#manuskript writing program

[azifall]

Manuskript

First thought: do not like the layout.

this is awkward and took me a minute, but it could just be me being an idiot tbh. Also probably more useful for someone who is better at planning ahead. You can edit it later, though.

Going tab by tab:

General is alright, I like the book information you put down. Title, subtitle, series, volume, genre, Author Name, Author email.

The Summary is pretty nice! You start with the situation - a "What if..." that you finish. Then you do a one sentence summary, then a one paragraph summary. Then you turn that into a one paragraph summary, then into a full/proper summary.

The character tab is nice! You can sort your characters under Main, Secondary, and Minor. Each character you can assign a color, either from a 'list' of colors or the color wheel, to go by their name, then whether they are a POV character or not. Then there are places for their motivation, goal, conflict, and epiphany, then their one sentence and one paragraph summary. There are three more tabs under each character - summary (for a longer summary), Notes, and Detailed Info, where you can pick a trait then a description. I always prefer to have a place for images, but you can link them in notes or somewhere else. Not my favorite layout for characters, but better than just a blank document.

Plots: I really like this! You can make a Main, Secondary, or Minor plot. These can be titled, and you can add characters from your character lists. There's a spot for a description, then a result, as well as a one paragraph, one page, and full summary. Under the second tab for each plot is the 'resolution steps', where you can insert what beat it is on various plot structures such as Hero's Journey, then a summary for that. Really love the plots tab!

Under the world tab you can insert any number of items, rules, laws, etc. If you press the heart (I missed this at first), you can auto populate with a large amount of empty tabs for Fantasy Worldbuilding. These include Physical (such as flora, races, climate), Culture (education, food, customs, medicine), Magic Systems (rules, objects), Important Places, and Important Objects. I hope they'll be adding others! Under each of these you can add sub items, with names, descriptions, and other notes.

Outline is really good too! You can set the POV character, the status (To-Do, First Draft, Second Draft, Final), and label it 'Idea, Note, Chapter, Scene, Research' in case you've opened the tab for something other than writing proper. You can also choose a word count goal for each chapter and scene, and it will track how many words you have for each, as well as what percent you are to that goal. There's also a tic box to mark the chapter/scene complete.

Editor is where you'll actually write. You can open one chapter at a time, which will show each scene as a note card, or Outline, or you can view all the text depending on how you set it. You can give each scene a title, or leave it as 'New'. While I love everything else about Manuskript, I feel like the writer proper is the weakest part. I could not find a way to change the font type or size, or indent. And while some people prefer markdown, I'm not personally a fan.

So as a plotter, I'd rate Manuskript at 8/10. But the writer proper at 2/10. So overall it's a 6-7/10.

[hell-drabbles]

Satan 3

Summary: Satan's taking too much time in the bath and you want him out. Of course he would take this opportunity to make you even more furious than you already are. Oh well, at least he's entertainingly slutty.

(I spent a lot of time moving all my shit from one writing program to another. I was using NovelWriter for most of my stuff but have since moved them to Manuskript because the interface is more familiar to me. By all means, NovelWriter is the better one, I just like the way Manuskript looks, is all.)

"Alright," you barged into the bathroom as soon as the clock hand struck past eleven, "Get out." You said with a kick to the tub, towel over your shoulder.

Yeah yeah, you could just go find a different bathroom to take a bath in, but you were made a promise and you were going to get it. This tub, when compared to the rest of the other bathrooms in this place, really pale in comparison to Satan's bathtub.

It's a small and dumb thing to get worked up over, but you've been having a bad day of angels hounding your ass and devils wanting your ass.

You're not giving shit. You just want a bath. But Satan is, of course wasting your fucking time by taking as long as possible in this bathtub.

Satan, gazing through the sunlight window, looked back and cracked a mischievous grin.

"Make me," he dared you, further annoying you with a clean splash of his foot. You were splashed.

You know what? Fuck it.

You threw your towel, pushed up your sleeves and shoved your hands into Satan's hair.

"If that's how you want to play it," you wrapped his hair around your forearm and pulled without mercy. "Then fine."

Satan's grin nearly split his face as he hissed through his gritted teeth. His hands dug into the bathtub's rim, his toes curling as blood rushed up to his cheeks and down to his dick.

