#writing software

[the960writers]

Alternatives to google docs

For various reasons, this is now a hot topic. I'm putting my favorites here, please add more in your reblogs. I'm not pointing to Microsoft Word because I hate it.

Local on your computer:

1.

LibreOffice (https://www.libreoffice.org/), Win, Linux, Mac.

Looks like early 2000 Word, works great, imports all formats. Saves in OpenDocumentFormat. Combine with something like Dropbox for Cloud Backup.

2.

FocusWriter (https://gottcode.org/focuswriter/) Win, Linux.

Super customizable to make it look pretty, all toolbars hide to be as non-distracting as possible. Can make typewriter sounds as you type, and you can set daily wordcount goals. Saves in OpenDocumentFormat. Combine with something like Dropbox for Cloud Backup.

3.

Scrivener (https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview) Win, Mac, iOS

The lovechild of so many writers. Too many things to fiddle with for me, but I'm sure someone else can sing its praises. You can put the database folder into a Dropbox folder for cloud saving (but make sure to always close the program before shutting down).

Web-based:

4.

Reedsy bookeditor (https://reedsy.com/write-a-book) Browser based, works on Firefox on Android. Be aware that they also have a TOS that forbids pornography on publicly shared documents.

My current writing program. Just enough features to be helpful, not so many that I start fiddling. Writing is chapter based, exports to docx, epub, pdf. You can share chapters (for beta reading) with other people registered at Reedsy.

5.

Novelpad (https://novelpad.co/) Browser based.

Looks very promising, there's a youtuber with really informative videos about it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHN8TnwjG1g). I wanted to love it, but the editor didn't work on Firefox on my phone. It might now, but I'm reluctant to switch again.

------

So, this is my list. Please add more suggestions in reblogs.

[future-journalist-adventures]

list of writing software i use (in order) (they're all free!!)

Reedsy (rough draft writing; editing)

world anvil (organizing information and rough draft posting)

lulu (final draft publishing)

[writeblrcafe]

A Comprehensive Guide for Writing Advice

Sometimes, despite enjoying writing so much, something is not working for you. Maybe your well of ideas has run dry. Or your WIP has hit a corner and you can't find your way out to the end of the story. Or you need to go back to your finished draft and see if there are any kinks to clear up.

Fortunately, everyone at Writeblrcafé has experienced such, and to help you out, we have a bunch of links to helpful posts by fellow writers to help you along on your writing journey as well as some helpful links to other websites, resources and software.

General:

WHY IS WRITING IS SO FUCKING HARD? (@writers-hq)

Writer Block First Aid Kit (@isabellestone)

Websites for writers (masterpost @2soulscollide)

Writing advice (masterpost @theliteraryarchitect)

Writing resources (masterpost @stinastar)

One look thesaurus (a reverse dictionary where you can enter words or concepts)

Coming Up with Ideas:

97 Character Motivations (@theplottery)

Character Flaws (@fantasyfillsmysoul)

Character Profile (@mistblossomdesigns)

Characters Unflawed (@emptymanuscript)

Why Theme is More Important than Plot (@theplottery)

Weekly writing prompts on Reedsy

Drafting:

3 of the worst story beginnings (and how to fix them) (@theplottery)

Cheat Sheet for Writing Emotion (@myhoniahaka)

Creative Writing for Writers (@writerscreed)

Describing Physical Things (@wordsnstuff)

How to Craft a Natural Plot (@theplottery)

How to Write a Story? (masterpost @creativepromptsforwriting)

How to write: ethnicity & skin colour (@youneedsomeprompts)

What the F is Show Not Tell (@theplottery)

Writing advice from my uni teachers (@thewritingumbrellas)

First Draft: story outlining template meant to help with planning your next big writing project (@fauxriot)

The wonder/ discovery arc (@evelynmlewis)

How to structure a chapter (@theplottery)

How to pace your storytelling (@charlesoberonn)

How to write and research mental illness (@hayatheauthor)

Seven Blogs You Need To Read As An Author (@hayatheauthor)

Editing/Revising:

Eight steps in making the editing process of your book easier (@joaneunknown)

Kill Your Darlings (@tibodine)

Self editing tips (first pass) (@projecttreehouse)

Publishing:

Chill Subs: biggest database for literary magazines and small presses; track your submissions and get your writing published!

