Has anyone here ever used any of the novel-writing software out there?

[SheilaT]

13. I really appreciate all the replies.

But I kind of want to get back to my original question, which is that I'm trying to figure out if the novel-writing software packages don't suggest a lot of the elements that ought to be put into a novel, and that's why I'm noticing these weird aspects of some novels I've read recently. It's like what's being suggested, say in a YA novel, that you must have a particular kind of conflict with a parent. Or if there's a sibling with this characteristic, there must be a sibling with another characteristic.

I'm wondering if free-form creativity isn't being lost to the service of the software.

It's a little like grammar checking. That a pretty good idea if English isn't your first language, but almost always what gets suggested to me is simply not correct, or definitely not the way I want to say something.