FREE Novel Writing Software?? (For Authors Who Want to Stay Organized)

I'll always have a softspot for yWriter, too. I've moved onto Scrivener from it, but there are still things I use yWriter for, like writing blog posts or flashfic and such. Also, I definitely drafted in yWriter. I know it seems basic, but it has all the functions I need while drafting.

Thank you so much for this! I have been using Scrivener but I HATE their customer service and etiquette. So I was looking for another program to support (even though I already own scrivener) that unlike scrivener has a mobile version on Android. I was using Campfire and they are amazing, but I am disabled and ran into a financial issue so I then went looking for something free and resolved to have a world building program and use scrivener for writing. I discovered Obsidian and have been watching research videos and am in love with the freedom it provides! I'm not sure if I am going to exclusively use scrivener for compiling for publication, or use it for writing and use obsidian for WB, but I love what I'm learning about it right now.

Thank you! Always useful to know about free software.

Thank you so much for this video. I am using Word, and am fairly fappy with it, but it is always nice to have other options. In Word, I've developed a couple of workarounds for Navigation. My book has both a Table of Contents and a Dramatis Persona, So I make liberal use of bookmarks and hyperlinks to move around the book.

Being strictly a hobbyist, I found Manuskript is fulfilling all my needs.

Thank you so much for this video ! It was exactly what i wanted to know and I really like the first program you showed! Have a wonderful day <3

TOTALLY changing my last name to Van Texel!

You can write in Atticus and they are developing iit for that purpose. They like the Reedsy Editor are more aimed at formatting and publication but they are developing. I am writing in Atticus now.

The free version of Papyrus Author isn't as good as the + version, and you still have to "check in" now and then (they won't say exactly how often) or it stops working.

Thanks! Good video! But am I missing something? Have you been collaborating in reedsy? I just tried that with a friend the other day, couldnt get it to work and then asked the reedsy staff. They said they havent implemented the collaboration feature yet!

So how about if I want to start with free software and then import it into another that would be better to use for publishing. What would you suggest?

I used to love yWriter, but I could not cross platform as easily as the creator said was possible.

In Papyrus Author, how extensive is the Timeline? The app I am using currently has a hard limit on how many thousand years it can cover.

Is the first one useful to also formatting your novel to see how many real pages you have in an actual real book? And is it available for MacOs?

Aphrodite Van Texel sounds like someone who should be fronting an '80s hair band.

Don't care about your face honestly