Writers' Software
Freeware, Shareware, Trials and Demos
Best Free Software Programs for Writers
- NoteTab Light — Free Version — I built this web site with this program (every single incarnation of this site, including the current version, stylesheets and all).
Go to the NoteTab website. - Sonar — Free (donations accepted) — Created by the creator of yWriter, this handy program tracks submissions better than a spreadsheet.
Go to the Sonar website. - WordWeb — Free Version — WordWeb is a thesaurus and dictionary that can integrate with other programs or run as a standalone program.
Go to the WordWeb website. - yWriter — Free (donations accepted) — yWriter5 is the latest version. yWriter5 is a fabulous little program full of useful features. I've had to move it into the "best" category simply because it has become a truly useful, excellent program.
Go to the yWriter website. - RoughDraft — Freeware — RoughDraft is an easy to use word processing program created specifically for writers with features that meet a writer's unique needs.
Go to the RoughDraft website.
Similar programs: WriteWay, yWriter - TreePad Lite — Freeware — Great for notes, detailed lists, character and scene sketches, or just anything at all. I've created a story note organizer for TreePad. It's a simple document in the TreePad format that can be used as a template to help you organize all those documents that invariably accumulate as you work on your most recent novel(s). It also lets you keep track of submissions and rejections. Download my template story_note_organizer.hjt (right click and choose "save target as" or "save link as").
Go to the TreePad website.
- AbiWord — Free — Word processing program.
Go to the AbiWord website. - Celtx — Free — Scriptwriting program
Go to the Celtx website. - Dramatica Pro — Demo
Download the demo from The Writers Store. - EverNote — Freeware — EverNote is a fantastic notekeeping program that makes keeping up with notes and research for multiple projects an absolute breeze. Highly recommended for all writers. More of my comments on Evernote.
Go to the EverNote website. - Final Draft Screenwriting Software
Go to the Final Draft Screenwriting Software website. You can get a trial version of this at The Writer's Store also: Final Draft Download Edition - Indelible Ink (Scriptwright & Bookwright) — Demos
Go to the Indelible Ink website. - Innovation Toolbox
Go to the Innovation Toolbox website. - The Literary Machine — Free Version — There's also a great tutorial for this program to help you get started.
Go to The Literary Machine website. - OpenOffice.org — Free / Open Source — An office suite which rivals, and is compatible with, Microsoft office.
Go to the OpenOffice.org website. - Personal Knowbase — Trial Version — Full version, but only good for 30 days. After that, you can still read, search, print, and export anything you've previously entered.
Go to the Personal Knowbase website. - SAMM — Freeware — SAMM is a really good manuscript management software program.
Go to the SAMM website. - StoryView — Demo
Download the demo from The Writers Store. - Text Block Writer — Freeware — Very neat program, especially useful for those who are used to index cards.
Go to the Text Block Writer website. - Writer's Blocks — Trial Version (limited use)
Go to the Writer's Blocks website (and download the software)
Similar software: Text Block Writer, WriteWay Pro (storyboard view) - WriteWay — Trial Version (limited use) — I have the pro version of this software and I love it. Read my review of WriteWay Pro.
Go to the WriteWay website.
Similar programs: RoughDraft, yWriter