5 steps to get your novel ready to self-publish (by @nanowrimo)

Resources for finishing and publishing your novel (masterpost by @nanowrimo)

For self-publishing: this page gives you the exact pixel count of a book spine based on its page count, and/or a template you can use for the correct width/height ratio.

Software:

Scrivener: one time payment of $60 or 70€ (macOS/windows), $24 (iOS; no Euro listed for iOS); used by professionals, many tools to write and organize your novel

Bibisco: free and "pay what you want" version; multilingual, world building, character profiles, writing goals, story timeline, mind maps, notes and more templates to write a novel.

Manuskript: free open source-tool; outliner, novel assistant, distraction-free mode

Ghostwriter: a free and open alternative which has a decent interface with some interesting features, like Hemingway Mode, which disables one's backspace and delete keys, emulating a typewriter.

NaNoWriMo: an international contest to encourage writers to finish writing their novel with many events, groups for exchange with fellow writers, helpful writing advice and help for self-publishing and publishing traditionally.

Campfire Writing: website, desktop app, and mobile app, with tools built in to help manage characters, magic systems, research, etc. It has a great free option, plus monthly, annual, and lifetime purchase options. It also has built-in NaNoWriMo compatibility and a catalogue of tutorials and writing advice videos (suggestion by @harfblarf)

Websites And Writing Apps Every Author Needs In 2023 (@hayatheauthor)

Let us know in the comments if there are any links we could add to it! Reblog this post to help a fellow writer.

Support our work by buying a cup of coffee on KoFi.

[novlr]

Can you recommend some programs, apps, software, etc. that we can use to write?

I mean, obviously, we're biased, but you could try...us! We are a writer-owned creative writing platform designed to keep your writing space distraction-free and help you achieve your goals. We are built by writers, run by writers, and co-owned by our writers.

Novlr is free to use for up to five projects. We wanted to make a web app that was accessible to as many writers as possible, so you don't have to pay a cent to use Novlr as a writing platform.

Included, you'll find features like full-screen focus mode for a distraction-free writing environment, automatic cloud backups that let you access and edit your work from any device with an internet connection at any time, and the ability to set and track your own goals.

We're a small team, but one that is focused on continuous development and improvement. We welcome all feedback and criticism, and are always around here, via email, through our in-app chat, and in our Discord to chat about writing or Novlr as a platform.

We'd love to welcome you to our writing community!

[writingdotcoffee]

The Activity Grid in Writing Analytics

It's been a few months since I added a larger new feature to the app. The smaller, invisible stuff needs to be taken care of too.

But, I've got something new today: a pretty cool way to track your productivity and browse your sessions. Regrettably, I couldn't figure out a better name for it, so I'm calling it the activity grid.

Each column in the grid represents a week of a year. A coloured cell means you did some writing. A grey one indicates that you took a day off.

You can hover over each cell to see how many words you wrote. When you click on a day, you’ll see what you worked on that day as well.

It's a fantastic way to discover patterns in your writing routine.

For me, the quietest period is always between February and April. Just when the new-year excitement wears off and before spring comes along.

On the contrary, I'm often the most productive between August and October.

I don't want to take all the credit here. The feature came out of a suggestion from a user — a kind stranger that shall not be named (because I didn't ask for permission). What a great idea!

