creative writing software for students

The Best 50 Free Writing Software And Free Writing Apps

Writers are spoiled for choice when it comes to free writing software, tools, and free writing apps.

Are you a blogger, author, content writer, or student?

You want the best creative writing tools and software that will do the job for you.

But you don’t want to pay a lot of money to be able to write more effectively. Read on to discover all the choices you have for software, programs, and apps to help you write better and more productively.

Your free tools and software choices

There is no need for you to spend a penny to get some of the best free writing programs to help you write more productively and accurately.

You can choose and try so many terrific writing programs and tools today. You will find that most of them are unrestricted and will cost you nothing to use.

If you are looking for new apps and tools to improve your writing, you have come to the right place.

This page is regularly updated to bring you the biggest choice of free software and apps for writers.

It includes free writing apps for Windows, Mac, and Linux users.

You can find creative writing apps, grammar checking apps, word processors, mind maps, index cards, book writing programs, and productivity tools.

All of them will help you get on with what you do best, which is writing, of course.

There are also many lite versions of popular premium apps available that can offer you tons of fantastic features.

I have tried almost all the writing tools and apps in this article and use a lot of them every day.

Find the best free writing software and apps for you

You can find lots of writing software online, but you want writing apps that work best for you and your writing process and style.

With online writing software, I always start with a free version to make sure a new app does what I want it to do.

Very often, a free app will do everything I need.

But yes, sometimes I opt for a premium version to get all the features if it is really a fantastic tool.

It doesn’t matter if you are an author, a blogger, or an article writer.

Choosing the best tools for your writing needs will save you time, effort, and lots of money.

Free apps and writing software for students  are a huge bonus.

They will help you at school, college, or university.

For every type of writer, here are some of the very best free-to-use and freemium apps for you to make your choice.

Scan through my list of the best free writing software and apps below.

See if you can find a few new favorites to download for your laptop or to use online.

Please note that all the apps and software listed on this page are free to use.

However, some are a free version of a premium application, and in this case, the free version may be limited in features.

6 Free writing apps for accuracy

The most essential writing app you always need must be a reliable grammar corrector and a spellchecker.

There are a lot of online apps to check, correct, and improve your writing.

For every writer, the options will be different depending on your writing style and needs. There is no one best or better choice.

Some writers might only need a simple online checker for blog posts, articles, or essays.

But for a content writer or author, it is different. You are probably looking for more developed programs and options.

In my case, I always use two programs to check my writing.

I use one for grammar and spelling and another for writing style and readability. It always pays to check and double-check your writing and sentence structure before you publish it online.

Here are six of the most popular free grammar apps to get you on your way. Each one will help you improve the quality and accuracy of your writing.

Try them all to see which one or two work best for you and your style or type of writing.

1. Hemingway Editor – Free

I have a love-hate relationship with the Hemmingway Editor app.

The love is due to how quick and easy it is to check my readability score and grade.

The negative is that it always tells me to simplify my writing. It hates the passive voice, but that’s a good thing.

It is also a great tool for finding overused adverbs and difficult to read sentences.

It’s a simple app. But if you are looking for a free writing assistant, it is one of the handiest tools   a writer can have at their fingertips.

You can choose which Hemingway mode to use – either write or edit.

The online version is very convenient for checking up to a page or so of text. It gives helpful hints to improve your writing.

It’s one of the must-have free apps for any writer.

There is a paid version, but I am not sure it offers much value.

2. QuillBot – Free

QuillBot Grammar Checker is a quick and easy free tool you can use to check your manuscript.

One of the best features is that you can use one-click corrections to fix your grammar, punctuation, and spelling very quickly.

Another advantage is that it has a generous word count limit. I tested it with a text of over 2,000 words, and it quickly analyzed all of my text.

You can probably check one chapter at a time with the tool.

You can check each underlined suggestion and make a quick correction. But it also has a “Fix All Errors” button.

I’m not sure I would trust it for a long text. But it could be useful for a shorter text.

To use the checker, simply paste in your text, or you can use it as an editor and type your text.

When you finish correcting your writing, copy and paste it into your word processor.

Quillbot has other features, but these are only available with the premium version.

However, the grammar checker is totally free to use and is an excellent tool for checking and correcting your writing.

There is also a free Chrome extension you can try.

3. ChatGPT – Free and Premium

ChatGPT has to be on my list of free writing tools, but why is it under apps for accuracy?

Yes, it is a valuable and free tool for writers. You can use it as a writing prompt generator to inspire and generate ideas for new stories or articles.

You need only include keywords or phrases related to the topic you want to write about. ChatGTP will respond with various ideas and writing points to help you.

But you might not know that it can also help you correct your grammar and spelling.

All you need to do is start your prompt with, check the grammar and spelling:  then paste your text.

It will rewrite your text with the corrections.

You can also ask it to do other things. Ask it to change passive to active voice , and it will rewrite your text in all active voice.

Another use is to ask it to rewrite your text in a different point of view. Just ask it to rewrite in the second person .

However, don’t rely on it 100%.

It does an excellent job most of the time, but it doesn’t always get everything right, so make sure you proofread carefully.

AI writing tools are everywhere now, so writers can’t ignore them.

The free version of ChatGPT offers plenty of options with very few limitations.

So it’s probably one of the best tools to start learning how to use AI technology to help you with your ideas and writing accuracy.

Read more about how to use ChatGPT to correct your writing .

4. Grammarly – Free and Premium

Without a doubt, Grammarly is the number one online grammar checker.

For a lot of writers, it’s one of the best writing apps around.

I have used Grammarly for years now.

It is one online writing tool that I always have switched on in Chrome to use with my WordPress editor.

It works with so many sites, platforms, software, and applications. So it is always on and always helping me correct my writing in real-time.

Grammarly has a desktop app. It also has a plugin for Word in Microsoft Office for PC users.

You can use it in any web browser, with WordPress, and even on your social media sites. It also works on mobile devices as well as with an iOS Grammarly Keyboard app.

There is also support for Google Docs, but this feature is still in beta.

No matter what, when, or where you write, Grammarly will always help you write better and more accurately.

The browser version of Grammarly works very well for most users. However, a premium version is available for more advanced features to help you in your writing process.

You can read more in my Grammarly review .

5. Prowritingaid – Free and Premium

Prowritingaid is one of my favorite writing checkers for long-form writing.

You can use the free version of ProWritingAid.

It offers you a lot of functionality to help you write more accurately online using a simple Chrome extension to check your grammar and spelling.

Are you an author? Then you should consider all the editing and checking tools that are available with this app.

It is a superb writing aid for authors and writers of long-form content articles.

The premium version includes over twenty different writing analysis tools and reports. These will give you a wide range of suggestions for improving your writing.

There are also easy to use extensions available for Chrome, Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and Scrivener too.

It is my number one go-to editing tool when I need to work intensively on very long documents such as long-form articles or book manuscripts.

You can also read my full Prowritingaid review.

6. Grammar Lookup – Free

Grammar Lookup is another good choice for an online grammar-checking app.

I used 3,000 words from one of my book manuscripts to test the app.

It started checking for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors almost immediately. It is a good app for checking short-form writing, such as blog posts and short stories.

If you’re looking for a robust grammar app with a generous word limit, this one is well worth trying.

Again, like a lot of online writing tools, it is ad-supported.

12 Free word processors

The first name writers associate with word processing is almost always Microsoft Word.

Many writers, bloggers, and authors use it as their default writing tool, but it is definitely not cheap.

Depending on your country, the annual license for Office 356 can range from $60 – $100.

If you want to buy the one-time purchase version, which is called Office Home & Student, it can cost you as much as $150.

Microsoft Office is, as its name implies, software for office use. It includes Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, and other programs. You will never use these software programs for creative writing.

Do you need to pay for all these extra programs to have a word processor to write a blog post, article, or short story?

What is the best word processor for writers? Are there any free alternatives equal to Word?

Yes. If you want to write, you can always find great word processors that cost you nothing to use. Often they come with many other options and tools that are better suited for writers.

Most of them will be suitable for your writing goals and any form of short creative writing project.

But you should note that a word processor is not the best app for writing a book. You can find better programs for authors in the next section of this article.

1. Google Docs – Free

Like Microsoft Office, Google Docs is a suite of office tools. The big difference, of course, is that Google Docs is available for free online.

If you are familiar with Word, you will have no problem adapting to Docs, the word processor component.

All the formatting options are very similar, as is the user interface.

Unlike some word processors, Docs has a word count so you can keep track of your word count goal.

I know that many writers, particularly content writers, use Google Docs because of the simplicity of sharing documents online.

Writing projects can be quickly and easily shared using Google Drive, which comes with 5 gigabytes of storage. It is usually plenty of storage space for writers. You can also use Docs offline .

If you write every day and collaborate with other writers, content editors, proofreaders, or editors, Google Docs allows you to collaborate easily.

There is no need to know what file format or program others are using.

As long as each person has a Google account, and who doesn’t, working together is very easy.

2. Apple Pages for Mac Users – Free

If you are a Mac user and all you need is a word processor, Apple Pages can handle everything you could possibly need to do.

It really is the best free writing software for Mac.

Like Word, you can start with a blank document or use the template chooser.

Word processing in the page layout document view is easy to work with. All the text formatting, fonts, and writing tools are easy to find and use.

There is a spell checker, word and page count , and track change with an add comments option.

It also auto-saves directly to your hard drive or your iCloud drive when you are online. There is also the file duplicate function. It gives you very easy version control of your revisions and edits.

It is difficult to think of a standard feature or function in Word that is not available in Pages documents.

Pages also shines in one other area. It has much more control over images than Word.

One other big plus with Pages for authors is that you can export directly to epub. You don’t need to convert your file formats into another program.

Pages is one of the best writing programs for Mac users.

There is also a mobile app for iPad and iPhone. You can download it from the Mac App Store.

Related reading: Can Apple Pages Replace Microsoft Word For Mac?

3. MS Notepad and Mac TextEdit – Free

These two writing programs are already under your noses. They are installed by default on Windows and Apple computers.

They are both ideal little apps for writing blogs or short articles.

However, they are both worthy of mention because of their usefulness in converting to plain text.

Most word processors can add a lot of background code over the time you take to write a long document.

Cut and pasting, saving, deletions, forgotten tabs and spaces, and formatting changes all add up to a lot that can go wrong.

Because of all this code, there is a chance that the text might have issues when used online. This can be especially true if you use WordPress or publish ebooks.

The quickest and easiest way to clean a document, big or small, is to copy all the text into a plain text editor such as Notepad or TextEdit. Then, you can convert everything to plain text.

Then you can copy back the clean text into your blog editor or word processor for ebook formatting.

4. Libre Office – Free

I used Open Office for many years. It is an open-source project and is still available.

However, many writers now favor Libre Office.

These two office suites branched from the same development stable, so they have a lot of similarities.

Learning to work with Writer, which is the word processor, is easy.

However, it uses traditional and straightforward menus, toolbars, and icons but does not have the ribbon function found in Word.

In some ways, this is a good thing because it lets you get on with the writing process instead of hunting in ribbons for buttons.

If you want a word processor, and that’s all, Writer in Libre Office won’t disappoint you.

5. Word Online – Free

Microsoft Word Online is a free web browser version of Word.

You can create, edit, and share Word documents, but it comes with relatively basic features compared to the paid desktop version.

But for students and part-time writers, it’s a handy free alternative.

One benefit is that you can use it on any device with a web browser, including computers, tablets, and smartphones.

You will need to create a Microsoft account, which is free. You also get 5GB of free storage.

Overall, it’s a worthwhile option for users who want a free and easy-to-use word processing software similar to Google Docs.

6. WPS Office – Free Edition

If you have used Microsoft Word or Google Docs, then you can work with WPS Office immediately.

Like other alternative word processors, it has all the standard features you would expect, and it works with most file types.

One of its key features is that it allows drag-and-drop paragraphs, which can be practical at times.

Another time-saving yet straightforward feature of WPS is tabbed documents.

While Excel has had this for years, Word has never had it, so working on two documents simultaneously is much more efficient in WPS.

WPS also has a cloud storage service with 1G for PC and iOS.

7. SoftMaker Free Office – Free

Free Office gets a mention because it can export .epub. It is a convenient tool for self-publishers.

TextMaker is the word processor in this office suite.

However, unless you opt for the premium version, you cannot save in docx format.

But you can open and edit docx files.

Apart from that inconvenience, it has all the advanced features you would expect in a modern word processor.

It comes with advanced formatting options, the ability to create databases for bibliographies and footnotes, as well as track change.

8. Dropbox Paper – Free

All you need is your free Dropbox account to use Dropbox Paper .

It is a word processor, but there is so much more you can do with this app.

The design is clean and simple, but there are so many features at your fingertips.

As well as being a text editor, you can add audio, images, YouTube videos, Slideshare documents, and Trello cards.

It really is a great free writing app for you to create documents and then share them with your team or online.

9. Focus Writer – Free

FocusWriter is a simple, distraction-free writing environment.

It uses a full-screen hide-away interface that you access by moving your mouse to the edges of the screen.

It allows the program to have a familiar look and feel to it. But by getting everything out of the way, you can immerse yourself in your work.

It’s available for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X.

10. Calmly Writer – Free

Calmly Writer has been designed to help you focus on writing.

As you start typing, all the distracting options disappear from the interface.

Calmly also includes a “focus mode” option, which highlights only the paragraph you are editing at the time.

