Free novel writing software for beginners

You can choose to start with a short introduction, and then go on to write in more detail about each character's viewpoint. It is a very handy feature, which gives the reader a great start to enjoy the story you are telling. Verdict: One of the best freeware tools out there for authors of books, short stories and articles is Papyrus Author. It is a great free novel writing software with a strong focus on developing solid character development in your stories, instead of just being good at writing interesting scenes.

The way Papyrus Author blends fiction and non-fiction that it is truly a remarkable product. You can write a scene using the context menu and then select chapters in the story as if you were simply creating a text document. FocusWriter - Our Choice. All desktop operating systems Typewriter mode Attractive interface Timers and alarms.

No syntax highlighting. Interface is outdated. Supports markup Handy keyboard shortcuts Totally free. Only works with TXT files. Creates locations Creates detailed character biographies Detailed character interview Ability to add extensive details. Writing interface is strange. LibreOffice Writer.

Exports individual notes Attaches audio to a note Clean interface. No mobile format. If you want to cut straight to the chase and find out which is the right writing app for you, we recommend taking this quick second quiz.

Otherwise, let's head for the reviews! In the spirit of thriftiness, we're starting with your free options. Though modesty should forbid us from crowing about the Reedsy Book Editor RBE , we've seen first-hand how this writing app has totally changed how many authors write and publish their novels. While some writers like programs brimming with bells and whistles tools to research, structure, and outline your book and others prefer software that's free from those distractions, the Reedsy Book Editor offers a happy medium between these poles.

Definitely more than a blank piece of paper, the RBE's functions are super user-friendly and geared toward a single goal: creating a beautiful book. This is a production tool that typesets as you write , turning your manuscript into a fully-formatted book or ebook that can compete with traditionally published, professionally formatted books.

In "Writing Mode," you can insert chapter breaks, scene breaks, images, and endnotes. It comes with a spell-checker that offers an automatic proof as you write — and a goal reminder system that you can toggle on if you find that you're falling behind on your writing schedule! You can view previous versions of your manuscript, in case you removed a passage you now want to re-add. When you've completed your book on the RBE congratulations! FastPencil is essentially Google Docs for the professional or aspiring author.

This online platform cannot be downloaded and is therefore only usable if you have WiFi. However, its nonexistent price tag more-or-less makes up for the inconvenience of not being able to work on planes, outdoors, etc.

Remember PalmPilots and other personal digital assistants? FastPencil is like a 21st-century, writing-oriented version of that.

These templates are pretty basic, but they'll give you a solid idea of what your published book will look like. Looking for the perfect playlist to get you in the writing mood? Tell us about your book, and we'll give you a made-for-you writing playlist.

If you find most desktop writing programs unwieldy and overwhelming, then the minimalist interface of Bibisco might just solve all your problems. This is especially true if you're a plotter rather than a pantser , as Bibisco is that rare breed of free story planning software, with plenty of virtual outlines and notecards to help you out. The architecture screen above is perhaps the most unique part of this software, with notecards for your premise, setting, and fabula.

Indeed, the name of Bibisco's game is breaking down your work into bite-sized, manageable pieces. Of course, this approach may make it difficult to envision your manuscript as a whole , especially as you can only write scene-by-scene — a feature which may frustrate users who are accustomed to writing in one long, all-inclusive document. Still, Bibisco is a good choice for any author who's tired of busy interfaces and wants to prioritize productivity.

And if that sounds like you, don't miss out on this next piece of book writing software If only the process of writing a book involved just sitting down and going. Although sure, to an extent, this may be true. But most of us need to find the right way to capture and organize our ideas before our fingers start flying over the keyboard — or risk running out of steam.

Evernote is great for the writer who needs to declutter a space or their mind before they can make real headway on a project. Some of their great organizational features include their writing templates — some of which are user-created, and others are created by Evernote themselves.

If you spot a chapter outline, a storyboard template, or character development profile you enjoy, you can save it and come back to it each time. The web clipper function is also popular amongst writers — especially for genres like sci-fi or historical — as you can use the clipper to save pertinent facts or articles you come across online, and save them right into your Evernote folders. At its core, Evernote excels as a brainstorming tool. This is why its syncing ability is also key — if you're out and about, you can drop ideas into your Evernote app and continue working on them at a later point.

This software is exactly what it sounds like: it helps you laser-focus your efforts onto writing , and nothing else. You can still format your manuscript and check your word count and daily goals via offscreen tools, but the default state is simply a blank page. You can also use full-screen mode so the only thing you see is the page in front of you — just like writing IRL.

For authors who struggle to concentrate on their work more than anything else, FocusWriter is a dream come true. Well, you can with Fyrebox by creating a free interactive quiz.

All you need to do is create your free account, and then you can start designing your quiz in a few minutes. A quiz is a great way to keep your readers on your blog for much longer by letting them participate in your blog post subject. Portent is an easy and clever way to find new writing ideas. It is an app primarily designed for bloggers to find headlines and titles and not a genuine headline analyzer.

But writers can use it to discover new ideas for any piece of writing. All you have to do is input your base word or words, and then you can select a working title for a new writing prompt. How engaging is your article headline? Sharethrough must be my absolute favorite little blog post writing app. You can edit as you go, and the app keeps a record of your variations so you can choose the best one. Website Grader is a quick and easy app to help you improve your blog.

