I was a Senior Technical Writer back in the 9s. I've been publishing fiction for a few years now. Actually published my first short horror story in 199 though. Death of Heaven is my latest book of horror and insanity. I was told in college never to show anyone your first draft it's foul and should never be seen by the public. This article here is a first draft. Life has changed. I use MS Word 213 (as I have Office 213) for most all of my writing. I also use notepad all the time. Like if I'm watching TV or out with my laptop and get an idea I write it down and save it. I have many folders and files for titles ideas for stories novels and screenplays. I save everything. All ideas Ie up with. I get out of bed to write things down. For editing I just use Word and I've finally started to use someone to do my editing which is a wonderful thing. I do leave on the editing functions when I write my first draft but Ipletely ignore it. I know some turn it off until later drafts but I find it faster this way and I don't have trouble ignoring it when I want. I can quite fast so my thoughts and typing keep up together pretty well. As for a thesaurus I just use the one built into MS Word. I have a very good vocabulary so typically if I need a word I use the one in Word and I either find what I need or it gives me an idea. Otherwise I go to the internet. You may have noticed there's a lot of words out there. I'd looked into various s of software packages for writers some years ago and I found that I do just fine without them in using Word. I finally caved about thirteen years ago and bought Final Draft for screenplays but that is more of an industry standard and more reason to use it than Word for prose really. I use Final Draft for writing screenplays however. As I have a cover artist I don't know what he uses but check out my book Death of Heaven and you can see the quality he does. Amazing works. And that is nothing. He has very many s of art. The most important thing in writing is the writing. I know authors who use pencil and paper. I'd rather kill myself. But it works for them. I got to be a fast typist from programming and later from being a tech writer. That can be brutal career. There is no concern for the artist in you. You get told straight out it sucks or to tear out this marvelous section or to start over. Or you slave over some document and they hate it. And when they like it they just say Good. It's a good learning field for fiction writing. You learn the bumps and grinds you learn to produce on time and in volume and you finish things. Or you don't get paid. Unlike fiction writing where frequently you finish and don't get paid ever or for a very long time. Writing is rewriting and the first step is to get something down. Then read it and make sensible corrections. Then rewrite And again. And again. Till you think you will kill yourself or throw up. Then edit some more. Get someone to read it. Edit some more. After enough practice you'll know when you're done. When I started out writing fiction I knew I was done editing and rewriting when I knew if I tried to do it again I'd throw up. Now I just know when it's polished enough. Then have an editor have at it. That is a collaborative effort so find someone that works well with you and understands your genre and your writings (and personality if possible). If you want to write or be a writer ignore everyone. Write. Then re-write it many times. Learn writing as you go if need be. Get readers. Listen to them find ones who give productive criticism. Anyone can write. And anyone can get better at it.