If you are a writing minimalist, it could be a good choice for you.

It is a browser-based app, and there is a Chrome extension available.

11. Zoho Writer – Free

Zoho Writer is an online alternative to Microsoft Word.

You can sync between your PC or Mac, iPhone, Android, or iPad.

Almost everything you do in Word, you can do with this word processor. There are even collaboration tools.

You can import your existing Word documents and get to work.

There is also a plugin to link your Zoho documents to Word.

That’s not a bad deal for at all a gratis online writing tool.

12. Scribus – Free

Scribus is an open-source program for desktop publishing.

It gets a mention here because it is such a feature-rich cross-platform program.

Scribus is a page layout and desktop publishing program for Linux, FreeBSD, PC-BSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, OpenIndiana, Debian GNU/Hurd, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4, eComStation, Haiku, and Windows.

Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK colors, spot colors, ICC color management, and versatile PDF creation.

Perhaps it is not a choice for most authors and bloggers. But you might have a desktop publishing need one day.

4 Free book writing apps

Are you ready to start writing a book? You need to hunt a little to find good writing programs for writing books and novels.

A writing app or author software for a book is entirely different from a word processor.

The best book writing programs consist of many elements.

You need plot timelines, character builders, and event tracking. It should also include note-taking and research-pinning tools.

Here are four of the best free book apps for writing, formatting, and publishing your books or ebooks.

There is a link to seven more free book writing programs at the end of this list.

1. Shaxpir – Free and Premium

For a dedicated book writing tool, Shaxpir gives you a lot of features in its free version.

The Manuscript Builder uses drag-and-drop tools to rearrange your manuscript. You can change the order and hierarchy of chapters and scenes. So you can find a structure that works for you.

You can set your goals and track your progress. You can also keep detailed notes about your characters, places, and events.

It also allows you to add margin comments as well as collect concept art.

There is also an in-built spellchecker.

As far as a book writing program or author app goes, Shaxpir offers you a   huge range of features.

It is available for Mac and PC with offline and cloud access.

2. Scrivener – Free Trial

Although Scrivener is not free, I have to include It in this list of apps because there is a generous trial available.

Scrivener is one of the best book writing software tools for authors and screenwriters.

It has an outliner for chapters and scenes, a corkboard, and index cards.

There is also side-by-side viewing, word count targets, and a full-screen editor, along with print, export, and publishing tools. It has everything any writer could ever need.

There is a 30-day trial period offered by Scrivener.

However, the trial period is counted by the days that you use the software. So, if you use it every second day, your trial period will last 60 days.

If you only write at the weekend, it will last you for a good few months.

Scrivener is available for download for both Windows and Mac. There are also iOS apps for iPhone and iPad.

To access your trial, click the Download Trial link.

3. Calibre Ebook Tool

Calibre is often called the Swiss Army Knife of ebook formatting tools.

There is so much you can do with Calibre.

But for most new authors, you will use it to convert your Word manuscript to mobi, epub, and pdf.

If you have some technical ability, you can also edit the epub or HTML files of your ebook.

It really is one of the most powerful ebook tools for authors.

It is available for download for PC, Mac, and Linux.

4. Kindle Create – Free

If you are a self-publishing author on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Kindle Create is a must-have app for you to use.

The program has improved a lot over the last couple of years. Initially, it was a little unstable, and its primary function was to help you format a Kindle book.

But stability is much better now, and Amazon has been slowly adding new features since it merged Createspace into KDP.

Kindle Create can now format both ebooks and paperback books. However, this latest option is still in beta.

It is so easy to format beautiful ebooks using Kindle Create.

Do you want more free book writing software?

Are you trying to find the best apps for writing your book?

Do you want the best novel writing tool that can help you work on individual chapters and scenes?

Here are seven choices for apps and free writing programs for you that are specifically designed for writing your book.

Read our review of nine free book writing programs for authors.

7 Free apps for bloggers

Are you a content writer or blogger? You need to work with ideas, keywords, data, headlines, and images all day long.

It pays to stay one step ahead of your competition. You are continually working on improving your content, search engine optimization (SEO), and SERP rankings.

There is no way you can do all this work without having the best tools for the job at hand.

Make your life a little easier with some of these blogging apps to help you write and rank better.

Here is a choice of seven of the best blogging tools for busy content writers and bloggers. All of them will save you hours of work every day.

1. Fyrebox – Free and Premium

You’re writing lots of content for your blog.

But wouldn’t it be great if you could engage your readers a little more in your post topics?

Well, you can with Fyrebox by creating a free interactive quiz.

All you need to do is create your free account, and then you can start designing your quiz in a few minutes.

There are templates to help you get started with pre-made quizzes for you to personalize.

A quiz is a great way to keep your readers on your blog for much longer by letting them participate in your blog post subject.

2. Hubspot Blog Ideas – Free

Hubspot’s blog topic generator is an old favorite for many writers.

All you need to do is enter a few nouns, and it will produce a list of blog title ideas for you.

It is such a handy tool to have when you are looking for new writing ideas.

3. Portent’s Idea Generator – Free

Do you need a cure for writer’s block?

I adore this blog topic generator app.

Portent is an easy and clever way to find new writing ideas.

It is an app primarily designed for bloggers to find headlines and titles, not a genuine headline analyzer. However, writers can use it to discover new ideas for any piece of writing.

All you have to do is input your base word or words, and then you can select a working title for a new writing prompt.

4. ShareThough Headline Analyser – Free

How engaging is your article headline?

Sharethrough must be my absolute favorite little app. Once you have a blog or article title idea, run it through this app to see how effective it will be in attracting readers’ attention.

You can edit as you go, and the app keeps a record of your variations so you can choose the best one.

The app’s blurb says: “Like the lead paragraph in a news story or thesis in an essay, your headline is your one true sentence: the single most important asset for capturing attention in the feed.”

5. Website Grader – Free

Website Grader is a quick and easy app to help you improve your blog.

Checking and optimizing your blog’s performance is essential if you want to increase your site traffic.

You should make sure that your website is easy for users to discover and easy for search engines to understand.

It is a quick app to check your page titles, headings, and meta descriptions.

It only takes a few seconds to run this performance check of your blog to see if you need to make any improvements.

6. Privacy Policy Generator – Free

Privacy Policy Generator is an app to help you write your privacy policy page for your blog.

You don’t even need to register or give your email address.

It is a time and money saver for all bloggers.

Just add your basic information, and the app will create the full text for your privacy terms.

All blogs should have a policy page about privacy to make sure that your site is GDPR compliant.

7. Canva – Free and Premium

Now, this is not an app for writing articles. So it might not truly belong in a list of blog writing tools and programs.

But Canva is a fantastic tool for promoting your writing.

Canva is a free online tool for creating images.

Because Internet images you find on Google images are very often copyright protected, it is a much better idea to create your own unique images.

You can find and use stock images to upload to Canva that you can then design and transform into a unique image.

You can use Canva to create images for social media promotion, blog posts, Facebook headers, and even quick and dirty ebook covers.

While there is a paid option, the free version offers more than enough images, graphics, icons, shapes, and backgrounds for almost any image creation project.

It’s so useful; I sometimes feel a bit guilty because I use this app almost every day.

10 Free productivity apps

There are so many facets to writing. It would be great if all you had to do were to write.

But we all know that a writer’s life consists of lots of tasks and distractions.

You have to be organized to be able to write. Just collecting and collating your ideas takes a lot of time in your day. Then there is your to-do list and probably a long list of pending items.

It would be great if there was an all-in-one help for a writer’s app. But until it ever eventuates, here is a selection of some of the best productivity apps for writers.

Hopefully, some of them will help you stay organized and perhaps save a little time that you can invest in writing.

1. Trello – Free and Premium

Trello must be one of the most popular apps for writers.

There is so much you can do to organize your writing projects, notes, and to-do lists. You can collaborate and assign tasks, start discussions, and so much more.

Trello is a beautiful as well as highly functional app. It is available for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, iOS, and Android.

2. Evernote – Free and Premium

Evernote is a popular application for lots of writers. It is one of the most popular note-taking apps, but it is much more.

Never let an idea escape when you are not at your keyboard. You can organize your thoughts, and create checklists and to-do lists.

There is also a handy web clipper that lets you save parts of web pages to help you with your writing research.

The free version comes with more than enough storage memory to suit most writers.

3. OneLook – Free

OneLook lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept.

Your description can be anything at all: a single word, a few words, or even a whole sentence.

Type in your description and hit Enter to see all the related words.

This little writing app is a thesaurus on steroids.

4. Free Pomodoro Timer – Free

If you are a fan of the Pomodoro technique, to improve your productivity, you will need a Pomodoro timer .

There are many apps to choose from online.

But I like this one because it’s easy to set and to read. Nothing fancy, but effective.

5. Read-O-Meter – Free

How long will it take to read your article?

Find out with Read-O-Meter , and then you can add reading time to your blog post or article.

6. Wordcounter – Free

Wordcounter ranks the most frequently used words in your text.

You can use this browser app to see what words you are repeating too often and then make changes.

All you need to do is paste your text into the box. Then this little app will go to work and list all your repetitions.

7. Quetext – Free

Quetext is an online plagiarism checker.

Many paid apps feature checking plagiarism as a premium option.

But with this browser app, you can check your documents anytime you like.

8. Otter V0ice Notes – Free and Premium

Otter is a dictation-to-text app for iOS and Android.

All you need to do is hit the record button, start speaking, and watch your words appear in the app. It even adds in punctuation.

There are many paid and premium dictation apps, but Otter offers a generous free option of 600 minutes a month.

9. Freemind – Free

If you are into mind maps to develop story ideas, here is a software download for you.

Many authors use mind map apps to help write a book by keeping their ideas connected and logical.

Freemind is open-source mind-mapping software built in Java.

It is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

It has a wide variety of features, including location-based mind mapping, collaboration tools, restore sessions, and more.

10. DiffChecker – Free

Do you sometimes get into a tangle when editing different versions of a text?

What and when did you make a change? Is it nearly impossible to remember every edit you make?

Well, with DiffChecker , it is easy to compare two versions of a text and find the differences between them.

It is a browser app, but if you want to save your revisions (Diffs), you will need to create an account to log in.

8 Quick mentions

The following software and writing apps are recent additions to this list.

They are not categorized. But all of them could be worth a look to see if they are a match for what you need in an app or program.

As they are quick mentions, you will need to investigate for yourself to see if they might be worthwhile.

1. Kindle Previewer – Free

The Kindle Previewer application is a free desktop program that lets authors preview how their ebooks will appear on all Kindle devices.

It makes it easy to check your ebooks for different screen sizes, display orientations, and text font sizes.

2. Zotero – Free

Zotero is a free and easy-to-use program to help you with sources and citations.

You can collect, organize, cite, and share your research.

You can create references and bibliographies for any text editor directly with Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs.

3. Reedsy Book Editor – Free

It is also a writing program and editor.

4. NaturalReader – Free

It’s often a good idea to read aloud when you proofread a draft text.

But with NaturalReader , you can create mp3 files from your text and then play them back to you. It makes it much easier to check your text for accuracy as you listen.

There is a generous free daily limit of 20 minutes for access to premium voices.

But if you select free voices, there is no restriction.

5. Bubbl.Us – Free

When you want to mind map your ideas, it is easier with an app.

Bubbl.Us is a good choice if you want free mind mapping. You can share your maps with others and even on social media.

6. Pixabay – Free

You’re right; this is not writing software. But I have to include Pixabay because I use it every day to find great free images for my blog.

There are many free stock image sites, but this one is my favorite because the choice of images is enormous.

7. Pixlr – Free

Again, this is not a writing app. But when you need to edit an image for your blog or ebooks, then Pixlr might do the job for you.

There is a premium version, but the free version can perform most basic photo editing tasks.

8. DramaQueen – Free

If you are writing scripts, this program could be what you are looking for.

With DramaQueen , you can format your script yourself or according to the official rules of the Writers’ Guild.

3 Fun free writing apps

Writers can sometimes be a serious bunch of people. But everyone needs to have a bit of fun from time to time.

To end my long list of apps for writers, here are three little apps to put a smile on your face.

Have fun, and enjoy being a writer.

1. Hipster Sound – Free

Do you have time to go to a café to relax and write?

If you don’t, you can bring the sounds of a Texas or Paris café to you with this cute little app.

Go to Hipster Sound , click play, pop in your air pods, and you will have all the ambient sounds you need to get your creative juices flowing. As an extra bonus, your coffee is on the house!

2. FlipText – Free

Okay, you are not going to use Fliptext often. But it is a fun and funny little writing tool.

¡uoıʇuǝʇʇɐ ʇɔɐɹʇʇɐ oʇ ǝɹns sı ʇı ˙uʍop ǝpısdn buıʇıɹʍ ʎɹʇ ʇou ʎɥʍ ‘uoıʇuǝʇʇɐ ʇɔɐɹʇʇɐ ןןıʍ ʇɐɥʇ buıɥʇǝɯos op oʇ ʇuɐʍ noʎ uǝɥʍ

Yes, you can write upside down. Did you have to turn your screen upside down, or did you twist your neck in pain trying to read it?

3. The Most Dangerous Writing App – Free

The Most Dangerous Writing App is a fun little writing tool with a mean side to it.

You start by setting yourself a writing time of, say, five minutes. Then you start writing. But if you stop writing for more than five seconds, you lose everything you wrote.