"Let go," you yanked like he was rabid dog on a leash, "I want the tub."

You can feel strands ripping under your fingers, the resistance to Satan's scalp, and the goosebumps that raise from the small of his back all the way up and down his body.

"Y-you're going to have to try harder than that," Satan panted out, eyes wide with joy at your anger, your physical rage.

"Of course you're enjoying this," you sighed with a clenched jaw.

You grabbed his horn, not bothering with any warnings because he doesn't deserve them and pulled. Satan's breath hiccuped in his lungs and when you practically clawed at the base for a better grip, Satan's hips jumped from the water, on his knees.

"Oh no you don't." You slammed your hand right above his ass, making Satan practically squeal, "You wanted to stay in the bath, you're keeping your dick in the bath."

If he wants to be a brat, then he'll be punished like one.

You covered his mouth, stuffing all begging sounds right down his throat. This bathroom echoes a bit too much. His keens are giving you a headache.

You want him out, but you may as well have some fun while you're at it. It's a nice stress reliever, getting your anger out like this.

You will be tossing him outside the room as soon as he lets go though. You're not satisfying him. You really do want that bath.

[abeloth]

Novel Planning/Writing Programs/Sites

I wrote this mostly for myself as I've used many different things over the years with varying success, but I think it might be useful for others as well. Not sponsored. All below the cut. If you want the TLDR, scroll to the very bottom.

1. Google Docs

Free. Just regular ol' Google Docs for writing and organizing. If you lose a Doc, you can contact Google and they're pretty prompt about getting it back for you if you accidentally delete something and then empty your trash.

For writing, it helps to get one folder and then have a bunch of folders inside that folder for drafts. It also helps to make one Doc that's just for background information you might need or for outlining. For this, I've just made tables or used Google's built-in outlines. However, this is the model of an eleven year old and it can get pretty messy trying to keep track of too much.

2. Airtable

Free with paid version available. Not for writing, but good for organizing. There's a novel template as well. I like that you can link records together. I've been using it for awhile for things like species, scenes, locations, etc.

For family trees, I recommend changing the view from "Grid view" to "Kanban" and categorizing it by "Generation" (Gen 1, etc). This works really well for planning things out and world building in general. You can add images really easily as well. It's very user intuitive and I recommend playing around with categories and fields until you get it to your liking. Btw, if you sign up with the above link I get referral credit on the site! I'd appreciate it if this post proves helpful.

3. Notebook.ai

Free with paid version available. This is one of those programs that's technically free, but you need to pay for it to be really usable in some respects. I really like how it organizes characters and asks you questions that prompt you to think more about your character. Same with locations. So it's great for characters and locations, but not for stuff like species or races. If you want to write fantasy, I would not use this alone (but I would take a look to see if any of the questions help you with world-building or characterization). I'd use it in conjunction with something like Airtable.

4. novelWriter

Free. This offline software is great for novel-writing! You can move chapters around which is nice. It has all your work in this nice lil' collapsable list. It also has options for you to note stuff about the plot, characters, location, etc at the bottom. Not super user intuitive, but it's not very hard to figure out and their site can help you out. Also, the next several are very similar to novelWriter (similar features and are not browser-based), but with more features.

5. Manuskript

Free. Same as above, but it includes an analyzer that can tell you how often you used a word or phrase. It also has some neat features like a distraction-free mode you can customize and a novel assistant–though I have not used that feature. The devs recommend having backups because it's still in early development. However, you should have backups regardless. I’ve personally had some issues losing progress and my .msk file not loading completely within the program. I’m trying to play around and find a solution, but I might lose motivation since I haven’t had this issue with Quoll or novelWriter.

6. Quoll Writer

Free. Great for novel writing. It also has bonus features like a fullscreen distraction free mode you can configure and a guide meant to identify problems with your writing. You can easily do text annotations as well. It has stats to view your productivity AND an editor mode that includes sharing with others. There is also a warm-up feature that comes complete with writing prompts, though I’ve never used this feature.