You should make sure that your website is easy for users to discover and easy for search engines to understand. It only takes a few seconds to run this performance check of your blog to see if you need to make any improvements.

Privacy Policy Generator is an app to help you write your privacy policy page for your blog. Now, this is not an article writing app. So it might not truly belong in a list of blog writing tools and programs.

Canva is a free online tool for creating images. Because using Internet images you find on Google images are very often copyright protected, it is a much better idea to create your own unique images. You can find and use stock images to upload to Canva that you can then design and transform into a unique image. You can use Canva to make images for social media promotion, images for your blog posts, Facebook headers, and even for quick and dirty ebook covers.

While there is a paid option, the free version offers more than enough images, graphics, icons, shapes, and backgrounds for almost any image creation project. You have to be organized to be able to write. Just collecting and collating your ideas takes a lot of time in your day. Then there is your to-do list and probably a long list of pending items.

But until it ever eventuates, here is a selection of some of the best productivity apps for writers. Hopefully, some of them will help you stay organized and perhaps save a little time that you can invest in writing. Trello must be one of the most popular apps for writers. There is so much you can do to organize your writing projects, notes, and to-do lists.

You can collaborate and assign tasks, start discussions, and so much more. Trello is a beautiful as well as highly functional app. Evernote is a popular application for lots of writers. It is one of the most popular note-taking apps, but it is much more. Never let an idea escape when you are not at your keyboard. You can organize your thoughts, create checklists and to-do lists. There is also a handy web clipper that lets you save parts of web pages to help you with your writing research.

OneLook lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept. Your description can be anything at all: a single word, a few words, or even a whole sentence. If you are a fan of the Pomodoro technique, to improve your productivity, you will need a Pomodoro timer.

Find out with Read-O-Meter , and then you can add reading time to your blog post or article. Wordcounter ranks the most frequently used words in your text. You can use this browser app to see what words you are repeating too often and then make changes. All you need to do is paste your text into the box. Then this little app will go to work and list all your repetitions. Quetext is an online plagiarism checker.

Otter is a dictation to text app for iOS and Android. All you need to do is hit the record button, start speaking, and watch your words appear in the app. It even adds in punctuation. There are many paid and premium dictation apps, but Otter offers a generous free option of minutes a month. Many authors use mind map apps to help write a book by keeping their ideas connected and logical.

Freemind is open-source mind-mapping software built in Java. It has a wide variety of features, including location-based mind mapping, collaboration tools, restore sessions and more. Well, with DiffChecker , it is easy to compare two versions of a text and find the differences between them. It is a browser app, but if you want to save your revisions Diffs , you will need to create an account to log in.

They are not categorized. But all of them could be worth a look to see if they are a match for what you need in an app or program. As they are quick mentions, you will need to investigate for yourself to see if they might be worthwhile.

The Kindle Previewer application is a free desktop program that lets authors preview how their ebooks will appear on all Kindle devices. It makes it easy to check your ebooks for different screen sizes, display orientations, and text font sizes. Zotero is a free and easy-to-use program to help you with sources and citations.

You can create references and bibliographies for any text editor and directly with Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs.

But with NaturalReader , you can create mp3 files from your text and then play it back to you. It makes it much easier to check your text for accuracy as you listen. Us is a good choice if you want free mind mapping. You can share your maps with others and even on social media. But I have to include Pixabay because I use it every day to find great free images for my blog. There are a lot of free stock image sites, but this one is my favorite because the choice of images is enormous.

Again, this is not a writing app. But when you need to edit an image for your blog or ebooks, then Pixlr might do the job for you. There is a premium version, but you will find that the free version can do most of the basic photo editing tasks you would need to do. Writers can sometimes be a serious bunch of people. But everyone needs to have a bit of fun from time to time. Go to Hipster Sound , click play, pop in your air pods, and you will have all the ambient sounds you need to get your creative juices flowing.

As an extra bonus, your coffee is on the house! Okay, you are not going to use Fliptext often. But it is a fun and funny little writing tool.

Yes, you can write upside down. Did you have to turn your screen upside down, or did you twist your neck in pain, trying to read it? The Most Dangerous Writing App is a fun little writing tool with a mean side to it. You start by setting yourself a writing time of, say, five minutes.

Then you start writing. But if you stop writing for more than five seconds, you lose everything you wrote. However, if you get through your allotted time without stopping, your reward is that you can save your work.

For all writers, there are plenty of writing programs, software, and tools. You can also find free book writing programs that work very well for any book project. There are so many open-source and free software alternatives for a word processor, book writing, short story writing, and spelling and grammar correction tools. Are you ready to write your book or get started as a content writer or blogger?

Then the writing tools in the list above will be more than enough to get you off on the right foot. Make your choices based on what you need and want to achieve as a writer and what you think you will need to succeed. Then head off to the coffee shop with your laptop, or pump up Hipster Sound at home, and start writing.

My days are spent writing and blogging, as well as testing and taming new technology. Your email address will not be published. Save my name and email in this browser for the next time I comment. To prevent spam, all comments are moderated and will be published upon approval. Submit your comment only once, please. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Popular Writing. Are you a blogger, author, content writer, or student? You want the best creative writing tools and software that will do the job for you.