However, if you get through your allotted time without stopping, your reward is that you can save your work.

Yes, that’s a seriously nasty little writing app. It is a brutal yet brilliant idea.

But if you treat it like a game, it can be a fun challenge and maybe a clever way to overcome writer’s block.

Summary of free writing software

For all writers, there are plenty of software, programs, publishing apps , and tools.

You can also find free book writing programs that work very well for any book project.

You don’t need to spend any money at all to get some of the best software and apps.

There are so many open-source and free software alternatives for word processors, book writing, short story writing, and spelling and grammar correction tools.

Are you ready to write your book or get started as a content writer or blogger?

Then the writing tools in the list above will be more than enough to get you off on the right foot.

All of them are user-friendly, as well as quick and easy to learn how to use.

Make your choices based on what you need and want to achieve as a writer and what you think you will need to succeed.

Then head off to the coffee shop with your laptop, or pump up Hipster Sound at home and start writing.

Related reading: Choose Your Writing Apps For iPad To Write Anywhere

About The Author

Derek Haines

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28 thoughts on “the best 50 free writing software and free writing apps”.

No Ywriter? Easy to set up and use. Takes around two minutes to learn from installation. More important it’s free.

I have noted yWriter in our article about free book writing software.

Thank you for this article. It’s very useful.

As an editor and writer for thirty years, I’m not at all fond of grammar and style programs. None of them work well at all for the people who need them most. Every one I’ve tied, including Grammarly, makes terrible mistakes, and if you follow the style these programs want you to follow, you’ll never be a good writer. I can tell in a page or two whether a writer has used and RELIED such a program, and it’s almost always an instant rejection.

These programs should only be used by writers who don’t really need them, except for those brain fart moments, or when a truly esoteric question of grammar pops up. As a writer, you MUST know grammar inside out, and you must know style inside out, or you won’t have a clue whether Grammarly, or any such program, be it for grammar or style, is lying to you.

At BEST, these programs produce cookie cutter style that may be technically correct, but that simply is not professional level writing. Such writing may make you a couple of dollars on a site such as Medium, and you may even sell a few copies of something on Amazon, but this is all you’ll do.

If you really want to be a professional writer, you MUST learn grammar inside and out. These programs can’t give you the grammar you need, and contrary to popular belief, it is NOT an editor’s job to correct a manuscript full of bad grammar. Ain’t gonna happen. Grammar is your job, not the job of a software program, and not the job of an editor. Period.

Nor can you leave style up to software, or to an editor. Software can’t give you professional level style, and an editor simply doesn’t have the time. An editor will correct minor mistakes here and there, overlooked brain farts, but that’s it.

If you really want to be a writer, forget such silly software. Plant your butt and learn grammar. For style, story, characterization, plot, and other such necessities, read five hundred novels and a thousand short stories, then write several novel or fifty short stories. If you have any talent at all, this will bring it out. If you lack talent, well, you need a new profession.

This era of digitization has changed the publishing industry completely and is still revamping it . The book writing software and industries are a true companion for writers and editors. They are just making our work more easy and accurate. Totally agree with your article.

I have a fixed income due to my disabilities. I plan to purchase a new computer but is Microsoft Home and Personal a very reputable writing program? Is a Dell computer highly recommended?

I write • plays • poetry • historical fiction • children’s picture books • essays • short fiction for children and adults

Thank you! :-)

Sorry, Tom. But I can’t help you with advice about buying a computer. You’d be better trying computer review sites.

Hi Derek, I hope someone is interested in my Scribis Project, a series o free online editors dedicated to those who want to work quickly moving between dictionaries, thesauri and databases of sentences selected from the great classics. Based on what you type in the editor, you will get synonyms, collocations, intermediate concepts, semantic fields, and dozens of sentences that contain analogies, similarities, emotions and images. With another tool, Scribis Matrix, you can generate word matrices from the same dictionaries and thesauri.

Why no YWriter? It does everything important that scrivener can do, but it is free.

We do feature yWriter in our listing of free book writing software. So, we haven’t missed it. https://justpublishingadvice.com/choose-your-free-book-writing-software-for-your-new-book/

PowerWritingAid and Grammarly are not free programs. You have to pay expensive monthly subscriptions.

StyleWriter will make you a better writer and does not get a mention in your reviews!

Prowritingaid and Grammarly both offer free versions. But I will investigate Stylewriter.

I use Grammarly on a daily basis and only the free version and I don’t feel I am missing out on anything. I also use the free version of pro writing aid, not as often but I’ve never encountered an instance where I have wished I had the paid version. A lot of paid apps have a really good free version of those apps too. This is a pretty perfectly crafted reply because of my free Grammarly lol

Very great article with many great Apps. Recently I discovered Neperos, it is very intuitive and gives you the possibility to style your article with multiple pictures.

I bought Prowritingaid for the Word add-in, but found one of the most important features, the ability to customise reports, doesn’t work. Contacting the Support team led to promises of an investigation followed by nothing. A reminder led to a promise the issue would be passed to a developer who,would be in touch, then nothing. If you want it work with Word, look elsewhere or you’ll pay for a non-functional product with no support!

Hi Peter, Lisa here from ProWritingAid. I’ve just been through our support inbox and can’t find any emails under the name Peter Caffrey.

So far, I am enjoying 3 out of your 10 recommendations. Your reviews seem honest and unscripted-thank you for that.

The only serious free option for desktop publishing right now is Scribus. It’s software, not web-based. I’ve used it a few times and it’s pretty decent. Of course, I also have QuarkXPress, which I prefer. Hope that helps!

It was informational and I liked it very much.

I found this article to be informative. In search of one thing, I happily stumbled upon much more. Thanks!

Generally in life you get what you pay for so you should expect limitations from anything free. If you’re serious about writing then Scrivener is what you need. Yes, you have to pay for it but it costs about the same as a couple of takeaways and once you learn how to use it you’ll wonder how you lived without it. I agree about Canva, but I wouldn’t bother with anything else on the list!

There is free Windows alternative for Scrivener named Quoll Writer. Of course, it has some limitations but is a lot easier to use and gives you all essential features writer or journalist needs. Chapters, characters, items, linking, tagging, annotating and more. It has Idea Board and stats and readability indexes. Text formatting is basic but hey, it’s software for writers not for editors. You can export your texts as .docx or .epub and format them with Sigil or Calibre. I’m using it for couple of years.

Good article, but you don’t mention StyleWriter – a powerful program to change the way y0u write. It shows you how to write and edit like a professional.

So thankful I found this site. All the info I need in one place and much simpler than what I was trying to work with. Especially great for a tech dummy like me.

Great post, informative and gives me some options to consider that I didn’t know about before. Thanks.

Great article, I love Canva, Couldn’t run my website without it! Thanks for this. I learned some things.

Thanks for this informative post. :) — Suzanne

This post is one of the best and most informative I have read in years on publishing for home-based writers. Through your post, I have discovered new resources that will make my writing life easier. Thanks!!!

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Free writing software: 24 tools to help you create better content, faster

Find the best brainstorming, researching, writing, and editing tools.

As a freelance writer, I try to keep my app costs lean, so I'm a sucker for free writing tools. But with so many writing apps on the market, it's hard to tell which free options are actually valuable.

I've done some of the legwork for you by bringing together some of the best free writing apps on the internet. All of the options listed here are tools the Zapier team or I have used and enjoyed.

For this roundup, I prioritized completely free tools and freemium apps with a forever free plan that was sufficient for actual regular use. Many of the options have paid plans, but those plans are generally geared toward power users.

The best free writing software at a glance

Free writing tools for brainstorming and organizing your thoughts, best free writing software for expanding your ideas.

Best free writing software for creating content outlines

Best free writing software for brainstorming together

You can even use Miro with Zapier (also free), so you can automate your brainstorming workflows. Here are a couple of ideas to get you started.

Create Miro widgets with new Trello cards

Add Miro cards from new rows on Google Sheets

Best free writing software for brainstorming topics

Keyword Research Tool pricing: Free

Best free writing software for brainstorming ideas with AI

ChatGPT pricing: Free; ChatGPT Plus is $20/month

Best free writing software for brainstorming out loud

Your computer's dictation software (MacOS, Windows)

If you process your thoughts best through speaking, there's a brainstorming app already on your computer. Boot up Windows 10 Speech Recognition on Windows or Apple Dictation on Mac to record your thoughts as you brainstorm out loud.

Windows 10 Speech Recognition and Apple Dictation pricing: Free

Free writing tools for research and note-taking

Best free writing software for keeping everything in one place.

Save new tasks in Google Tasks in Notion databases

Add new Microsoft Outlook calendar events to Notion databases

Notion pricing: Free plan available; from $8/user/month for team plans

Best free writing software for finding free copies of paywalled research

Unpaywall pricing: Free

Best free writing software for transcribing interview and video content

oTranscribe pricing: Free

Best free writing software for collecting research from other people

Create Trello cards from new Google Forms responses

Share Google Forms responses in a Slack channel

Google Forms pricing: Free

Free writing tools for solo and collaborative writing

Best free writing software for collaborative writing.

Create new Google Docs from text with new rows in Google Sheets

Create new Google Docs when Trint transcripts are ready

Google Docs pricing: Free

Best free writing software for messages and blurbs

WordCounter pricing: Free

Free writing tools for editing

Best free writing software for finding the perfect word.

OneLook Reverse Dictionary and Thesaurus offers all the synonyms you could dream of like a regular thesaurus, but it stands out in its reverse dictionary capabilities. Enter a phrase—or even a full sentence—to get words that match that meaning. This feature comes in handy when you want to write more concisely or find that word that's on the tip of your tongue.

OneLook Reverse Dictionary and Thesaurus pricing: Free

Best free writing software for finding the right word—anywhere

As a freelance writer, I find myself needing to switch up words when I write on various platforms across the internet. Power Thesaurus gives me synonyms, antonyms, definitions, and other forms of word assistance wherever I like to write. It can do the same for you—put it to use on its website, in your browser, on your phone, in Google Docs, in Word, and in Gmail.

Best free writing software for rewording what you write

Best free writing software for clear and concise writing

Best free writing software for creating compelling headlines

CoSchedule Headline Studio pricing: Free for basic features; from $8/month to buy "Premium Headline" credits that give you access to an SEO score, AI writing features, headline suggestions, and word banks for a certain number of headlines

Best free writing software for finding and removing cliches

Cliche Finder pricing: Free

Best free writing software for finding jargon in your text

De-Jargonizer pricing: Free

Best free writing software for varying your wording and sentence length

Expresso pricing: Free

Best free writing software for comparing your writing to AI content

Free writing tools for proofreading

Best free writing software for catching spelling and grammar mistakes.

Best free writing tool for proofreading short-form content

Best free writing tool for making MLA citations

EasyBib pricing: Free

Free writing software FAQ

Here are some questions lots of people have about writing apps and how to choose the right one.

What's a good free writing tool?

Tools like Google Docs and WordCounter are free forever and very functional. Other apps, like Grammarly or ProWritingAid, have free plans that offer basic features, with more advanced features available via a paid plan.

But there are a lot of free writing tools available that perform a wide variety of functions—everything from brainstorming to research and note-taking to writing to editing to proofreading.

What writing tool do most writers use?

There's a wide variety of writing tools out there, and which one a writer uses really comes down to preference. A lot of writers use Google Docs to write because they already use Google for so many other things—but some may prefer a tool like Notion, where they can combine writing with project management.

What makes a good writing tool?

In short, whatever helps you write! If a blank page and no distraction is what helps you actually get words down, then open a new Google Doc and go at it. If you need to organize your thoughts before you even think about writing, consider adding a brainstorming tool to the mix. Each writer's process is different, and it's all about finding tools that enable your writing, not add another roadblock to your process.

Sharpen your craft with your new toolkit

Related reading:

This article was originally published in June 2015 by Jane Callahan and has also had contributions from Jessica Greene. The most recent update was in August 2023.

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Melissa King

Melissa King is a freelance writer who helps B2B SaaS companies spread the word about their products through engaging content. Outside of the content marketing world, she sometimes writes about video games. Check out her work at melissakingfreelance.com.

• Content marketing
• Google Docs
• Google Forms

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Improve your productivity automatically. Use Zapier to get your apps working together.

Best free writing app of 2024

Bring your words to life with the best free writing apps

Best overall

Best for markup, best word alternative, best word processor, best for mac, best online, how we test.

The best free writing software makes it simple and easy to better manage and organize all your ideas, outlines, and projects. 

1. Best overall 2. Best for markup 3. Best Word alternative 4. Best word processor 5. Best for Mac 6. Best online 7. FAQs 8. How we test

Like the best free word processors , writing apps help you get your thoughts on the page without breaking the bank (or your train of thought). But we’ve also made sure they’ll make it easier to save, share, and sync all your documents and keep them safe, whether you need a desktop writing app for work, school, or play. 

If you struggle to stay focused, we’ve tested some of the best free writing apps come with distraction-free layouts or gamification challenges to keep you in the zone. We’ve also reviewed those built for professional document creation, with advanced business features such as speech-to-text transcription and online collaboration tools. 

Our picks cover the best apps for writing on the web, Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS - so you’re always ready whenever and wherever creativity strikes. 

Scrivener: best writing software for authors Scrivener is packed with all the features a novelist needs, helping you track plot threads, store notes on characters and locations, structure your work and (most importantly) get some serious work done. It's not a free writing app like the tools below, but it's well worth the investment if your budget will allow it.

