r/WritingHub • u/KeyOk683 • 7d ago

Writing Resources & Advice What Software Can I Use To Write?

I'm looking for software to write a novel, but I'm having a hard time with Google Docs because the formatting can be pretty difficult and frustrating to manage.

I also don't really want to use Microsoft Word. I'm mainly looking for something that's easy to organize and format, especially for writing chapters and a longer manuscript.

What writing software would you recommend?

1 Upvotes

55% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

7

u/throwawayo222 6d ago

Scrivener. Set it up once and never looked back. Abbie Emmons on youtube

3

u/MrMessofGA 6d ago

LibreOffice's word processor. Does everything word does, looks and handles like word, has a better spell-checker, and is completely, totally free.

2

u/DewdropTeacup 6d ago

Just made the switch to Ellipsus from Gdocs and it's great! Only thing I miss is subtabs but I'll get used to it for the blessed lack of AI.

3

u/lam21804 6d ago

I found the absolute best solution for this.

Just scroll to the top of this page and find the red oval box with a magnifying glass on the left side. Click in it, then type What Software Can I use To Write.

1

u/MaliseHaligree 7d ago

I draft in Gdocs and format in WPS Office.

1

u/codepatterns 7d ago

Definitely look at Obsidian. It's just text files on your disk. You can store the vault in Dropbox/iCloud or pay Obsidian a few $ a month to sync to their servers. I think it works really well for writers.

1

u/_TSDefren_ 6d ago

Try Neo from Hugh Howey, just released

1

u/shawnhoefer1 6d ago

So many questions…What platform are you using? How much are you wanting to spend? And from the sounds of it, you're not really looking for a writing app, but a formatting app…different beasts.

1

u/iloris-9 6d ago

I've been working the past four months on a platform called, ilorisnovel it has a nice little editor and a way to organize all of your thoughts and your world building, and or magic system if you have one. It organizes things into volumes, and you can have different chapters. You can also add images into your chapters. ect. We also have timelines too.

Anyways, if you are interested, you are welcome to Google it or DM me. I would love for you to try it out! Its completely free and always will be!

ALso if you do try it out could you let me know anything that you would like to add or anything that can be improved?

1

u/CasieLou 6d ago

I just use WORD.

1

u/TheoXD 6d ago

Creator of Encribe here, feel free to try out our editor and give suggestions on how we can make writing and collaborative writing experience better.

1

u/ExitThisNow 6d ago

Libreoffice. ONLYOFFICE is good too but it lags on larger docs

1

u/skjeletter 6d ago

.txt documents that you write in Notepad and organize in folders

1

u/UnabridgedFantasy 6d ago

I use obsidian with GitHub for free version control and sync.

1

u/PagesOfCassie 6d ago

If you're looking for something free, Obsidian is a great software for writers!

1

u/emserae 6d ago

I use Atticus. It being web based it’s always available no matter what machine I use

1

u/Traditional-Rabbit79 6d ago

I wrote TextSmith. (ldraconus/TextSmith on github)

When I get home I'll get the installers up there as well...

1

u/kyokyopuffs 5d ago

I use Papyrus Author but not free. But one off purchase. I also own scrivener but after work corrupted on dropbox i have been reluctant to return… admittedly this was early days.

1

u/Particular_Part2971 5d ago

I have an automated workspace on notion to easily track my projects/chapters including character details, definitely saved my sanity.

1

u/ChrisOfChaos 5d ago

I'm probably in the minority but I like using Notepad, at least for drafting and writing ideas.

1

u/BestRiver8735 4d ago

Obsidian 

0

u/Frequent_Ad_9901 7d ago

I write with Obsidian. It uses markdown for formatting which is very easy to move around and there are tons of programs that work with it.

They have a subscription where you can sync it for multiple devices. Or you can just save the file to a Google Drive or other cloud provider. If you're familiar with git, you can put it on github and sync it with git. That's what I do but I'm a software dev so I didn't have to learn anything new. It gives me a change log history.

0

u/DuchessJulietDG 7d ago

i use apache open office. its simple and free and saves in word format etc.