Dec 28, 2017 - Apps for writers tend to be less expensive than other kinds of. Fiction writers, book authors, and screenplay writers often change the. If you've ever typed asterisks (*) around a word in a chat app to make it bold, that's similar to Markdown. Bottom Line: The free writing app yWriter has a stats-heavy,. We need an author here.Storybook isn't even up to par with a lot of other freeware, Web site doesn't work also there is a new site and software called Ostorybook and then you have online novel writing software. And distraction free online software, like writemonkey.
Today’s guest post is by Matt Grant. Matt is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor. His work has appeared in Literary Hub, Book Riot, HuffPost, and BookBrowse. Find Matt, or follow him on. Writing Software that Will Blow Your Mind As writers, we know that our. The last thing we need is to get bogged down in the process itself.
Beyond the basic story, we’re often also struggling to keep track of character details, side plots, and random flashes of inspiration for parts of the story we’re not even working on yet. We need a solid place to keep all of this information in one, easily accessible place. Thankfully, gone are the days where you sat down at a typewriter and wrote everything in one long document. Yet one of the most frustrating things in our technological age is to be plugging away on a work in progress, only to get sidelined by bad or sluggish software. Below is a list of some of the best planning, writing and editing software available today with amazing features you didn’t know you needed. And the best part is, many of them are free.
Planning: Scapple, by the folks at Literature and Latte, is a basic mind-mapping tool. It’s super simple and easy to use. All you do is make notes and connect them to one another by dragging and dropping them onto one another. Notes can be customized by color and size, although these options are limited. This can actually be a good thing, though, since you can’t waste too much time worrying about making your map look pretty. Scapple makes brainstorming not only easy, but fun. It’s like having an endless amount of paper at your disposal.
Running out of room? No problem, you can easily zoom out of your working area and start a new map or connection in another area. (Windows Only) yWriter is a free word processor for Windows PCs. Built by a writer for writers, the program breaks up your novel into scenes or chapters, making it easier for you to keep track of what goes where. You can create character cards and tags, and add a lot of helpful customizable notes to your scenes, such as the time of day it takes place and how long the scene is supposed to last.
Due to its simplicity, I wouldn’t recommend yWriter for writing a full novel, although it has been done. There are much more advanced programs for that. YWriter is better for planning out your story scene by scene. But if you’re on a budget, yWriter will get the job done! Writing: I’ve been using Scrivener for several years now, and it’s hands-down the best thing that could have happened to my writing.
Scrivener is one of most popular writing tools available today. It’s so much more than just a word processor – it’s a novel-generating machine. Similar to yWriter, Scrivener allows you to break up your project into different parts, but it’s not just confined to chapters or scenes. You can have a flashback, a brief exchange between characters, or an entire short story in one document. These can be edited separately, allowing you to focus on just one small part of your work, or in “Scrivenings Mode,” which links together a series of scenes, like a whole first act. There are tons of easy-to-use, customizable features like split-screen, a digital note card outliner, a binder, and my personal favorite, compose mode.
If it all seems overwhelming, you don’t have to use all of the features. With Scrivener, you can find what works for you. It’s also cheap – at less than $50, Scrivener is an absolute steal. If you like “word sprints” – quick, 15-minute bursts of writing – consider giving Sprinter a try. Sprinter is an uncomplicated, distraction-free web-based writing program with a timer. You simply start writing, and the timer on the right side of the page begins its countdown.
Need more than 15 minutes? No problem, set the timer for as long as you wish. You can also make a word count goal.
Sprinter is great for brainstorming, flash fiction, writing prompts, and more. If you need to save your work for later, create a Postbox account and sync to Dropbox, Google Drive, and Evernote. (Mac only) Similar to Scrivener, Ulysses is a customizable writing tool with lots of great features. You can organize your writing by project or subject, attach files, set writing goals, and add links and images to your text with ease.
Ulysses utilizes a clear, clean, and beautiful interface. The editor allows you to choose your own colors, outlines, and more. One of the greatest benefits of Ulysses is its synchronization capabilities. The program syncs seamlessly with iCloud and works on iOS as well, so you can write anywhere you are, on any device.
It also integrates with Dropbox, making it easy to collaborate with others. (Mac and Android only – FREE on Android!) iaWriter earns its place on this list because it’s a clear and clean plain-text editor with some of the most important features of the others, but at a much lower price. IaWriter might not be as versatile as Ulysses and Scrivener, but it works on the same principles. One of the coolest features that set iaWriter apart is Focus Mode, which dims everything except the current sentence you’re working on.
You’re sure to have better and stronger sentences after using it. Syntax Control makes Focus Mode even better by highlighting your sentence’s grammatical structure. With the latest version of iaWriter, you can even add pictures and tables to content blocks, in case you’re working on something other than a straightforward novel. Editing: – FREE! If you haven’t been using this free online editing software that highlights your sentence structure and syntax, you’ve been missing out. Simply copy and paste your text into the Hemingway Editor’s interface, and it will show you what needs to be fixed.
Things like overly complex structures, use of passive voice, and readability all become instantly highlighted and color-coded, allowing you to see all problems at a glance. You can even format your text into headings, subheadings, and add quotes and links. There’s a paid desktop version that works offline as well. Grammarly is a neat little browser extension that does essentially the same thing the Hemingway Editor does, but in real time. It will highlight spelling and grammar errors and suggest fixes. Grammarly also sends weekly emails summarizing your editing stats. You can opt out of if this feature if you wish.