The best free writing app of 2024 in full:

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

1. FocusWriter

Our expert review:

Specifications

Reasons to buy, reasons to avoid.

FocusWriter helps writers combat one of their biggest challenges: distractions. One of the best free writing software tools out there, it's specifically designed to let you just concentrate on your writing. 

The stripped-back interface is deliciously sparse - ideal for when you just need to get your head down and write - and not dissimilar to a moderately powerful version of Notepad, featuring support for TXT, basic, RTF, and ODT files. 

Even the toolbar is hidden until you actually need it. Just swoop your cursor to the top on the screen to reveal a barren menu, from basic formatting to themes and timers.

Features are light within the software, but FocusWriter isn’t made for heavy editing sessions. It’s designed to make the act of writing flow seamlessly onto the page. 

Elsewhere, the writing app boasts the ability to add themes and your own background images, which can help you stay motivated. 

The Daily Progress tool is a sweet extra, adding Duolingo-style gamification that lets you track your daily writing streak. For when it’s oh-so-easy to slip onto social media when you can’t find the perfect word, it’s a nice way to keep you within the app. 

Available for Windows, Linux, and macOS, the writing software also comes as a portable download, no installation required. So, you can pop it on a USB stick and plug it into any computer you’re working on. 

Read our full FocusWriter review .

• ^ Back to the top

2. WriteMonkey

WriteMonkey is another piece of free writing software that cuts down on the clutter to deliver uninterrupted writing sessions. 

The free word processor, cleverly described as zenware, is unbelievably pared back compared to more traditional writing apps. 

There’s very little in the way of distracting ‘screen furniture’, which means you’re better positioned to concentrate on the writing process. And absolutely nothing else. 

But don’t let that stripped-back approach fool you. As one of the best free writing apps, WriteMonkey is still rich with the sort of core features that matter to writers. 

However, most options are hidden in a context menu (so you’ll need to right-click to view it). It also only supports TXT files, which may limit those looking to read, write, or edit across multiple formats. It is, at least, a portable download, letting you take it wherever you need.

If you’ve enjoyed Markdown, the simplified text-editing language that lets you format, annotate, classify, and link as you type, then great. WriteMonkey’s inner workings will instantly chime. 

First-timers should spend a little time with this free writing software, to uncover that intuitive simplicity. 

Read our full WriteMonkey review .

3. LibreOffice Writer

Writer, the open-source, free writing software, serves almost all general writing needs.

LibreOffice is a near-perfect example of free office software - a familiar, feature-rich take on the office suite. What the veteran software package lacks in Microsoft polish (its interface is undeniably old-fashioned, for starters), it makes up for in its price-point: free. For that, you get access to six tools: Calc, Impress, Draw, Base, Math, and Writer. 

Earning it a slot on our list of best free writing apps is the fact that LibreOffice Writer packs the full editing toolbox. 

This isn’t just a note-taking app for staving off distractions when you’re deep in the zone; it’s for when you’re in pure writer-mode. 

If you’re at all proficient with Microsoft Word, you won’t have any problems using the Writer software. Layouts and functions are almost identical, and there’s support for DOC and DOCX file types, making it efficient to switch out of the Microsoft garden.

This free writing app is ideal if you’re hunting for a tool that almost perfectly replicates the Word experience without the cost. 

Read our full LibreOffice review .

4. Microsoft Word

When it comes to word processors, Microsoft Word is probably the baseline against which all others are compared. It’s the one most of us use at school, home, and work. It’s familiar, comfortable - and it’s available free on the web and mobile devices. 

That may not be the best way to write your masterpiece (unless you’ve hooked up a Bluetooth keyboard). But it’s a great way to jot down ideas on-the-go. When we tested the browser-based version we found it could be a bit slow at first, and we were typing faster than the words appeared on screen. This settles down (mostly) after a minute or so. 

Microsoft’s free writing apps on Android and iPhone had no such issues. Using these was velvety smooth. We especially appreciated the option to switch between mobile view and desktop view, so we could gauge how the document would appear in full-screen. 

As with Google Docs, you’ll need to sign up with a Microsoft account. And, like Google, that also lets you use free versions of PowerPoint, Excel, and the like. While Word offers one of the best free writing app experiences, there’s no denying that the paid-for upgrade is superior, offering more tools, and a true desktop app. 

Read our full Microsoft Word review .

Author promises to make it easier to ‘think, write, and cite’. It’s a promise capably delivered, with a clean interface and bags of writing features designed to make it easy to go from first draft to final copy. 

If you're an Apple user in search of the best free writing apps on macOS, this one demands your attention. 

Concept Maps is one of the best features. It’s a great mind-mapping tool to visualize and lay down all your thoughts while they’re fresh in your head without constraint. You can worry about whipping them into shape later. 

Students and report writers will appreciate Author’s ‘fast citing’ tools - speeding up assignment-writing by correctly adding and formatting citations, references, and contents. 

A paid-for upgrade of the writing software that offers exporting options is available. However, unless you need automatic formatting on export, you can stick with the free version. 

6. Google Docs

Google Docs is a great free writing platform for any writer. It’s an extremely clean, quick word processor available in the browser, on desktop, and phone and tablet apps. So, you can take notes wherever inspiration strikes. 

Docs is more or less Google’s spin on Microsoft Word. The interface is a bit more simple than the professional office software - although it’s no less powerful. 

You’ll find heaps of writing tools, including a pretty accurate speech-to-text transcription tool (just enunciate and don’t talk too fast). Keyboard shortcuts are very well-supported. 

For best results, you’ll need an internet connection, though documents can be used offline. They’ll be synced, and in our experience, that happens swiftly behind the scenes. 

To take advantage of the free writing app, you’ll need a Google account, which may be a deal-breaker for some - but that also opens up the rest of the Google-stuff in the Google-sphere, such as Sheets, Slides, and . With a free account, you get 15GB of storage, which should be more than enough for word documents. A Google One subscription upgrades your storage space, amongst other things. 

Additionally, Google Docs is great if you want to collaborate with one or more other writers. Just be warned to stay in Google Docs for that, because exporting the data into Word or other writing applications can result formatting errors.

Read our full Google Docs review .

What's the difference between a writing app and an AI writer?

AI writers vs writing apps - what's the real difference?

Artificial intelligence is growing in a big way - and when it comes to writing, it's ChatGPT that's been snatching all the headlines of late, with its ability to generate short- and long-form content based on user prompts.

Generally, an AI writer will write your content for you, based on its current learning (although often without 'understanding' the context). A writing app simply lets you write your way, in your own voice. 

Some platforms, such as Canva , have even integrated AI into its Canva Docs and Canva PDF Editor services. However. its Magic Write tool acts as a writing assistant, serving up suggestions and ideas, leaving real writers to work their magic on the content. Though usually hiding in the back-end, you can also find AI integrated in other ways across other the best PDF editor apps (and even the best free PDF editor apps, too).

As always with AI-generated content, whether it's the written word or an artwork masterpiece, human involvement is usually necessary and always desirable. Even if you're using the best AI writers out there, editing and proofreading is essential to give the content accuracy and emotional resonance.

How to choose the best free writing app for you

When deciding which free writing app is best, start by figuring out what sort of writing you want to do. 

Do you need a handy tool for quick scribbles and jotting down ideas here and there, or are you using the writing software to write and edit an epic novel? Tools like FocusWriter and Write Monkey are great for getting thoughts on the page without friction.

It’s also worth considering if you need a writing app with a distraction-free design, so you can concentrate on what really matters to you. Again, FocusWriter performs admirably here, but as a result, you lose core typography and editing functions. Unlike LibreOffice, this isn’t the best Microsoft Office alternative if you need those tools. In that scenario, it may be worth considering looking at some of the best free office software , which includes MS Word-style apps, alongside other tools similar to Excel, PowerPoint, and so on. 

Access is an important factor when using your writing software. A tool like Scribus needs to be downloaded to your machine. Lightweight apps like FocusWriter, however, offer a portable download that can be downloaded to a USB and carried with you. 

Check what file formats your chosen writing app supports, too. While some let you create and edit the common DOC and DOCX files, others only allow TXT or RTF documents.

But most of all, it’s important to choose the best free writing app for your unique creative flow. 

Testing the best free writing apps and software, we assess how easy it is to get your words down on the page with the least amount of friction. Portable writing apps rank high, because they let you use the program on whatever computer or laptop you’re using. 

We also look at performance for its intended audience. For distraction-free writing apps, do they really foster focus? For word processor-style software, does it offer good formatting and editing options? 

Most importantly, we expect to see free writing apps that are genuinely cost-free - no-one wants to stumble across hidden fees and charges in the contracts. 

We've listed the best laptops for writers .

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Steve is TechRadar Pro’s B2B Editor for Creative & Hardware. He explores the apps and devices for individuals and organizations that thrive on design and innovation. A former journalist at Web User magazine, he's covered software and hardware news, reviews, features, and guides. He's previously worked on content for Microsoft, Sony, and countless SaaS & product design firms. Once upon a time, he wrote commercials and movie trailers. Relentless champion of the Oxford comma.

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Book Writing Software (2024): Top 10 for Writers

by Joe Bunting | 20 comments

Writing a book is hard. I've written fifteen books and at some point during each one I had the thought, “There has to be a tool, a piece of book writing software, that would make it easier to reach my writing goals.”

The good news is there  is  book writing software that can make the writing process and meeting your daily goals easier!

(The better news is that once you've found the right software, we have the best resources to help you finish your book, like this book idea worksheet , which will get you started on your book in just a few minutes. Get your free copy here. )

In this article, we will cover the ten best pieces of software for writing a book and look at the pros and cons of each. Click the links below to get our review on the best writing software.

Best Writing Software: Contents

• Google Docs
• Google Sheets OR Microsoft Excel
• ProWritingAid
• Publisher Rocket
• Microsoft Word
• Bonus: Note Taking Apps
• Bonus: Google Drive OR Dropbox

Worst Pieces of Software for Writing a Book

Before we discuss writing software that will help you write a beautiful book, it's important to understand (and eliminate) what will hurt your writing progress. At least while you're writing a book:

• Video Games.  Especially World of Warcraft (always, always, always!) but also Solitaire, Sudoku, Angry Birds, Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, and Wild Rift/League of Legends.

• Facebook, TikTok, and Other Social Media Software.  Do I really need to say more? Fortunately there's a piece of book writing software for avoiding this very distracting software (see Freedom below). You can't write a book if you spend you writing time publishing social media posts.
• Other Productive Software Not Directly Associated With Your Writing.  Yes, it's good to reconcile your bank account on Quickbooks or make sure you're up to date on your calendar app, but responsible, well-meaning work can easily be an excuse for a quick distraction that turns into a major distraction from writing your book.

Set aside time for your writing every day and then stay focused. If you need a game, make writing your daily word count your game. If you want more “likes” on social media, imagine how great getting five-star reviews on your book will be.

If you need to check your bank balance several times a day, think about what your bank balance will be when you stop checking it constantly, finish your book, and become a successful author. Now let's talk about some book software for authors that can help you with your book writing process.

The 10 Best Pieces of Book Writing Software

First, there is no such thing as the perfect book writing software. No amount of key features or book writing templates or editing features will write a book for you. Still, these ten book writing software options can help. Take a look at the pros and cons of each:

1. Scrivener (Word Processor)

Scrivener  is the premier book writing app made by writers  for  writers. Scrivener's “binder” view allows you to break up your book into chapters and sections and easily reorganize it with drag and drop interface.

You can also get a high-level view of your book using the corkboard and outliner modes, allowing you to view book chapters, sections, or individual scenes as index cards. Project targets let you create word count goals and then track your progress daily. Its composition mode can help you stay focused by removing all the clutter.

Scrivener has formatting features for publishing (e.g. on Amazon or Barnes & Noble), as well as basic features for distraction-free writing, and has templates for novels, nonfiction books, screenplays, and more.

You can read our  full Scrivener review here .

To be fair, Scrivener also has its weaknesses. Formatting is more complicated than it needs to be and collaborating isn't easy, meaning it loses its effectiveness as soon as you bring on an editor (we recommend Google Docs for collaborating).

You can sync with your iPhone/iPad, but only through Dropbox, making it not as easy as it should be. It also has something of a learning curve, especially for its advanced features. But it more than makes up for that by being so helpful in the early stages of the writing process. Again, here are the pros and cons for Scrivener.

Pros of Scrivener:

• Easily manage a large book writing project (or screenplay) in the binder view
• Get a high-level view of your book's structure using corkboard and outliner views
• Manage your writing productivity with project targets and deadlines
• iPhone and iPad app

Cons of Scrivener: 

• Formatting can be overly complicated
• Learning curve
• ​Syncing with Dropbox isn't always easy
• No Android app

We believe in Scrivener so much, we published a book about how creative writers can write more faster using it. It’s called  Scrivener Superpowers .  If you’re using Scrivener or want a tutorial to save yourself time as you learn how to use it for your creative writing, you can  get Scrivener Superpowers here . You can also learn more about how to use the software with one of these resources:

• Scrivener Superpowers  by M.G. Herron
• 3 Reasons I Love Scrivener
• Microsoft Word vs. Scrivener

Cost: $59.99 for Windows, Mac

Scrivener  is the premier book writing app made by writers  for  writers. It's powerful set of tools allow you to write, organize, edit, and publish books.

