Whether you want to write a book but don’t have time, or you simply want to schedule your writing sessions, then this article will help. As a relatively new author, I was shocked at the amount of free book writing software out there. I spent days reading up on the different software and built my own list of the top ten pieces of free creative writing software.
Are you struggling to write your first book? If so, there are several free tools that can help. Although these free services do not perform the entire task by themselves, they relieve you of some work by providing all sorts of useful features.
Microsoft Word:
Microsoft Word is one of the oldest word processors out there, and it is still widely used for writing books. Word has a lot of features to offer, and with a new suite of productivity features added regularly, this software makes writing more accessible to the average writer.
Furthermore, Word has been around for so long that most people are already familiar with using it. If that’s you, it’ll probably be a lot easier and better to keep using Word than switching to another program because it takes time to learn new software. You can use headers to organize your chapters, use the navigation pane to navigate through them, and create templates that you can use repeatedly with multiple manuscripts or projects.
You can collaborate with co-authors and editors, reorganize your draft in outline view, use it as a brainstorming tool, and even go distraction-free when you want to. You can even format and publish an eBook using a Microsoft Word template for free.
Most editors still prefer Word documents for manuscripts, so it’s a great tool to use for writing because it makes tracking and reviewing changes and comments really easy.
FastPencil:
💰 Price tag: Free software
✅ Features: Easily navigable dashboard, drag-and-drop chapters, collaborative editing, multiple layout preview options, publication setup
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.
FastPencil’s simple, streamlined interface allows users to set up a writing project, invite collaborators, and communicate entirely through the app if they wish. Two people can also upload mutually accessible “Assets” for reference during the writing process, and devise “Tasks” for each other to complete. Remember PalmPilots and other personal digital assistants? FastPencil is like a 21st-century, writing-oriented version of that.
Once your book is done, you can preview it with distinct layout templates for different genres — such as “Business,” “Memoir,” and “Dragon” (designed for YA fiction). These templates are pretty basic, but they’ll give you a solid idea of what your published book will look like.
Scrivener:
Scrivener is an advanced writing software created with serious novelists and nonfiction writers in mind. It has a collection of templates for both fiction and nonfiction writing. Both Mac and PC users can use Scrivener. You can export books easily to other digital platforms like Kindle, Kobo, and iBooks which is handy because it’ll save you time when it comes to formatting your manuscript.
This software is made for writers, and you can tell. It’s easy to drag and drops sections, create outlines and scenes, and you can even develop sub-files so that your manuscript is organized. It is also super easy to keep track of all your research and notes with a project binder.
For more complicated work, you can split the screen, work in outliner views, or use the corkboard view and move index cards to plot your storylines.
Bibisco:
💰 Price tag: Free software (Community Edition)
✅ Features: Overview screen for story “architecture,” separate section to construct characters, scene-by-scene word processing, distribution analysis for each story element
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.
With the free “Community” version of Bibisco, you can navigate among six different screens to organize and expand upon the elements of your novel. The architecture screen (above) is perhaps the most unique part of this software, with notecards for your premise, setting, and fabula. Here you can create narrative threads and articulate how they connect to one another, then flesh them out using your “scene” notecards.
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…
Ulysses:
Ulysses is a tool that creates a document out of fragments and makes it a complete story. It has a feature that inserts words with automatic synchronization, and any programmers would probably love this function. This tool lets you work anytime and anywhere you want.
Evernote:
💰 Price tag: free “basic” plan, $9.99/month for “premium,” $14.99/month for “business”
✅ Features: writing templates, web clipper function for easily storing research, the ability to sync across multiple devices
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.
Google Docs:
Google Docs is a simpler version of Microsoft Word. It’s a barebones, simple word processor that does not offer much regarding formatting and outlining. While it is simple, it is quite a capable word processor for those writers looking for free writing software. Its features offer that it can share files and content and communicate via comments too. You can even access previous versions of your work to review all the changes that have been made to your book file.
However, if you want to use Google Docs as your main writing software, you’ll want to make sure you enable Google Docs for offline use so you can still write without internet access.
Conclusion:
Let’s face it. Sometimes, getting your book done is the most difficult part of becoming an author. This is especially true if you are trying to start a blog which you are publishing your book(s) on. The problem isn’t so much creating the book itself, but actually writing it in the first place.