Here's the launch post if you'd like to learn more:

https://www.writinganalytics.co/posts/activity-grid/

[elveny]

With all the mess around GDocs, I'm still looking for a new writing software that enables me to write seemlessly from different platforms (I switch between my desktop PC, a laptop and an iPad for writing) - thus, a purely app-based program won't cut it unfortunately :( Currently, I'm looking into novelpad and novlr, campfire and worldanvil, but am undecided yet.

And I remember there was a recommendation post floating about, and I think it was a program called Beta (??). I know the person who wrote it got a life-time membership for it bc they wrote the rec unprompted and the program got such a boost in users from it. I cannot for the love of it all find it. Can anyone else? 🥺

Recs are also appreciated. ♥

[tippenfunkaport]

Inspired by a recent poll, could you tell us a bit more about the software you use for writing and the advantages with it?

Thanks so much!

Can I keep this short is the question...

So, for anyone who didn’t see the post this is referring to, I mentioned on another post that the writing software I use is...

4TheWords for drafting (brainstorming, first draft, etc)

Scrivener for all subsequent stages (editing, formatting, etc)

ProWritingAid for a final look before I submit / post

Longer version (and, like, I could talk about this all day so feel free to ask follow ups but I will try to contain myself)

4TheWords is a fantasy RPG-ish writing game where the words you write defeat monsters, earn loot, complete quests, etc. I have been playing it for five years ish and the game-ification just works really well for my brain. Earning silly little prizes and moving the game plot along keeps me motivated to keep writing when otherwise I would be a useless slug so I do most of my early stage writing on there like drafting, brainstorming, journaling, etc. It is silly but I love it and it basically saved my writing life when I was in a huge slump so they have my undying devotion. The company is also the kind you feel very good about supporting and they are HUGELY queer friendly with a big yearly Pride event with many of the main in-game characters being queer and/or trans. (The closest the game has to main characters are a lesbian couple that just got married as part of the Valentine's Day event last month!)

It costs money but a) there is a 30 day free trial of you want to check it out and b) there is a community pool if you cannot afford the fee as well as frequent sales/deals. (If anyone wants to try it out, feel free to use my referral code when you sign up because then you’ll get some extra crystals and I can send you a welcome present of some loot! If the image link above is annoying, dm me and I will give you it via text for copy and paste.)

Scrivener is very robust writing software that I use for fiction, non-fiction and scriptwriting. I only rarely use it for first drafts (bc I use 4TW for that) but I do almost all my editing / rewriting / formatting / publishing in it. I have been using it for probably about a decade and am still finding new tools and features I didn’t realize it had. I absolutely swear by it. The learning curve can be steep but luckily it’s one of the most popular writing programs in the world so there are a TON of great tutorials out there. (My advice? Just watch a video of something like the top 5-10 features and then play around and look up stuff as you have questions instead of trying to do the whole long tutorial it comes with.)

Disclaimer that I only own the desktop version. There are mobile versions that are a separate purchase from the desktop version but I don't use them.

Biggest selling points of Scrivener to me are:

while many writing services have a monthly fee, Scrivener is purchased exactly once and you can use it for life on your laptop and desktop AND you can get 50% off that one time price with a NaNoWriMo winner code (this alone is enough to buy my loyalty for life)

it’s incredibly versatile for both plotting and publishing and works really for my writing process (which is, admittedly, chaotic and weird) and has near infinite customization. It's esp great for making story bibles, organizing research, and plotting out larger works with lots of cross references and chapters you need to rearrange

as a script writer, Scrivener only cost me a one time fee of $35 and includes all updates and bug fixes until the next major version (which happens like once a decade). FinalDraft is $250 and that only includes the current version (which changes about once a year) to do the same thing. That’s a no brainer to me.

ProWritingAid is editing software. Like Grammarly but MUCH more robust with a lot more reports you can run. It’s not replacement for a human editor (AI editing can only do so much) but I like it as a second pair of eyes before I post or submit something because it does catch a lot of the basics and makes me feel a little better about sending something out. There is a limited free version and the full version can be pricey if you pay the monthly fee but I bided my time until the lifetime subscription went on sale for 50% off and paid once and now I have it to use for life.