7. Atomic Scribbler a.k.a SmartEdit Writer

Free. Great for novel writing, especially if you're super used to Microsoft Word. It has the same look and feel, so if you're considering transitioning, this is a great fit. Just like the ones above, it lets you go chapter by chapter and scene by scene so you can easily view your novel and rearrange it to your liking. Disclaimer that I have not used this because I hate Microsoft Word so much it's unreal.

8. yWriter

Free. yWriter seems pretty similar to novelWriter, but is only for Windows. I have Mac, so I haven’t tried this one but it looks nice and uncomplicated.

9. NovelEasy

Free. Browser-based, so you can use this if you have a ChromeBook (4-8 require Mac or Windows to run). It has a similar set up and some similar features, but it goes by chapters, not chapters and scenes. However, it does still have the option to see your daily progress with word count, time spent writing, etc. Disclaimer that I have not used this, but it looks like a good alternative if you can't run the aforementioned programs.

I haven't tried Scrivener (since it's paid), but I've heard good things about it. I'm not sure if there's anything included you couldn't get elsewhere for free. Campfire is free, but I'm unsure if it's free like Airtable or like Notebook. If I check it out, I'll update this post with my thoughts on it.

TLDR: What I’ve been using to write is Airtable (#2 on the list) for worldbuilding, characters, and outlining, Google Docs (#1) for at least the first draft, and novelWriter (#4) for the second draft onward since it’s so much easier to move scenes around and see what else you need to edit.

[briarcrawford]

Free Writing Programs 📝📖

A while back I did a post about resources for world building, but this time I wanted to chat about writing programs.

For this list, I am focusing only on free programs. I understand there are many great paid programs, but I think the free programs often don't get as much attention, and people who need them might not know they are an option.

Author Specific:

yWriter: I used to use before I got Scrivener. It is not the most sleek looking program, but it works.

Manuskript: I haven't tried this one, but it looks similar to yWriter, but with some different features

Bibisco: I haven't tried this one

SmartEdit: a MSWord alternative for writers that is supposed to have several helpful editing features. I haven't tried it yet.

Wavemaker: While not open-source, this program is free and can sync to the cloud. I haven't tried it yet.

Quoll Writer: I haven't tried it yet. This is open-source, and has several unique features, such as "warm up session."

Reedsy Book Editor: It is in website only, but formats your book (Added to the list by alinearesque)

Not Author Specific

Obsidian: I have started using this for worldbuilding, but many authors use it for writing. Within it, you can create your own wiki, and view connections in a cool graph. It is open source, and has many plug-ins you can add.

Only Office: This one is good for people who want a private cloud-hosted alternative to Google Docs. It is open-source.

Joplin. I haven't tried this one. The program is free, but the cloud hosting does cost money.

Trillium: I haven't tried this one, but it is self-hosted and open-source.

Anytype: I haven't tried this one. The program is free and private, but for the cloud, you have 1GB of storage, then you'll need a plan for more.

[oblivioustoast]

man, i’ve been trying to find alternatives to Scrivener because I don’t have money - but both Manuskript and Quoll Writer won’t open on my computer 😔 they just keep crashing

does anyone know any good (free) writing programs that offer a lot of organization

(and i have a mac i’m sorry 🙈)

[spikeinthepunch]

i have been working a bit more on what i want Penrose to be and i always have loads of documents for my lore stuff, but its always a pain to work with because either i have way too much in one document that i then have to scroll through thousands of words, or i have numerous short documents that i have to have all open at the same time and sift through what i need to reference. i at some point came across some wiki-ish program and forgot what it was until now and i just wanna mention it, and one other, bc its pretty useful

i mostly went looking for alternatives to scrivener which you must buy. additionally im not writing a novel, so i didnt feel like i needed all those features either. a "wiki" would be cool, because thats what itd be good for- organizing lore. and so i found Zim which is an incredibly bare bones program that does just that. literally in its simplest form. its a desktop wiki with simple markdown and a collapsing folder set up that allows you to organize categories, sub pages, and use links to refer to other pages much like a normal wiki. plus there is an ability to export it as an html ready website.

when i say its simple and bare bone i really mean it-- its not full of bloat, its not overwhelming. it may lack a feature youd want from something bigger (it lacks the ability to manually order categories, theyre in alphabetical so i name mine with numbers before the words). but all i need it to do it let me make these collections of easy to navigate pages. the whole thing is simple .txt files in folders it produces, so its incredibly easy for you to manage and convert them outside of the program itself.

on the other end i came across Manuskript which is also free, and much more like scrivener because it has functions more focused on writing a novel. i cant say too much about it but someone really wanting to organize their lore and characters in relation to a stories with chapters and a timeline would likely have far more use for it. allowing categories for characters like main, secondary, minor. a tab for plots and sub plots, a tab for lore, and a very useful tab for all chapters and outlines to be written in program. because i dont need those other functions, its just a bit too much for me, but considering its a very close free options to scrivener its great to try out.