• Easily manage writing projects
• Made by writers for writers
• Corkboard and outliner views
• Project targets and deadlines
• iPhone and iPad app
• Complicated formatting
• Steep learning curve
• ​Syncing isn't always easy

2. Dabble (Word Processor)

Similar to Scrivener, Dabble is a word processor that gives you the power to organize and rearrange scenes and chapters using drag and drop, manage your word count goals to keep to a deadline, and plot like a pro. (Screenshots seen here are in the optional dark mode.)

Dabble has a plot grid that allows you to easily see a macro view of your story. You can rearrange as needed, find plot holes easily, and make notes on each plot point as detailed as you like. 

Collaboration is easy. You simply add a co-author and they will be sent an invitation. They must also have a subscription or they will only be able to read the document. 

You can insert images in any scene or note, or add title images to chapters or full page images within or between chapters. You can even set cover art for the manuscript. 

Focus mode in Dabble is automatic. Simply start typing and everything else fades away. No need to worry about saving every few minutes either.

Dabble is cloud-based and automatically saves as you go. You can access your manuscripts everywhere: in your browser, on your phone, or in the desktop app. As you're writing, you can make notes and comments.

Don’t want to type? You can dictate. And when you’re done writing, there’s a Read to Me feature that reads your manuscript to you!

Cost : Subscription plans range from $10/month to $20/month; Lifetime access cost is $499; 14-day free trial 

Dabble is a word processor designed specifically for books. It gives you the power to organize and rearrange scenes and chapters using drag and drop, manage your word count goals to keep to a deadline, and plot like a pro. 

• Easy Learning Curve
• Streamlined collaboration
• Cloud-based syncing
• Built-in Dictation
• Easy Exporting
• Word count targets and deadlines
• Plotting tool
• Subscription service
• Lifetime access cost is high
• Only simple formatting options

3. Google Docs (Word Processing)

While Scrivener and Dabble are a great book  writing  software, once you get to editing and getting feedback, it begins to fall short. That's why Google Docs has become my go-to piece of book writing software for collaborating with editors, beta readers, and other writers.

It's free, easy to use, and requires no backups since everything is in the cloud.

Best of all are its collaboration abilities, which allow you to invite your editor to the document and then watch as they make changes, which are tracked in suggestion mode, and leave comments on your story (see screenshot below).

I also like the outline feature in the left sidebar. You can display it by clicking View > Show Outline. Then format the chapters and main sections of your manuscript as headings to make them appear in the document. You can then easily visualize and even click through your book to navigate it. This feature isn't as useful as Scrivener and Dabble's binder, but it makes navigating your book much easier.

While not the best for brainstorming, writing, or organizing your book, Google Docs, the free word processor available in Google Drive, is the single best word processor for collaborating with co-writers, beta readers, or editors.

• Real-time collaboration with editors, beta readers, or other writers
• Suggestion mode
• Outline View
• Few large-document organization features
• No productivity features
• Usually requires an internet connection

4. Google Sheets OR Microsoft Excel (Spreadsheet)

If you’d told me when I was first trying to become a writer that one of my most-used tools in my book writing software toolkit would be a spreadsheet, I would have told you I didn't major in English to have to use a spreadsheet.

But now, as I'm finishing my fifteenth book, I realize that I use spreadsheets almost daily. Spreadsheets allow you to get a sense of the elements of your book at a glance, and when you're working on a 300-page document, distilling it down to useable information becomes very necessary.

You might use spreadsheets for:

• Character tracking
• Breakdown of scenes
• A Foolscap/Beat sheet

Google Sheets is perfect for this because it's free and you can quickly share your documents with your writing partners, editors, or beta readers to get feedback.

Microsoft Excel is another great option, but Excel lacks the real-time editing with other users and is overall lacking in the collaboration functions. Still, if you already have Excel, it's a great way to quickly get started plotting your book or managing your project.

• Real-time Collaboration : Work with editors, beta readers, or co-authors in real-time.
• Speed : It's fast and responsive, which is useful for quickly developing an outline or managing a project.
• Cost-effective : It's so cost-effective it's free!
• Handling External Spreadsheets : Managing spreadsheets from other sources like Excel can be annoying.
• Internet Dependency : Although there's an offline mode, the overall experience is better with an internet connection.

• Familiar : If you already own or have used Microsoft Office, it should be familiar to you.
• Advanced Feature : Excel is slightly more powerful than Google Sheets (although for most writing related tasks, you will likely not need advanced features).
• Offline Access : Unlike Google Sheets, Excel doesn't require an internet connection, which is handy for working on-the-go.
• Cost : Unlike Google Sheets which is free, Excel comes with a cost as part of the Microsoft 365 Office Suite.
• Collaboration : Although Excel has collaborative features, they're more streamlined in Google Sheets.

5. Vellum (Book Formatting/Word Processing)

If you want to turn your book into an eBook, it's not that hard. Scrivener, Word, Pages, they all can format eBooks and print books. But that doesn't mean they'll look good. In fact, it takes a lot of skill and effort to format a printed book that looks good on any of those word processors.

That's why I love Vellum so much.

Vellum makes beautiful books.

Vellum picks up where Scrivener, Word, and Pages leave off, giving you a tool to make great looking eBooks and print books, usually in under an hour. The most important part of this is the previewer (see the image below), which lets you see how each formatting change or book edit you make will appear on Kindle, Fire, iPhone, Nook, and other eReaders.

It also has stripped-down, option-based formatting, which is perfect for designing both eBooks and print books. I really love this writing app!

Vellum is a book formatting tool to quickly and easily create beautiful eBooks and print books, often within an hour. It features a book previewer which allows you to see how your book will look on various eReaders and in print, and offers a simplified, option-based formatting to format beautiful books faster.

• Ease of Use: Easy to navigate and use, even for inexperienced writers.
• Quick Formatting: The simplified, option-based formatting lets you create books in as little as an hour.
• High-Quality Aesthetics: Delivers visually beautiful books.
• Book Previewer Tool: View how your book will appear on various eReaders as you work.
• Platform Limitation: Restricted to Mac users.
• Style Restrictions: Limited design and styling options can be a drawback for some.
• Cost: Higher price point compared to some other formatting software.

6. ProWritingAid (Grammar/Spell Check)

Can a grammar checker replace an editor?

Definitely not. But if you ask Alice Sudlow, our in-house editor, she'll tell you, “If you don’t have access to an editor (or if you do, but you don’t want to hire them to edit your emails or Facebook posts), software that performs grammar checks like  ProWritingAid  is an accessible, affordable alternative.”

If you struggle with grammar mistakes, sentence structure, spelling, or even writing style, ProWritingAid can help. It goes far beyond your built-in spellcheck. You should still learn grammar skills, but ProWritingAid can help you start to see the patterns and grow as a writer.

There's a free version that's very good. It can even be installed into your browser or Word processor, so you can check your grammar wherever you write.

The paid version, just $96 a year with our discount link (33 percent less than Grammarly ‘s price), gives you additional support on sentence structure, style, and vocabulary. Learn more about how writers can get the most out of ProWritingAid here .

• Grammar and Style Correction: Gives "as-you-type" grammar corrections as well as comprehensive style analysis to help you write clearer, more engaging prose.
• Writing Insights: You can learn a lot about your writing style with their detailed reports on readability, sentence structure, and more.
• Integration: You can integrate it with nearly any other writing tool or word processor..
• Subscription Cost: While more affordable than other options, there is a subscription cost for for full access.
• Overwhelming Feedback: Not all the feedback is useful, and without knowledge of the book writing process, you may get distracted by the amount of feedback.
• Internet Requirement: You must have an internet connection for most types of feedback.

• Easy to Use: User-friendly design (slightly more easy to use than ProWritingAid in my opinion).
• Spell-Check and Grammar Check: Detailed spelling and grammar check functionality.
• Goal-Setting Feature: It can help you tailor suggestions based on writing goals.
• Broad Integration: Works with many platforms (the Google Docs integration isn't very good though).
• Cost: While the free plan is robust, the premium plan is more expensive compared to ProWritingAid.
• Google Docs Integration: Lacks a fully functional integration.
• Big Picture Feedback: Does not provide as much overarching edits and style-based feedback as ProWritingAid.

7. Publisher Rocket (Book Marketing App)

How do you know if your book will sell? Wouldn't it be nice to know if there is a market for your book  before  you start writing? How do you find the most readers on Amazon for your published book? For all of these questions, Publisher Rocket has an answer.

Read our  full Publisher Rocket review here .

Publisher Rocket a book marketing research tool that helps you understand what readers actually want  and  how to connect with them with your books. Here are some things you can discover in Publisher Rocket:

• What phrases Amazon buyers are actually searching for.
• The psychology of how readers choose to buy books.
• How much money readers are spending on certain niches and topics.
• How much money specific books are making per month (for example, books that might be competing with yours).

I've personally used Publisher Rocket to take mid-list books to #1 bestseller status on Amazon. It's an amazing tool, perfect for anyone working on a book.

We also like KD Spy, another Amazon research tool (check out our review here ). You can compare and contrast the two tools below:

• Target Popular Keywords: Helps writers find specific phrases readers are using on Amazon to discover books.
• Market Understanding: Offers a clear view of what books are competing with yours (and how many sales they make, historically).
• Category Identification: Find the most relevant Amazon categories for your book.
• Cross-Platform Compatibility: Works on both PCs and Macs.
• Learning Curve: May require some time and education to fully utilize all features.
• Cost: One-time purchase required.
• Amazon-Centric: Tailored for Amazon, may not be as effective for other platforms.

• Amazon Category Research : Analyze Amazon book categories to understand competition and profitability.
• Keyword Tools : Provides niche and seed keywords to help in market understanding.
• Competition Snapshot : Ability to get an overview of your competitors.
• Traffic Light System : Visual cues to understand keyword difficulty and category competitiveness.
• Limited Keyword Data : Doesn't provide Amazon search numbers.
• Browser Extension : Limited to browser usage, not a standalone software.
• Basic Keyword Tools: Keyword functionalities are quite basic compared to Publisher Rocket.
• Dependent on Amazon : Insights are tailored for Amazon, may not apply to other platforms.

8. Atticus (Book Formatting/Word Processing)

Once you've  written  your book, how do you turn it into something people can actually  read ? If you're self-publishing, you need a tool like Atticus.

Atticus is a book formatting and word processing tool that allows you to take your manuscript and quickly and easily format it for publishing, including print and eBook formats.

But Atticus is more that just a formatter. It's an all-in-one solution for writers, giving you the organization features of Scrivener, the cloud collaboration features of Google Docs,  and  the book formatting abilities of Vellum. Yes, that's just as cool as it sounds!

It also works on all platforms, whether you're working on Windows, Mac, Chromebook, or even Linux. While I still love and use Vellum (see below), the benefit of Atticus is that it works for everyone, not just Mac users. Learn more about Atticus in my full review.

• All-in-One Solution : Combines writing and formatting capabilities seamlessly.
• Multi-Platform Availability : Available on PC, Mac, Linux, and Chromebook.
• Cost-Effective : Priced lower than some competitors like Vellum while offering similar capabilities

Cons: 

• Learning Curve : While intuitive, mastering advanced features may require some time.
• New Software : Being relatively new, it might have fewer features compared to established software, with some desired features planned for future updates.
• Crude Formatting : Out of the box formatting options aren't as refined as Vellum and will require more tweaking.

Atticus is a complete book writing and formatting tool that merges the capabilities of an online word processor with plug-and-play book formatting features. It can function as a one-stop solution for authors, with collaboration tools between authors, editors, and book designers, to take your book from idea to finished, publishable product.

9. Freedom (Productivity App)

One question writers always ask me is, “How can I stay focused enough to finish what I write?” I have too many thoughts on that for this article, but as far as using writing software to encourage focus goes, I recommend Freedom. It's my favorite writing tool for a distraction-free writing experience.

Freedom allows you to enter focus mode, blocking your biggest distractions, including both websites and mobile apps, for a set period of time. So when you mindlessly escape your book to scroll through Facebook, you'll find the site won't load.

You can also schedule recurring sessions, so that at a scheduled time (e.g. Mondays from 6 am to 10 am), you won’t be able to access the sites on your blocklist, even if you try.

There are other apps like this that we've written about before, notably Self-Control for Mac and StayFocused for Windows. But Freedom goes further, allowing you to block sites on both your computer  and  your phone, and enabling recurring sessions.

You can learn more about  how writers can get the most out of Freedom on our review here .

Freedom is a productivity app that can help writers in stay focused by blocking distracting websites and mobile apps for a designated period or during specific schedules, like during your morning writing time.

• Distraction Blocking : Helps you concentrate on writing by blocking distractions.
• Scheduled Focus Sessions : Schedule your focus mode in advance for recurring undistracted writing sessions.
• Mobile Device Syncing : Getting it working with mobile devices can be a bit challenging.
• Bypass Possibility : It's possible to find ways around its blockers if one tries hard enough.

Cost: $29 / year for Pro version, which I use and recommend (there's also a free trial available)

10. Microsoft Word (Word Processor)

Again: no piece of book writing software is going to write your book for you. If you're looking for the next “shiny new toy” to help you write your book, it might be an excuse to avoid doing the hard work of writing.

Most of us learned how to use computers by using Microsoft Word, or a program like it. Word gets the job done. Sure, Scrivener is a little better for books, but I wrote my first book on Word and it's fine.

