“Everyone should be able to express their creativity”
Adlershof newcomers Hendrik and Leon Ramps have revolutionised traditional word processing with “Papyrus Autor”
With “Papyrus Autor”, the two brothers Hendrik and Leon Ramps have revolutionised traditional word processing and developed software that is geared towards the very nature of creative writing. They recently moved to Adlershof and, from there, want to conquer the world.
“There is an incredible number of people who want to write,” says Hendrik Ramps. “Of course, most people keep this a secret and would never dare to take this to the public.” He and his brother Leon want to change that and revive the family business once founded by their father.
Three years ago, the brothers took over the management completely, teamed up with the Duden publishing house, and integrated their spell checker into the Duden software. “Then we started receiving feedback from frequent writers, who said they were saving a lot of time proofreading,” says Hendrik Ramps.
They somehow slid into that scene and started asking themselves the all-important question: Why isn’t there any software geared specifically towards writers? Together with Andreas Eschenbach, a writer and lecturer, they drew up a concept and developed ideas for proofreading long texts – “Papyrus” became “Papyrus Autor”.
Using Papyrus, everything that was once done by proofreaders is now being done by the writers themselves. Style analysis highlights filler words that disrupt the reading flow, unclear words can be looked up directly, and statistics ascertain a text’s readability. Navigator, organiser, and roadmaps help to structure one’s writing. Authors can use Papyrus to visualise scenes and conflicts. A story grows while writing and so new ideas and twists are created every day. The thinking board helps to create connections and not to lose track.
“It's just nice to work for people who are so passionate about their job,” says Leon Ramps, and his brother nods in agreement. They collect all the books that were written using “Papyrus Autor” and, every day, they appreciate the success they’re having. “Some writers get in touch and tell us that they spend up to 14 hours with ‘us’,” says Hendrik.
They are in constant contact with their users – there are almost 80,000 now – and feed their ideas back into new versions of the programme. They are currently working on human needs such as encouragement, praise, and emotions. “But all this is still very much in development,” they say with a whisper. “Our mission is to get everyone to write, not just the pros,” says Leon, who originally studied psychology. “We want to take everyone by the hand and support them in unleashing their creativity.”
When they were little boys, they would sit at the computer with their father and watch him while he attempted to write a novel. Both are creative themselves. However, they don’t write every day and certainly not entire books. They get creative in workshops and examine (new) beginnings or parts of manuscripts. This was absolutely necessary in order to empathise with their customers. Their own ideas are also channelled into the software. This results in regular updates and also a forum used for exchanging thoughts.
Helen Arnold for Adlershof Journal