[reitziluz]

feeling outright ill. like in a too much of a good thing way

i have never had this level of clarity in any writing project before now. it feels so good to plot things out with a program specifically meant for it. damn. i have 19 chapters summarized and their scenes listed out basically over an afternoon. sure, working from existing material, but now i actually have the main changes and scene shufflings written down.

i'm 100% going to do my actual writing on writer, but i am going to paste all the finished scenes into manuskript. it's so much easier to navigate and find shit in it.

and most importantly shit this is fun. i'm having a great time. i needed to add a new chapter. it now houses two scenes that fit together. two scenes that used to come paired up with happier scenes, much farther removed from each other. their potential angst synergy is making me insane. reigen will have such a bad time

[dirtyoldmanhole]

What is that cool as hell tracking program because it IS cool as hell

Manuskript! :)

It's a free open-sourced version of scrivner, since I needed a linux program that could quickly and efficiently outline small scenes as I'm writing this fic somewhat out of order. It's also available on win/mac ~

Manuskript has its open source quirks (don't let typos on its site scare you off), but dang if its auto-word count tracker isn't useful. being able to change the word count goals in the middle of writing this and re-arranging scenes is a literal lifesaver. you can also export/backup everything with two clicks to a standard .txt document.

[rphlrvw]

Testing some writing programs! If you want to see my thoughts, you can click through below:

Campfire Write - 4/10 Bibisco - 6-7/10 (recommended Paid, tho) Dabble - 6/10 Gingko Writer - 0/10 LivingWriter - 8-9/10 Manuskript - 6-7/10 Novlr - 7/10 Plot Factory - 7-8/10 Plottr - 10/10 Reedsy - 9/10 SmartEdit Writer - 6/10 WaveMaker App 4-5/10 WaveMaker Desktop 7-8/10

that's me done! So personally I'd recommend either Bibisco Paid or Plottr for plotting, with Reedsy or Google Docs for writing proper. For all-in-one, I'd say either Bibisco Paid, or LivingWriter. Bibisco Paid is best for Plotting, but the Writer is weak, while LivingWriter is fantastic for Writing, and the Plotting isn't the best.

[azifall]

Writing Program Test Mastersheet

Testing some writing programs! If you want to see my thoughts, you can click through below:

Campfire Write - 4/10 Bibisco - 6-7/10 (recommended Paid, tho) Dabble - 6/10 Gingko Writer - 0/10 LivingWriter - 8-9/10 Manuskript - 6-7/10 Novlr - 7/10 Plot Factory - 7-8/10 Plottr - 10/10 Reedsy - 9/10 SmartEdit Writer - 6/10 WaveMaker App 4-5/10 WaveMaker Desktop 7-8/10

that's me done! So personally I'd recommend either Bibisco Paid or Plottr for plotting, with Reedsy or Google Docs for writing proper. For all-in-one, I'd say either Bibisco Paid, or LivingWriter. Bibisco Paid is best for Plotting, but the Writer is weak, while LivingWriter is fantastic for Writing, and the Plotting isn't the best.

[writingquestionsanswered]

I don't know if you have already answered this but what are some (free) writing programs you can recommend?

Free Writing Programs

I can only recommend software and apps that run on Windows or Android, so if you use something different, you’ll have to see if any of these have those options or see if anyone has recommendations in the comments. :)

Free Programs I’ve Used and Can Recommend

LibreOffice Writer (like Microsoft Word)

Focus Writer (good for distraction free writing)

MS Notepad (I use this for writing short stories and fanfic)

Paperback (notes app for phone)

Free Programs I’ve Heard Good Things About

WriteMonkey

yWriter

OmPad

WriteNext

GoogleDocs

Affordable Programs I’ve Used and Can Recommend

OmmWriter (base price of $9.00)

ZenWriter (under $10)

As I said, keep an eye on the comments in case anyone else has other suggestions!