The greatest thing about this free plugin is that it works on most websites and text boxes, including Gmail and social media sites. Use it, and you’ll never accidentally send an unedited tweet again! When it comes to your writing projects, don’t settle for just a straightforward word processor anymore. With so much technology at your fingertips, there are thousands of writing tools and apps available that can make your writing time more productive and enjoyable than ever. Yet each program is as unique and different as every writer. Remember that not every program is going to fit your particular needs and style.
If you’re spending money, take time to choose a program that will work for you. Most of these programs offer trial versions, so spend time learning them and working out their features before you pay. Just don’t take too long – your work in progress still needs your attention as well! What writing software do you swear by? Do you have any programs that you love and would recommend to others?
Let us know in the comments! Matt Grant loves to write about writing, business, and all forms of popular culture – books, film, and television. Matt started writing DVD reviews for Pop Matters in 2012, and in 2016, he followed through on a life-long dream by launching a part-time writing business at. Since then, Matt’s work has appeared in Literary Hub, Book Riot, HuffPost, and BookBrowse, and he has several ongoing clients. His first personal essay, Swimming Lessons, is being published in LongReads at the end of August. Matt is also currently hard at work on his first novel, a comedic take on fantasy tropes for young adults. When not writing or reading, Matt works in youth development as an after-school program director for one of the largest middle schools in Manhattan.
Matt lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Katelyn. You can find him online at, on Twitter, and on Facebook.
YWriter is a powerful novel-writing program which is free to download and use. It's designed for Windows 7 and later. YWriter is a word processor which breaks your novel into chapters and scenes, helping you keep track of your work while leaving your mind free to create. It will not write your novel for you, suggest plot ideas or perform creative tasks of any kind. YWriter was designed by an author, not a salesman! YWriter6 is free to download and use, but you're encouraged to if you find it useful. If you're just embarking on your first novel a program like yWriter may seem like overkill.
I mean, all you have to do is type everything into a word processor! Sure, but wait until you hit 20,000 words, with missing scenes and chapters, notes all over your desk, characters and locations and plot points you've just added and which need to be referenced earlier. It becomes a real struggle.
Now imagine that same novel at 40,000 or 80,000 words! No wonder most first-time writers give up. YWriter Beta now includes Epub and Mobi export. Who designed it?
I'm Simon Haynes, the designer and programmer. Because I'm an experienced programmer AND a published author, yWriter contains a bunch of tools a working novelist will find useful, but you won't find any features some marketing expert dreamed up just because it sounded cool. What's so special about yWriter? As a programmer I'm used to dealing with projects broken into source files and modules, and I never lose track of my code. I decided to apply the same working method to my novels. And yWriter was the result. Your work is broken down into chapters and scenes, and you can drag and drop them around to reorganise your novel.
YWriter will export your work to LaTeX, a powerful page-description language. Use (free) to generate a print-ready PDF! YWriter may look simple, but as the author of several novels written with this tool I can guarantee it has everything needed to get a first draft together. Without yWriter, I would never have become a published author. YWriter is a standalone application which runs on Windows PCs.
It doesn't need or use an internet connection, and all data is stored on your own computer. The only time it uses the internet is if you use the inbuilt 'check for update' routine (in which case yWriter simply checks the latest version number from spacejock.com), or the 'backup to ftp' feature (in which case you have to provide the server address and login details.) Best of all, yWriter is free. You won't pay anything to download yWriter, and the software contains no adverts, unwanted web toolbars, desktop search programs or other cruft. You can if you wish, but this is optional. YWriter Support The yWriter is here Feature list: Organise your novel using a project.
Add chapters to the project. Add scenes, characters, items and locations.
Display the word count for every file in the project, along with a total. Saves a log file every day, showing words per file and the total. (Tracks your progress) Saves automatic backups at user-specified intervals. Allows multiple scenes within chapters Viewpoint character, goal, conflict and outcome fields for each scene. Multiple characters per scene.
Storyboard view, a visual layout of your work. Re-order scenes within chapters. Drag and drop of chapters, scenes, characters, items and locations.
Automatic chapter renumbering. And many more Users of earlier versions: You can install later versions (e.g. YWriter 4 and 5) at the same time as versions 2 and/or 3, and each version of yWriter has an importer which will read in any earlier yWriter project, right back to yWriter 2. The only thing you can't do is re-export your project back into older versions.
Every major version of yWriter uses different installation folders and start menu entries, and they won't interfere with each other. Are you upgrading from yWriter5? Yw5 projects load and save from ywriter6 just fine. No importing, no converting. When you install ywriter6 it goes into a new folder and uses its own settings. If you want to keep all your ywriter5 settings, look for the Spacejock Software yWriter5 folder inside%AppData% (just enter that in Windows Explorer's path field to open the hidden Windows folder.) Then copy ywriter5.ini from the yWriter5 folder to the yWriter6 folder, and rename it yWriter6.ini However, if you double-click a YW5 file it may still open in ywriter5. Just be sure to tick 'associate.yw5 files' when installing yWriter6.
Video Tutorials/Feature rundowns: In English: In German: Categories: Free writing software Novel writing software.