I wrote a long review of  the pros and cons of using Word to write books —the main problem is that as your document grows, it becomes more and more difficult to work with, whereas with Scrivener, it becomes easier—but the point is, if Word is what you have, don't let that stop you from finishing your book.

You don't need a fancy tool to plan a book in the early stages, like if you draft a character description for your protagonist, or in the editing stages, like if you want to make comments on scene details.

As Jeff Elkins said in  his review of Word , “If you aren’t already putting in the hard work to be the kind of writer you want to be, it doesn’t matter what new writing software you invest in. It is not going to help.”

Microsoft Word is the industry standard word processing software. While limited in its features for writing books, it provides a familiar platform for writers to create, share, and review their work.

• Familiar Interface : Known and used by many, making collaboration easier.
• Extensive Features : Provides a wide range of writing and formatting tools.
• Cost : Requires a subscription to Microsoft 365.
• Lack of Book Writing Features : Despite its extensive feature set, it lacks specialized tools for book writing included with applications like Scrivener or Dabble.
• Lack of Real-Time Collaboration : While it offers some collaboration features, it falls short in real-time collaborative editing compared to some cloud-native applications like Google Docs.

Cost: $69 / year with Microsoft 365 (includes Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, and other Microsoft software)

Note:  Another word processor we can't recommend is yWriter, which while it has a cult following and was designed by a fellow novelist, seems to be out of development and has no support for Mac/OSX.

BONUS #1: Google Drive OR Dropbox (Cloud Backup)

There's nothing worse that finishing a great writing session and going to save your work, then your computer crashes and you discover you've lost your best writing. It's enough to send any writer into the throes of grief and depression. There's a simple solution, though: save a copy of ALL your writing to the cloud using Google Drive, Dropbox, or BOTH.

Here's my process:  I have all my Scrivener book files saved on a folder on Google Drive on my computer. Then, Scrivener automatically backs up every few minutes to a Dropbox folder. That way, I know I will always have the document I need, no matter what happens. Best of all, both of these apps have free plans, making it extremely foolish NOT to use them.

Pros of Drive:

• Universal cloud backup
• Automatically syncs
• Free or inexpensive

Cons of Drive:

• Setup is a bit tricky the first time
• Maybe you WANT to lose your writing when your computer crashes

Cost: Free with Paid options

Sign up for Google Drive here »

Sign up for Dropbox here »

BONUS #2: iOS Notes OR Evernote OR Ulysses OR Bear (Note Taking)

When I'm writing for a long time, I like to get up and go for a walk. Sometimes, I wish I could continue writing while I walk. Other times, I find myself brainstorming ideas while I'm not at my computer, typing it up on my phone, and then wanting to easily move what I wrote to my laptop without having to go through the hassle of emailing it back and forth to myself.

That's where note taking apps like Ulysses and Evernote come in.

iOS Notes, Ulysses ,  Evernote , and  Bear  are note taking apps that allow you to sync between all your devices, so you have what you need wherever you are, ideal for jotting down ideas or thinking through your book while you're out and about.

While Scrivener recently released an iOS app which allows you to sync between devices, their process is clunky and requires you to purchase both the mobile and desktop apps. These note taking apps make the process much more seamless.

Like Scrivener, they all have a binder-like sidebar that allows you to move documents around. None of them are designed specifically for books, so they may take a little configuring to make it work for you, but once you have one set up the way you want, it's very intuitive.

And while I hate Markdown, a markup language that allows you to format your text, I actually like the paired-down formatting options Ulysses and Bear give, especially for brainstorming. Overall, I wouldn't convert from Scrivener to any of these apps, but as supplements, they work great.

Pros of Evernote:

• Sync notes between devices
• Write as you go
• Capture ideas

Cons of Evernote:

• Free plan is limited
• Becomes clunky as you get more notes
• Better for note taking than managing a large writing project

iOS Notes  Cost: Free with any iOS device

Get the app here »

Evernote  Cost: Free with Paid options

Ulysses Cost: $45 Note: Ulysses is only available for Mac, either in the App Store or from their website.

Bear Cost: $1.49 monthly / $14.99 yearly Note:  Bear is also only available for Mac, either in the App Store or from their website.

Bonus #3: Hemingway App (Style Checker)

Most writers think their sentences are easier to read than they are. You think you're coming across clearly, that your writing makes sense, but then someone reads it and comes away with something totally different. Hemingway App (sometimes called Hemingway Editor) helps with that.

Hemingway App is a free website that checks readability. You can copy and paste your writing into the website's input box. Then it will grade your writing based on your used of   adverbs , passive voice , and sentences as units . Hemingway App is useful, but even the best book writing software can’t replace a good editor.

Pros of Hemingway:

• Fast, easy style advice

Cons of Hemingway:

• Somewhat arbitrary advice
• Hemingway himself would fail

Cost: Free!

Try out Hemingway App here »

The 30+ Tools Every Writer Needs

Writing is no different, and while the right software is important, it's just one of the many tools you need as a writer.

That's why we published a list of all of our favorite tools for everything related to being a writer.

You can  download our tools for writers guide for free here .

The Most Essential Book Writing Software

Imagine it's three thousand years ago.

You're sitting around a campfire with some of your family and friends, tired from the day's work. You begin to tell a story. It's one you've told before, told a hundred times. You can see faces around the fire, the children with their eyes wide, the men and women who have heard the story before but still enjoy it because it brings meaning to their lives.

Storytellers—writers—have existed since the beginning of humanity. They didn’t always have book writing software. They didn't have the printing press or the internet. They didn't always even have the alphabet to write their stories down. Instead, storytellers had their imaginations, their voices, and a rapt audience. Y

ou don’t need book writing software to write a great story. Book writing software can make the process a little faster or easier, but the truth is great stories will always exist, no matter what kind of software we have.

The only three things essential to writing a great book:

• Your imagination
• A desire to tell your story

That’s all you need. Do you want to write your book? If you do, then do it. Write it. Nothing is stopping you except you.  So go get writing.

What pieces of book writing software do you use?  Let us know in the comments .

The world is full of powerful software to help you write your book. In the end, though, all these tools are just that—tools. The stories you imagine and your discipline to put the words on the page are far more important.

So for this practice, set aside all the fancy software. Eliminate all the bells and whistles and open up your computer's native text editor (TextEdit for Mac or Notepad for Windows).

Take fifteen minutes to write without any distractions.

Continue your work in progress, or start a new story based on this prompt: A student discovers one of their teachers is not what they appear to be.

When you're done, share your writing practice in the Pro Practice Workshop . And if you share, be sure to leave feedback for your fellow writers!

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

Work with Joe Bunting?

WSJ Bestselling author, founder of The Write Practice, and book coach with 14+ years experience. Joe Bunting specializes in working with Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, How To, Literary Fiction, Memoir, Mystery, Nonfiction, Science Fiction, and Self Help books. Sound like a good fit for you?

20 Comments

Dragon NaturallySpeaking software. Following a comprehensive beat sheet (created in a screenwriting format), I dictate into MS Word. Grammarly sits to the side. 1000-2000 words a day. Requires a larger screen (mine is a modest 24″) and some computing horsepower. Very effective.

Good one! Personally I use dictation every once in a while, but it’s not my thing. Glad it’s working for you!

I just purchased ProWriting Aid. Its editor, grammar, sentence structure and readability scales. There’s a free app but i wanted the pro. I’m excited about this. I’ve had scrivener on my computer for 2 years and still use word. Learning Scrivener is overwhelming to me.

My practice from my current WIP:

“Please, Captain, may we take his body? Merk did have family.” Harper twisted his cloak in his hands.

“Aye. Do that.” Adam walked to the door, tapping the flat of the sword against his hand as he walked, doing his best to insure the blade touched the plate as little as possible. As he passed the bar, he grabbed the waiting pitcher of ale.

Outside, he found Carter leaning against the tavern wall, staring up at the moon. Without looking over, Carter spoke. “Come to arrest me?”

Adam snorted and passed him the pitcher. “No. Not for killing that filth. You know why his bounty was so high so quickly, right?”

Carter took a sip of the ale. “He carried it with him.”

“Gods, no. He built it entirely here.” Adam leaned against the wall of the building opposite of Carter. He pulled a small pouch and rolled a cigarette. “He killed the governor’s daughter in an argument.”

Carter looked over at his friend. “I thought the Thieves’ Guild didn’t go for killing?” “They don’t. They only took him on as a favor to his previous guild.”

“Let me guess: Assassins.”

Adam pointed at Carter. “Got it first try.”

He offered the cigarette to Carter who declined with a raised hand. Putting it between his lips, he patted his pockets. Carter leaned forward and snapped his fingers, producing a flame for the cigarette. Adam drew in a bit of smoke and nodded at his friend.

“Thanks.” He exhaled a pleasant smelling ring of smoke and glanced at Carter’s empty hand. “You can do magic now?”

“No.” Carter shook his head. “This is due to a minor cantrip on a scroll.”

This was cool and pulled me right into the story. Good work!

My personal favorite is Microsoft Word. It’s easy to use and I’m comfortable with it.

Here’s my practice. I’d appreciate comments/feedback! —

Julia finally slammed into the ground at the bottom of the steps. Swallowing back a sob, she pushed up on her hands and knees and cringed at the shooting pain in her shoulder, which had taken the brunt of the fall.

“Get back here, you little brat,” Sean shouted behind her.

A gasp shuddered into her lungs and she leapt to her feet and broke into a sprint up the sidewalk. She looked over her shoulder. He was still behind her. He shoved people out of his way and kicked over a baby stroller as he charged toward her.

Julia clamped a hand over her mouth as the baby in the stroller wailed. The woman who’d been pushing the stroller righted it and hushed the baby, stroking its head.

Julia kept pumping her legs, but nausea swished in her stomach and a sharp ache started in her chest. How could Sean treat people like that?

She’d probably never know the answer.

Cutting down an alleyway, Julia darted through puddles from the recent rain and chugged quick breaths.

Sean’s yelling voice echoed behind her. “When I get my hands on you I’m going to finish what I started.”

Breathing hard, she yanked herself to a stop by the rung of a ladder and lunged onto it, taking the rungs two at a time. She was shaking. Sean had tried to hurt her once. She wouldn’t let him do it again. Not without fighting back this time.

The ladder quivered and she stopped climbing to stare down between her shoes. Sean ascended, his hands quick on the rungs, his cold blue eyes swallowing her.

A gulp of air rolled down her throat and she pulled herself up faster. She kept her eyes focused high, fixing them on the handles at the top of the ladder. Memories slid their tentacles into her mind. Images of Sean looming over her, holding her down. Her own voice pleading.

Tears welled in Julia’s eyes and she blinked them away. She just had to focus on going up. To the roof. Once she reached it, she could either go into the building through a roof entrance or she could jump to the next building. She’d make it. She had to.

Julia curled her tired, chafed fingers around the vertical handles at the top of the ladder and hauled herself up onto the roof.

Then a hand clamped around her ankle.

I personally use a combination of my notebook, Google docs, Grammarly, Hemmingway editor, and thoughts and critiques from my writing friends. Best thing about paper: it doesn’t have internet.

So true! I find that I can write faster on a computer, but I love the focus you get from writing on paper.

It helps me, sometimes, I think, to feel the words as I write them, which I don’t get when I type. It does make it more of a pain to edit, though it does make it harder to permanently delete whole sections of writing and start over from scratch.

I use Scrivener to write and format my books and recommend it though the learning curve is steep if you want to take full advantage of all its features. But I would recommend the following items.

Pro Writing Aid does so much more than Grammarly. Checks for style, diction, overused words, and things I’d never even heard of before I started using it. there is a free version but the paid version which syncs with Scrivener is a less expensive subscription than Grammarly.

Excel is so limited. I’d recommend Airtable. It is far more flexible and I use it for everything from characters, to accounting, to research, tracking promotions, reviews and more. There are templates for authors. It is intuitive and will do just about anything you want. Support is excellent. Airtable is has a free version (which is all I need), sharable and collaborative.

Then there is Aeon Timeline for plotting and planning. It helps keep your story in order. It is flexible, customizable, and syncs with both Scrivener and Ulysses. It is not expensive and not a subscription, pay once and it is yours.

Rescue time has a free version that helps you track your time spent on various tasks and websites and is useful to prove to the IRS that you are indeed a full time author.

I use all these things daily in my writing. Check them out. They will probably help you too.

I would recommend using FocusWriter to block out any notifications and other programs which are running

Thanks for the great article. I use Google Docs right now and will check into some of the resources you recommended. I am an Astrologer and am writing my first basic Astrology book. I wasn’t clear whether the free handout for novelists would be appropriate for this project, and would appreciate your feedback.

The Hemmingway App no longer free. But $19.99 isn’t much to pay.

Wattpad (which isn’t on the list) is a very good writing site.

Have you had a look at The Novel Factory? Full disclosure, it’s made by me and my tiny team – but it’s starting to really get traction as we get so much positive feedback about how it’s helped people make progress like never before…

Another one you might like to try is http://wavemaker.co.uk It’s new and helps with the planning stages in particular. Disclaimer- I wrote it, but thought you’d like to have a look at least.

For free versions, try One Note. I’ve been using it for years.

I want to write a technical book that would be formatted such that it would be like a textbook and have horizontal bars that would separate topics. I need the ability to repeat essential elements of techniques repeatedly and denote them in various fashions. Any software come to mind for that?