ETA: Anon added: Manuskript (It's basically Scrivener but free. It's in its beta though.)

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[seacollectsrivers]

ok i believe this is the same thing @calamitys-child tagged me in some days ago, now also tagged by @starbuck ! thanks folk :) i suddenly have a plethora of wips lol.

i'm SO bad at titling documents this isn't gonna be super funny or anyhting unfortch. and i have a horrible tendency of scattering them over different writing programs oops.

RULES: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

TERROR:

all of these are under one manuskript docu named "(kanskje) tbb2k21" (excepting my actual TBB)

five meetings

MAGIC AU

MAGIC AU NY IDE LMAO

skriblerier (not a fic, just jotting down ideas and thoughts)

one TextEdit file called "terrorbites" which is filled with lil ideas, including the first version of inhabitation, then called "THREE TIMES JAMES LOVED AND WAS LOVED FOR HIS BODY". the rest are just jotted down ideas and the whole of Kunik (Breathe).

BLACK SAILS:

one TextEdit file name "jack & anne"

"BI-ACE SILVER". this one has thoughts on that + the SilverDoon fic, AND an earlier Post Canon version i'd plain forgotten!

"MIRANDA/IDELLE: choose ur own ending". nothing written, only some thoughts and vague planning.

"jack & anne" which are just some thoughts on their dynamic that could blossom into a fic

the initial plan/ideas for the Genderfluid Miranda fic

a bulleted list called SEQUELS & OTHER IDEAS

then there's the TextEdit called "i'ts.,,,, good bboy,," (......don't look at me). this is the Granada Holmes text file but it's just the trans Holmes prequel one currently stuck in 2/3 done limbo ("Ornately Improvise"), as well as an old scrapped version of that.

i'm not gonna tag people because i don't know who i'd tag djkfhgkds BUT!! if you want to do this, PLEASE do and PLEASE tag me!

[foxghost]

Started using the Ghostwriter app on windows; so far so good, since what I'm looking for is a program that doesn't start lagging 5000 words in. Once I have that much I copy it over to manuskript and save it there anyway.

This is handy tho:

There's also a stats section that shows me how long I've been writing since I had the app open, which I never look at since it'll just show me how long I've spent staring into space.

[hyba]

yWriter7

The other day, I realized that Google Docs, which I had been using quite a bit up until a few days ago, was getting really slow for me. My manuscript was getting too long. A lot of people suggested creating a Google Doc for each chapter or part of the manuscript, but as someone who is constantly jumping back and forth between scenes, adding some here, transferring a few there, and generally chaotically working through my book, it felt like there had to be a better solution. So I started thinking about software for authors.

Scrivener, which was the first to pop into mind, is really popular among writers, and for good reason. It’s a lot easier to write using a program specifically designed with authors in mind. But a lot of writers who have issues with Word/Google Docs/other word editing software either can’t afford shelling out USD 40.84 for a program they may or may not like enough to continue using - or a program that, while robust, may possibly include many features that they won’t use.

Scrivener has awesome features, and I will admit that I definitely want to get my hands on it at some point and give it a go. But I’m also a big fan of free, open source software because of Accessibility. I think I’ve spoken previously about how I’ve switched from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice (I’m especially impressed by LibreOffice Draw). I use free audio and video editing software, and I’ve also talked a bit about how I like using GIMP for digital art. For some reason, I didn’t think there were open source alternatives to Scrivener. This week I was proven very wrong!

While there are some alternatives that look great, such as Manuskript or Bibisco, I’m going to focus on yWriter specifically. Mostly because I found their website to-the-point and pretty instructive. Now, I’ve only just been using this for a few days, and I did mean to actually try out Manuskript as well, but I did also write about 13K in the past few days on yWriter, so I think that showcases my obsession!

