unlock key, now my credit card info may be floating in space. I think the author should be more responsible or remove the product from sale if no one is going to respond.  
(Version 1.0.1.2)

praisebury
0

Nov 7 2007

BAD JOBS - GOOD JOBS  Maybe someone should first have a look at the free "Bean"?

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/24881/bean

or for further needs have a look at the apps at "devon".

http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/index.html

28 dollars, hahaha  
(Version 1.0.1.2)

praisebury
-1
[ 2 Replies - Reply ]
Replies:
Jan 4 2008

ZX81  Bean ? You've got to be joking !  
(Version 1.0.1.2)

praisebury
0
Apr 2 2009

LEV   Bean and JNR are not the same thing. If you had used both, you'd know. Bean is a fine lightweight RTF app; a kind of TextEdit with a little bit more. JNR is an app for writing books, papers etc, with built=in live outlining, a note-taking facility, very well implemented marginalia which can be categorised for different kinds of notes etc.

Both get text into a file. Fine. After that, they diverge considerably. And if you don't think JNr is, even theoretically, worth $20 or whatever, then you don't need it.  
(Version 1.1.8)

praisebury
0

Mar 2 2007

SYHARRIS  Ok, this version installs and launches without a problem. Seems to be pretty stable, too.   
(Version 0.6.2.1)

praisebury
0
[ Reply ]
Feb 22 2007

SYHARRIS  Crashes immediately upon trying to launch. Redownloaded, but still crashes.  
(Version 0.6.2)

praisebury
0
[ 1 Reply - Reply ]
Replies:
Mar 2 2007

CA  Maybe you should give v. 0.6.2.1 a try, I hope it'll fix your problem.  
(Version 0.6.2.1)

praisebury
0

Feb 17 2007

ZWS  Jer, Drop 1.0 on us if you want to accomplish financial gain or even general interest. Scrivener is taking the cake. Don't back down to competition, foster it. Also, Jer's is the best of the old-gen products: Ulysses, Avenir, etc. - Bring the beast back to the peak!  
(Version 0.6.1.6)

praisebury
0
[ Reply ]
Dec 18 2006
****.

THINC  I've noticed there haven't been any reviews of JNW for about a year. That's too bad, since many folks would benefit from trying out this terrific app. I've been using 0.614 for the past three months and putting it through it's paces. The developer's objective was to create an app that helped him write without the distractions of Word and Word-like programs, as well as to give him the organizational flexibility to track, edit, and restructure story elements. Even in this beta version, he has succeeded remarkably well. The program is stable and a delight to use. Anyone working on a longer document, who is concerned more with writing than formatting, would benefit by giving it a try. Jerry is also very responsive to user community feedback. The whole experience has been a pleasure.  
(Version 0.6.1.6)

praisebury
0
[ Reply ]
Nov 19 2005
*****

GAIJIN  The combination of a WORKING outliner (unlike the bizarre “outliners” in Copywrite and Ulysses, let alone Avenir, which don’t actually outline anything), dynamic database, floating margin notes and a few other features (e.g. good implementation of full screen), makes it a winner for me.

I’ve been writing in it for the last few weeks, and then suddenly decided to ‘try again’ Ulysses and CW... has’s been able to write a single scene in them, spending all my time fighting with interface.

I don’t think JNW is a knock-off of anything. The concept is quite novel.

And for now, it’s free...  
(Version 0.5.2.1)

praisebury
0
[ Reply ]
Oct 7 2005
**½..

ANONYMOUS  After five minutes with this application recently, I can see why the author still isn't charging for it. There are other alternatives. The top two (in order of excellence in my opinion) are CopyWrite and Ulysses. Ulysses has a vastly more flexible export system but it's overpriced, the interface is clunky (looks like a Java application ported from Linux, ported from Windows), and hasn't made much progress. CopyWrite has had some problems with annoying bugs the last few versions but nothing serious. It seems to be advancing regularly in features and performance and the price beats the hell out of Ulysses. With Jer's Novel Writer on the other hand, you're definitely getting what you paid for ...  
(Version 0.5.2.1)

praisebury
0
[ 2 Replies - Reply ]
Replies:
May 30 2006

LEV  You know, that really doesn't help anyone. It's thin, truculent and just vague assertions backed up with nothing tangible. If MacUpdate is to be of any use, those of us who try to post helpful and reasoned reviews should start coming down on people who just use it to assert their opinions in the odd belief that opinion alone is worth something. Why did you bother wasting your time? More to the point, why do you think you're entitled to waste OUR time?   
(Version 0.5.2.1)

praisebury
0
Jun 3 2006

LAWRENCE MARTIN  I have just downloaded the software and rather than write a review or comment in the main section I thought I'd just say here: I *can't* see why this program is free! Nonetheless, lucky us... it is!  
(Version 0.5.2.1)

praisebury
0

Aug 31 2005
*****

ANONYMOUS  I wish I had found this sooner, before banging my head against the wall with other word processors.  
(Version 0.5.2.1)

praisebury
0
[ Reply ]
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