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The Best Writing Apps for at Home and in the Classroom

Writer’s block, you’ve met your match!

Some kids love to pour out their thoughts, feelings, and souls on paper. For others, it’s a challenge from the first time they pick up a pencil. Fortunately, these writing apps for kids can help—from the first shaky crayon-written “A” to polished college entrance essays and creative writing.

Some writing apps help kids form their letters or work to perfect their handwriting. Then there are writing apps for kids and teens who need help organizing their thoughts. Other apps give a little push to get creative juices flowing. No matter what your kids are working on, these are the writing apps students will want in their digital toolbox.

• Best Apps for Practicing Writing Skills
• Best Apps for Writing Inspiration

Writing Skills Apps

These are the writing apps for kids that help them practice handwriting, grammar, punctuation, and composition.

Why We Love It: iTrace gives young learners the practice they need writing letters and numbers. Customization options include letter style and the ability to specify right or left-handed, while fun animations and prizes keep kids motivated.

Cost: $3.99

Available On: Apple App Store: iTrace

LetterSchool

Why We Love It: LetterSchool teaches printing and cursive with beautiful graphics and animations. Kids will be so captivated, they might forget they’re learning.

Cost: School licenses are $4.99 per student per year. For individual use, prices vary and start at $4.99 per month.

Available On: Apple App Store: Letter School , Google Play Store: Letter School

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iWrite Words

Why We Love It: This writing app helps kids practice counting as they learn. Little ones drag a crab across the screen, following the numbered path to write letters. Once the word is complete, they’re rewarded with a cute drawing.

Cost: $2.99

Available On: Apple App Store: iWrite Words

Grammaropolis

Why We Love It: Grammaropolis teaches the parts of speech in a fun and engaging way. Animated shorts and music videos capture kids’ attention, and quizzes help track their progress. Some call this Schoolhouse Rock for the 21st century.

Cost: $5.99

Available On: Apple App Store: Grammaropolis

Grammar Pop

Cost: $1.99. Volume pricing is available for schools.

Available On: Apple App Store: Grammar Pop

Grammar Smash

Why We Love It:  This no-frills app is excellent for older learners, especially ESL students. Review grammar guides and lessons, then play games to practice your skills

Cost: FREE. Unlock more features and remove ads for $2.99.

Available On: Google Play Store: Grammar Smash

Why We Love It: Everything you love about Mad Libs, in an app! Prompts ask you to fill in parts of speech to create a funny new story each time. If you’re stuck, you can ask for a definition or examples. This is a classic way to work on parts of speech and vocabulary.

Cost: The FREE edition comes with 21 stories. Additional story packs are available for $1.99 each.

Available On: Apple App Store: Mad Libs , Google Play Store: Mad Libs

Dictionary.com

Why We Love It: This app is everything you love about Dictionary.com, but it’s also available offline. That’s great for keeping students focused while they’re working; they can look words up without the temptation of checking social media or other distractions. You can switch between dictionary and thesaurus mode, too, making this app a real must-have.

Cost: FREE (with ads), upgrade to no ads for $1.99

Available On: Apple App Store: Dictionary.com , Google Play Store: Dictionary.com

The Grammarly Keyboard

Why We Love It: Grammarly is a beloved program that helps people of any age produce stronger, cleaner writing. The mobile apps work for anything you type on your phone, including social media and messaging. Premium features include analysis of tone and word choice, and a plagiarism detector.

Cost: Basic grammar and spelling checks are free. Premium features start at $29/month.

Available On: Apple App Store: Grammarly , Google Play Store: Grammarly

Essay Launcher

Why We Love It: No flashy colors or animations, just a simple and efficient way to help writers organize their thoughts. The app asks questions like “What is your first reason that supports that statement?”, helping you build an essay from the ground up. This app is ideal for older kids who need organizational help to stay on track when they write.

Available On: Apple App Store: Essay Launcher

Why We Love It: Mind mapping is an excellent method for brainstorming and organizing your thoughts before you begin writing. This app helps you through the process, creating maps that ultimately make your writing clearer and stronger.

Cost: SimpleMind Lite is FREE. SimpleMind Pro offers expanded features for $7.99.

Available On: Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Get links for all versions here.

Writing Inspiration Apps

These writing apps for kids solve the problem of “But I don’t know what to write about!” They provide story starters, writing prompts, and more to break writer’s block wide open.

Story Wheel

Why We Love It: This app sparks creativity in pre-writers and helps build their storytelling skills. Spin the wheel and record your voice telling a story about the picture. Spin the wheel again for more prompts. Several kids can play at once, building a story to playback together.

Cost:  $2.99

Available On: Apple App Store: Story Wheel

Why We Love It: Every roll of the virtual dice yields pictures that tell a whole new story. Choose one or all of the images to use in your writing. Story Dice 3-D (Apple App Store only) adds the ability to move the dice around, and re-roll some or all of them.

Cost: $1.99

Available On: Multiple devices. Get the links you need for Story Dice here.

Writing Challenge for Kids

Why We Love It: This app generates a series of characters, scenarios, and situations to create unique creative writing prompts over and over again. You can choose from several choices to customize each prompt as you go along.

Cost: Varies by device, $1.49-$3.99

Available On: Multiple Devices. Click here for the links you need.

The Brainstormer

Why We Love It: This app is terrific for teens and older writers who need to generate new creative ideas. A selection of tools helps you find inspiration for characters, plots, settings, and more. You can even add in your own words to create custom sets.

Cost: $1.99, with additional features for $.99 each.

Available On: Apple App Store: The Brainstormer

Writing Prompts

Why We Love It: Get new writing prompts from hundreds of scenarios and ideas. Teachers, this is a nice way to come up with a daily bell-ringer or journal prompt. (This same company also offers Character Prompts , a similar app but for character inspiration.)

Cost: $1.99, with additional prompt packs available for $.99

Available On: Apple App Store: Writing Prompts , Google Play Store: Writing Prompts , Amazon App Store

Lists for Writers

Why We Love It: Add variety to your writing and break through writer’s blocks with these lists of, well, pretty much anything! Creating a new character and feeling stuck? Browse lists of names, character traits, physical characteristics, and more. Get the same for settings, plots, and all the other details that even the best writers sometimes draw a blank on.

Available On: Multiple devices. Get all the links you need here.

Toontastic 3D

Why We Love It: Kids build their story-telling skills while creating one-minute movies with this surprisingly robust free app. Encourage students to plan and script out their story in advance to work on writing skills, then enjoy the fun movies they create! (Teacher Tip: Try this app for incredibly creative book reports .)

Available On: Apple App Store: Toontastic , Google Play Store: Toontastic

Why We Love It: Storybird’s tools give kids the opportunity to write comics, short stories, chapter books, and more. Choose from existing illustrations and add your own text to create unique masterpieces. The professional artwork is wide-ranging, and writing challenges help kids expand their skills and push their creativity to new heights.

Cost:  $8.99/month or $59.99/year. Schools can receive bulk discounts up to 50% off.

Available On: Apple App Store: Storybird , Google Play Store: Storybird

How do you use writing apps for kids and teens in your classroom? Come share your ideas and find inspiration in the WeAreTeachers Chat group on Facebook .

Looking for more writing prompts? Get 100 Creative Writing Prompts for Grades 4-8 , and 10 Fresh Writing Prompts for High School .

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Top 24 Writing Tools for Students in 2023 (Unbiased)

Table of contents

As students, we have a lot going on. Back-to-school season means more assignments, research, essays, papers, and reports. Generally, more writing, and writing takes a lot of time. 

But hey - it’s the 21st century. Despite the lack of time, we cannot complain about the lack of tools and apps that help us do everything we need to do - better, faster, and cheaper.

The best AI tool for students in 2023 > The best AI tool for students in 2023 >

The essay writing process

By utilizing the latest writing tools for students, we can greatly improve our processes and grades.

The right tools can help students in various ways:

• They can help you manage your time more efficiently.
• You'll be able to automate tasks such as checking grammar, spelling and punctuation.
• They can improve more advanced aspects of writing essays like language, structure and tone, for better overall readability.

The writing process can be broken down into three main stages: conceptualize, create, and check.

Let's examine each stage, and see how to optimize each one to save us time and get the job done efficiently. 

Stage 1: Conceptualize

First, we must conceptualize what we intend to write about. Are you having trouble getting started on your writing assignment? These tools can help.

Essay Topic Generator

Choosing the right topic and title is crucial to your success. Are you familiar with first impressions? That's what your paper's title and topic do.

Using a free tool like EssayTopicGenerator , which takes in keywords and generates topic ideas in seconds, gave me lots of ideas.

These are just rough ideas or thought starters, as you can see from the screenshot. Take a look at these titles and try to turn them into something. 

I would choose option 23. Aside from being clearly worded, it also gives me a fascinating new angle to study: how capitalism can develop within communist states.

To write a successful paper, you will need a strong position or perspective. For many students, writing a thesis can be a challenge.

By using Wordtune , I was able to turn my thoughts into more carefully considered words and make my final thesis statement as compelling as possible. In addition, I selected the option for it to generate suggestions with a more formal tone, which made them sound more academic.

You could benefit from services such as ThesisStatementWriter if you only have disconnected ideas and need help formulating a basic thesis. 

In academic writing, you need to gather and analyze existing research. This is not only to build your knowledge, but also to ensure your own work adds a unique angle without repeating others. Zotero and ReadCube can be really useful assistants to collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share research easily and quickly; and Pockt and Memonic can help larger teams easily access all the curated and collated research painlessly.

Your arguments will be more persuasive if you use high-quality references. Organizing them smartly is not enough. It's difficult to read, comprehend, connect, write, and build upon several GBs of research documents. How do you do it without missing your deadline?

While speed reading and skimming may help you get through your reference research, they do not guarantee comprehension.  Wordtune Read promises to read and summarize complex research papers, reports, and essays tirelessly.

I pasted a link to a 5,000-word essay into the panel, and within seconds it summarized all the key ideas and concepts. The Spotlight option, on the right side of the screen, highlighted all the keywords that needed my attention. 

Rather than spending weeks reading through mountains of information, I could focus on the real challenge - making a strong argument based on what's already out there. The ability to analyze more papers with Wordtune Read added to my perspective. This made my own research and arguments much stronger than they would have been if I had only read a few.

Stage 2: Create

Putting a mere idea into 2,000 words or more is the heart of the assignment. Smart writing tools can really make a difference here.

All your research and ideas are in place - now it's time to create the frame that will hold your essay. Bubbl.us , MindMeister , Miro, and MindMup are all virtual mind mapping tools that help you brainstorm, get ideas flowing, and build your own outline by connecting logical ideas in the research.

It's not everyone's cup of tea to write, and it's even harder to write well. Your job as a student is to come up with a compelling, evidence-based argument that proves or disproves your thesis. It's time to flesh out the outline. 

Wordtune made my sentences sharper, smarter, and tighter. While I wrote, it was like having my favorite English teacher improving my writing, sentence construction, and rephrasing my thoughts on a one-to-one basis.

Writing for academic purposes is not creative writing. It should be properly organized and argued, usually in the third person, in a formal tone. You should also use the most appropriate vocabulary, especially subject-specific terms and jargon. By using Wordtune, you can improve your tone and style, as well as choose the most appropriate words.

Ludwig is another writing assistant that helps you write better while on the go. With its multiple contextual options, it describes itself as a 'sentence search engine'.

Collaborative assignments are common among students. Google Docs is a helpful tool for writing with a team. Tutors, experts, and even parents can be granted read, comment, or edit access to it, and version control is maintained. 

Similarly, Miro helps larger teams collaborate and brainstorm visually, allowing complex ideas and perspectives to come to life. This is particularly useful for distributed and remote teams, since everyone can work on weekends or even during breaks.

For more complex or advanced assignments, distributed teams may have different roles assigned to them. A student working on a product launch assignment at a business school may assign one member to research, another to design, and another to conduct market research.

Depending on the team, a collaboration tool like Trello can keep the project on track, flagging bottlenecks, delays, and upcoming deadlines as they arise.

Wordtune Read

Once you've written all your words, check the flow. Do all the sections, heads, and subheads follow the right themes? Is it possible to group and consolidate themes that repeat themselves? A friend can give you feedback on whether they understand the gist of your argument by skimming the flow. 

You can check whether all the key points of your argument are covered with a tool like Wordtune Read , which will summarize and highlight key points from your essay (remember we used it to summarize and distill our research material as well?).

If you want to improve the visual side, then tools such as Canva , Book Creator , and Storybird can help you with format and design, visual illustrations, or any specific format and template.

Stage 3: Check

Now that all your thoughts and ideas are on paper, it's time to tidy up. Smart editing tools are more than capable of helping you, and you need an objective third party:

The use of tools like Hemingway editor ensures you won't overlook anything when it comes to editing your content for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. In addition, sentences that are too long, too short, too complex, too passive, too repetitive, or just the wrong tone will be highlighted.

With Wordtune , you can flesh out short sentences and fill in content-thin paragraphs, as well as shorten long or complex sentences without losing meaning. Use Wordtune if you get a low readability score - which measures how easy or difficult it is for someone to comprehend your content - to tweak and rephrase your sentences, and improve sentence variety and paragraph transitions.

Bottom line: smart tools enhance the quality of your content, not just speed up the editing process.