So, without further ado, I present to you yWriter7, made by author Simon Haynes:

I went ahead and downloaded the ZIP file from their website because my Wifi was being rude and it was the smaller option, but you can download the installation wizard if you prefer. I’m going to walk you through the broad strokes of how it works, since I think that’s the best way to let you know how good the software is, but keep in mind that it has so many other features I won’t really get to talk about in this post.

(BTW, even though this software is free, you can also pay what you want/donate, become a patron, buy one of Simon Haynes’s books, or register your copy of the software - all of this goes towards supporting him! Find out more here.)

When you open yWriter7, you can start a new project by going to the menu/toolbar and clicking on “Project”. From there, you can choose to “Create Empty Project” or “New Project Wizard”. The second option will walk you through the basic features by helping you set up your new project. I prefer choosing “Create Empty Project”, which gives you this:

From here, I usually like to get started by populating my project with characters, locations, and items. You can click on “Characters” > “Add new”, which will give you this pop-up screen:

Notice the other tabs - you can fill out a character bio, jot down some notes about the character, write down their goals/motives, and upload a picture of the character. You can choose whether it’s a major or minor character, and you can even list the tags that relate to the character.

You can add as many characters as you’d like. You can also edit or view the whole character roster by going to “Characters” > “View/Edit”.

From there, I usually move on to “Locations” > “Add new”, giving you this popup:

You can write down a description of the setting, and you can also add a picture or reference of it. (I’m riffing off a well-known story for this example - can you guess which one?)

Now for the items! Go to “Items” > “Add new”. Here’s what you get:

Very similar to the Location box! Alright, so when you’ve got those down (and it’s okay if you don’t have them all - you can always go back and add/edit), let’s start a new chapter. To do this, you go to “Chapter” > “Create new chapter”.

Above you’ll see the Chapter Details box, where you fill out the general information about the chapter, including its title and a description of what happens in the chapter. I understand that you can export your manuscript at the end as an EPUB, which is probably why you have all these additional options there as well.

Once you’ve filled it out (I personally tend to leave the description empty because I’m lazy, but it’s a great tool to use if you outline and know exactly what should be happening in each chapter), you can go ahead and make some scenes!

Go to “Scene” > “Create new scene”. This popup with appear:

I use the top box to actually write my scene. The bottom box is where I write general summary of what happens in that scene - one or two lines, really quickly, if I’m not feeling up to actually writing the scene. You can give the scene a title in that box above the “Prev” and “Next” buttons. But! The cool thing about the New Scene box is that there are so many things you can do with your scene!

You can fill out the Details of the scene. You can pick the POV the scene is in, whether it’s a plot or subplot scene, whether it’s action or reaction, whether it’s an outline, draft, 1st edit, or at another status.

On the Characters tab, you can look at your list of characters and drag all of the characters that are present in your scene from your roster. By clicking on them, you can also see a brief overview of the information you filled out for those characters when you made them. You can do the same thing for Locations and Items:

We won’t go through all the tabs, but there’s one that I personally find to be a pretty nifty feature, and that’s the Time tab:

You can note down at what time in your storyline the scene takes place. Then, below it, you can choose how long the scene takes. So, this scene begins on Day 1 and lasts 30 minutes. This can help you make sure that you’re not messing up your timeline, so that it makes sense, and can be especially useful if you’ve got a plot that takes place within a handful of days!

As you start putting scenes and chapters together, you will populate the project and you’ll find it easier to go through and find/edit specific scenes.

Alrighty, that’s all I’m going to go over in this post, but I hope that gives you an idea of how helpful this software is, especially for writers who, like me, like jumping around and inserting scenes and moving scenes from one chapter to another. Using yWriter, it’s just a matter of dragging and dropping, and it’s really, really helpful. It has a bunch of other features, too, but I felt these were the main ones that demonstrated how cool it is!

Edit 1: Some more features I’d like to note...

You can create a synopsis for your book (haven’t used it yet, but hope to try the feature out soon).

You can export your project into the following formats: Text, HTML, RTF, Ebook, and Nanowrimo Obfuscated Text.

You can set a work schedule / word count goals.

You can use it to create a list of scenes with short descriptions, which you can then print out.

You can rate your scenes based on various criteria (ex: tension, humor, etc.) and then see an overview in graph format. This can help you keep track of the overall tone, but you can also set your criteria to be whatever you want it to be.