There. That was almost short, right?

[ashcadence]

Writing last night involved instead of writing, searching for a software better than Google Docs that works on Linux.

If anyone has any suggestions let me know. Unfortunately most of the big writing software out there doesn't support Linux, and I'm not giving up Linux.

[coisasquetefazemsuspirar]

WriteRush is amazing!

I’m in love with WriteRush.

Every time you type, the screen fills with confetti. It's a great app and so beautiful. Give the author a chance, he is indie and very kind, always responding quickly to any question or suggestion.

Please download, review and support this app!

[hanazukashii]

Desperate for someone to make a writing program that is a mix of Scrivener, Campfire and Notion because they all have amazing features but I want them all to sync with each other 😭

A.k.a. I have a great idea for a writing program but I have no money and no coding skills. ���

[the960writers]

How to Use SCRIVENER to Write a Novel + My 3 FAVORITE Tools!

Abbie Emmons

[smokietaylor]

google docs is the best don't listen to the haters

Oh absolutely, it's the only way that I am able to colour code things properly 🤭

[somer-writes]

Through what medium do you primarily write? (Pencil, computer, voice to type, old timer typewriter, what?)

ya boi is a computer girlie 💕 i hand write when i am desperate and need creative relief (usually while traveling). i need to start keeping a pocket notebook to write down the weird ideas i get in the middle of the day and promptly forget.

i would LOVE a typewriter but i make dumb mistakes and also the ease of uploading work directly to platforms is very nice. plus you cant mail manuscripts to most publishing houses any longer and i dont own a scanner.

i have seen those dedicated word processor doodads. the “e typewriters” which are cool and also stupid expensive???

for writing software i do my non serious work in gdocs. I’ve saved everything I’ve ever written since 2011 and it’s sitting in my drive rn. i used to use to word but once my license was up i moved to gdocs exclusively. despite having a MacBook i despise the AppleWorks suite so i don’t use pages. for my more serious projects i use scrivener and am still learning how to use scrivener. its good for trad formatting and moving stuff around easily just annoying to figure out bc its not all that intuitive. I’ve tried plottr in the past and it wasn’t for me and ive used campfire as well but ended up gifting my license to a dm friend of mine since it’s more equipped for that.

If you want a good free writing software i highly recommend pagefour. It’s based on Ms word 2013 and uses open office. its very similar to scrivener,

[eilinelsghost]

Re-organizing some fic-writing things and just yet again losing my mind over how much I love Scrivener. I spent about 8 years daydreaming of the writing software that I wished existed and then I stumbled across it by chance one day and just what the hell how is it this good

Literally my only complaint is it doesn't handle bullet-points super well, but honestly who cares?

Anyway, I found it because a mutual was gushing about it, so I figured maybe I would be that mutual for someone this time. It's fantastic.

[full-on-sam]

We are basically the Internet version of Victorian age writers

Like in the victorian age writers could write short stories or chapters and have them published on magazines or newspapers. And most time they weren't normal magazines but

Magazine made specifically for them

As in on a magazine there were going to be chapters of novels from different writers. (Like on manga magazines, just so you know)

And since commoneers couldn't really read that much at the time, they were purchased by people with a higher literacy. So upper - middle class or

Other Writers™

Which is basically what happens on writeblr tbh. Like we post excerpts, or about or beloved blorbos that we made and we receive feedback from other aspiring writers or someone who wandered there and stayed bc oh you know what, that's cool, keep going buddy, I like your story.

BUT BUT BUT imagine if there was a social like this, only for writing. Like upon registering you state if you wanna write or just read, and you can change that later ofc. And OH MY LORD it would be fucking awsome.

I hope someone from the computer side of tumblr reads this and makes this because fuck. I'd love that.

[unmotivater]

anyone got a good free alternative to scrivener for novel writing?