You can see which words you use the most in your writing.

You can see a storyboard that is split up by character.

You can always see your total wordcount because it pops up in the box where your chapters are listed, and also on the bottom left hand side of your screen. Additionally, you can see today’s word count beside it.

You can see your daily progress in the form of a table.

You can search and replace terms (ex: names that you want to change).

You can flexibly rearrange scenes and chapters using drag and drop.

Edit 2: I read on another review for yWriter that it’s technically not open source because the source code is not public, so that’s good to know in case you’re interested!

Edit 3: As of August 21, 2020, I have been made aware of five other free software for writers:

PageFour

Quoll Writer

Ginkgo

oStorybook

Trelby (for screenwriting)

[the-corset-witch]

A Couple of FREE Plotting Resources

As I step closer to Ostara I have been trying to restart a few old projects of mine, a specific one comes to mind.  I know what I want to write, but when I go to write it just falls out of my head.  That has lead me wanting to create a plot outline but of course, it’s always easier when other people do half of the work for me- the boring part of the work.  This has lead me to looking into the internet!

Plot Factory

(Pay Options with a Basic Free package)

This was the first that I tried, and found it to be rather neat.  It’s rad for creating the Universe I want to write in, defining the basic principles such as how magic works, what species can use magic and what species are inately connected to magic, etc.  Then I can create my story within that Universe, or two stories, and create the characters, import them from other stories, and that’s all rad.  However, not wanting to invest in anything just yet, the only free feature for plotting is the Outlines- their Plot Organizer is reserved for the two most expensive packages.  So, for me, it has failed, but for others it could be a nice tool for them to use for a day, save what they need (like the outline I made) and dip out.  

Manuskript

(Free, In Testing)

Manuskript has many of the same features that Plot Factory had: Character profiles, and World building, however, a lot of it is just empty and waiting for you to put in your own ideas and criteria.  I do like it, and I can see myself using it in the future, but for the project I am trying to plot, a lot of the features go to waste.  Also figuring out how to really tweak the settings can be... well it seems simple but maybe I’m just too high?  It’s fun to play around in, and I think that’s half the challenge- for me plotting and putting all these ideas down isn’t fun.  It’s not fun because I’d rather just write it all out rather than have it out and basically be telling future me what to do (because no one tells me what to do, not even me!).  But because it’s fun, there's not a lot of unnecessary things, and it’s confusingly simple, I do like this software-- a lot more than I liked Plot Factory.  I am actually adding what I worked on in Plot Factory to Manuskript.  

XMind

(Free, Most features restricted behind payment packages)

XMind works like how you would brainstorm on paper- your central topic in the center, then lines leading outward, and suddenly you’ve created a full on web from just that one idea.  In XMind you start with the central point, add a topic, add subtopics, and keep going.  I needed this because I really needed to see the 360 view of what was all around one of my characters.  In my universe she shows up many times, but usually in disguise and in passing, but I want to keep all of these ideas together and such, so the XMind software helped me create a visual graph where I could see all of her cameos in my various stories.  

Wavemaker

(Free, support via Paypal or become a Patron)

I was REALLY surprised by this one.  First of all, there’s SO much here, it’s all ready for you, it is READY for you to click Better Novel and Start and BAM just pour your mind into it.  Blew me away- and FREE.  Stress that I am blown away right now y’all.  You can edit everything, delete anything, and it’s just so much of exactly what I was looking for- all the boring parts of organizing and thinking of how to organize have been done for me.  Here are some of the things they offer which is hidden behind a payment on a lot of these other sites or programs:  Snowflake Method, Timeline Tool, Mind Maps, & a Planning Board.  

Bibisco

(Free, or Pay What You Want)

This software is honestly really cute.  Most of the features you don’t get with the free version are available from some of the other sources on this list for completely free, however, it is Pay What You Want, so I can definitely get behind that.  I enjoy the analysis, but I’ve got some time to go before that’s going to be really interesting.  

Overall:

My picks are Manuskript and Wavemaker.  I have two monitors so I can keep Manuskript up on one, and while I haven’t quite figured everything out, I can keep working back and forth between the two.  The two are outfitted with different and yet similar tools so that I am able to more fully fill in the holes of my story.