• Copy and plagiarism checks: like millions of others, you can quite comfortably trust tools such as Wordtune and Hemingway to ensure there are no spelling, grammar or punctuation errors in your copy. Use Plagscan to ensure you don't inadvertently copy existing material into your essay.
• Citations and biblio : following any writing convention, such as APA, MLA, and Chicago style, and writing bibliographies and citations of your references, will make the rest of your assignment process a breeze. It's easier than ever to source and cite research with apps like BibMe , Citavi , EndNote, and Citethisforme . 

Write essays with confidence, speed and style!

You can find the right task and tool with this handy chart.

As long as you have these tools at your disposal, you will be able to ace this school year.

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Free tools to make your students better writers and readers .

Quill.org, a non-profit, provides free literacy activities that build reading comprehension, writing, and language skills for elementary, middle, and high school students.

Writing Across the Curriculum: Quill's nonprofit mission is to now build both reading and writing skills through free, OER content across the curriculum. Over the coming years, we will be building a library of free ELA, social studies, and science activities that engage students in deeper thinking through writing prompts that provide immediate feedback.

9 million students have written 2 billion sentences on Quill.

Quill Reading for Evidence

Provide your students with nonfiction texts paired with AI-powered writing prompts, instead of multiple-choice questions, to enable deeper thinking.

Students read a nonfiction text and build their comprehension through writing prompts, supporting a series of claims with evidence sourced from the text. Quill challenges students to write responses that are precise, logical, and based on textual evidence, with Quill coaching the student through custom, targeted feedback on each revision so that students strengthen their reading comprehension and hone their writing skills.

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Culture & Society Topics

"Should Schools Have Grade Requirements for Student Athletes?"

Science Topics

"How Does Eating Meat Impact Global Warming?"

Social Studies Topics

U.S. History

World History

Under Development, Coming 2023

Quill Connect

Help your students advance from fragmented and run-on sentences to complex and well structured ones.

Using the evidence-based strategy of sentence combining, students combine multiple ideas into a single sentence. They then receive instant feedback designed to help them improve their clarity and precision.

Quill Lessons

The Quill Lessons tool enables teachers to lead whole-class and small-group writing instruction.

Teachers control interactive slides that contain writing prompts, and the entire class responds to each prompt. Each Quill Lessons activity provides a lesson plan, writing prompts, discussion topics, and a follow up independent practice activity.

Quill Diagnostic

Quickly determine which skills your students need to work on with our diagnostics.

The diagnostics cover vital sentence construction skills and generate personalized learning plans based on the student’s performance.

Quill Proofreader

Proofreader teaches your students editing skills by having them proofread passages.

Students edit passages and receive personalized exercises based on their results. With over 100 expository passages, Proofreader gives students the practice they need to spot common grammatical errors.

Quill Grammar

Students practice basic grammar skills, from comma placement to parallel structure.

Quill Grammar has over 150 sentence writing activities to help your students. Our activities are designed to be completed in 10 minutes so you have the freedom to use them in the way that works best for your classroom.

How Quill Works

Set up your classroom, without it.

You can quickly and easily set up your classroom in Quill by inputting student names or providing students with a unique code. If you use Google Classroom or Clever, you can automatically set up your classroom with one click.

Choose activities

Decide if you want your students to proofread passages, combine sentences, or complete a diagnostic. Use our ten minute activities as building blocks during your classroom instruction.

Use easy-to-consume reporting

Use our reporting to spot trends and identify growth opportunities. Monitor comprehension on specific writing standards.

Get immediate feedback for your students

Save time grading and watch your students correct their mistakes instantly.

Intervene where students struggle

See exactly where your students need intervention with our comprehensive reports.

Differentiate learning to meet the needs of all students

Assign specific activities for ELLs and students with learning differences.

Engage students with adaptive activities

Challenge students with questions that automatically adapt based on their previous responses.

Align with the Common Core Standards

Easily meet Common Core language standards with our aligned activities.

Easily sign up with Google Classroom

With one click all of your students and classes will be imported.

Over 100 concepts totaling 50 hours of quality curriculum.

Teacher stories

Quill in the classroom.

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DANIEL SCIBIENSKI, PRINCETON PUBLIC SCHOOLS

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Join over 2,000 schools using Quill to advance student writing.

Quill Premium

Quill Premium's advanced reporting features are the best way to support teachers at the school or district level.

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Best Writing Apps in 2024

Showing 128 writing apps that match your search.

Built for teams and individuals to create, collaborate, and organize all your knowledge in one place from anywhere in the world. Create fast dynamic notes, documents, wikis, knowledge bases, and projects while integrating across the apps you work with.

Platforms: Online

Best for: Productivity, Blog, and Free

Website: https://bit.ai/

Base price:

Premium price:

★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

Also rated 5.0 ★ on Capterra

Writer Assistant (Wassi) is an application created specifically for inventors! We all constantly invent new characters for our stories, be it a comic, a novel, a script, a play, or a game. And so that our characters are alive and riveted the attention, they need to be developed a lot! That is what the Writer Assistant was created for! Plus, with Wassi you can easily outline your stories on the go.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Outlining, Book, Story, and Free

Website: https://apps.apple.com/app/writer-assistant-wassi/id14686...

★★★ Performance

★★ Accessibility

Also rated 3.9 ★ on the App Store

Made by writers, for writers, Novlr is the writing platform that will have you achieving your writing goals.

Best for: Drafting, Book, Story, and Free

Website: https://www.novlr.org/

Also rated 3.0 ★ on Reedsy

Learn more about Reedsy Studio .

LanguageTool

LanguageTool’s multilingual grammar, style, and spell checker is used by millions of people around the world.

Platforms: Online, Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, PC

Best for: Editing, Proofreading, Essay, Blog, and Free

Website: https://languagetool.org/

★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

Also rated 4.8 ★ on the App Store

Textilus Pro

Textilus Pro is a great word processor app for students and business people, also being excellent for writing reports, papers, blog posts, journals or ebooks! Textilus Pro can help you organize your research, generate ideas, and remove distractions so you can focus on the most important thing: writing.

Best for: Note-taking, Drafting, Blog, Essay, and Free

Website: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/textilus-pro-word-processor...

Also rated 4.5 ★ on the App Store

Writer Tools

With our writing tools you can track your progress thus far, plan your novel, write your novel and be able to focus on what matters for you the most: FINISHING THE DAMN BOOK!

Platforms: Android

Best for: Outlining, Worldbuilding, Book, Story, and Free

Website: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.ajp_gam...

Also rated 4.0 ★ on Google Play

So, You’re looking to write a book. Well, wavemaker is here to help. It’s much much more than a text editor.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Chrome, Android, Online, PC

Best for: Outlining, Drafting, Book, Story, and Free

Website: https://wavemaker.cards/

★★★★ Accessibility

Also rated 3.7 ★ on Google Play

Guided Essay Writer

Step-by-step guided essay-writing directions written by a college English professor and includes explanations and examples to help you write a college-level essay including the following: introduction paragraph, supporting paragraphs, and conclusion paragraph.

Best for: Outlining, Drafting, and Essay

Website: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/guided-essay-writer/id11731...

Also rated 5.0 ★ on the App Store

All great writing begins with inspiration. The writing process, however, begins with an unyielding blank page. You could keep battling it. Or you could organize your research snippets on it. So you fill the page with your ideas, data and inspiration. And write a world-class piece that's supported by cited research.

Website: https://www.airstory.co/

MonsterWriter

The most enjoyable desktop app for writing a thesis or paper.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, PC

Best for: Drafting and Essay

Website: https://www.monsterwriter.app/

Also rated 3.8 ★ on the App Store

NaturalReader

The #1 text to speech solution for personal, commercial, and educational use.

Platforms: Online, iPhone, iPad, Android

Best for: Editing, Story, Book, Blog, Journal, and Free

Website: https://www.naturalreaders.com/

Also rated 4.5 ★ on TechRadar

Publisher Rocket

Publisher Rocket will help you get your book in front of more Amazon shoppers so you can spend less time marketing and more time writing.

Best for: Publishing, Book, and Story

Website: https://publisherrocket.com/

★★★★★ Features

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6 iPad Apps for Creative Writing

Creative writing can be a daunting task for students who struggle to think of story ideas or who don't love the writing process. For kids who have trouble putting pen to paper, there are a handful of fantastic iPad apps that just might inspire them to tell a story. Your students will be able to gather ideas, brainstorm and publish writing straight from their tablet.

For students at all levels, creative writing is an important part of English language arts curriculum. Not only do the Common Core State Standards specifically outline the expectation that students should be able to express themselves through the written word, but this is also an essential real-world skill. Students should have the ability to write narratives that tell a story from their own life or a story that they've imagined. The following apps will inspire young writers and give them a vehicle for sharing their work.

Writing Prompts for Kids ($1.99)

If your students are having trouble thinking up an idea for a story, you'll definitely want to check out Writing Prompts for Kids. There are four buttons on the screen that kids can press to set the stage for a new story. With a tap on the screen, they can combine a random situation, character, setting and object to inspire their creative writing.

Adobe Slate (Free)

This publishing tool is perfect for creative writers. Students can add text and images to a variety of templates to customize the look of their final piece. It provides options for different looks that are great for connecting to the theme of a piece of writing. The final product is high quality and professional, yet accessible to students young and old.

Book Creator ($4.99)

This popular app is used in schools across the country and is a great tool for creating a published piece of writing. Students can add photos, videos, text, and illustrations to each page of the book they create. There is an option for adding a voice recording to individual pages so that students can use narration to set the tone of their scary or whimsical story.

Write About This ($3.99)

Write About This will help students find story ideas and give them a space to record their thinking. Great for elementary school students and English language learners, this app generates images and writing prompts that should inspire students to write a story. They can choose from a range of ideas that fall into different categories. Kids are also given the space to free write within this app.

Book Writer ($4.99)

An easy-to-use app, Book Writer will let students of all ages create high-quality eBooks that show off their creative writing. If your students are familiar with Keynote and Pages, they'll have no trouble navigating the layout of Book Writer. In addition to letting them work with pictures and text, this app also lets kids add audio, video, and songs to each page. Your students' eBooks can be read as PDFs or in iBooks.

Haiku Poem (Free)

This iPad app from the International Reading Association will support students looking to express their creativity through writing poetry. It helps kids follow the structure of a haiku poem and brainstorm ideas for their writing. It's just one of the creative writing poetry apps that this organization created. You can see the rest on ReadWriteThink.org’s website .

Writing Challenge ($1.99)

Writing Challenge lets teachers turn creative writing into a game for students. Whether this app is used as for whole-class, small-group, or individual activity, you'll immediately see the potential of this powerful writing tool. Children will be given a writing prompt and a countdown clock. The goal of this challenge is to have students incorporate the prompt into their story before the time is up. As soon as the timer finishes, they'll be given something new to add to their story.

Foldify ($3.99)

A fun idea for inspiring student writers can involve the super cool iPad app Foldify. With this tool, you can create a cube with images on each side. After printing out your three dimensional creation and assembling the cube, have children roll it across their desk and write a story inspired by the image that it lands on. If you like this app you’ll also want to try out Folidfy Zoo .

Have you used iPads to promote creative writing in your classroom? Share your favorite activities and apps!

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Top 12 apps and tools for teaching creative writing.

BY NANCY CHRISTINOVICH

Want to improve your storytelling craft? Where there’s a will there’s a way!  The educational software provides you with a large number of insights.

Creative writing requires both ideation and estimation skills. Need a brainstorm? The smart use of kickstarter apps will give rise to your inspiration flow and assist in organizing ideas.

The other tools are developed to improve the quality of writing. They help to develop your penmanship, wind up grammar, level up text readability and uniqueness.

Let’s consider top 12 writer’s’ helper-outers!

• Let the inspiration flow! 99 Words approach is based on the collaboration between e-learners. Each of them should create a chapter which has no less than 99 words. The story is passed from one author to another until it’s finished. An app sparks creativity, encourages users to improvise and work in a team. Write on!

Note Everything

• If you are mulling over a notion even when not actually writing, use this free app. Note Everything helps you to organize sketches, voice notes and even drawings. There’s no limit to your imagination! All you have to do is catch an idea – and note it down.

RedNotebook

• This tool provides you with open-source journaling option for Windows and Linux. You will be pleasantly surprised with RedNotebook usability. It lets you quickly search through old entries and find specific dates. You can export entries in PDF, Latex HTML or plain text format. Add images, links and templates – as you wish. Be imaginative and enjoy writing for yourself!
• The concept of the online editor is based on the American preeminent author’s approach. Hemingway is irreplaceable when you get down to the heart of writing process. The tool helps to edit text making it skimmable. The editor marks the passive voice and adverbs green and blue. When a word or phrase has a simpler alternative, it’s shown purple. Hemingway helps you to improve text readability. Make every single phrase clear!
• Free or Premium from $11.66 / month
• The free online tool is writer’s magic wand. After registration, you can download a document or copy paste text and check it for grammatical errors. Mistakes related to articles, spelling, punctuation and the sequence of tenses are indicated as critical issues. The service also offers advanced options of correcting stylistic errors or inappropriate words order. Grammarly can be installed as web extension at your browser to make emails and social media posts orthographic. Create airtight stories only!

Readability Score

• Free or Premium from $ 3 / month
• Text scoring tool helps creative writers to optimize their phrases and make the text easy to read. The grade level depends on the length of the sentences, words’ length, the number of adverbs, passive voice and cliche count. The concerned criteria of text quality are indicated with different colors so that a writer could alter phrases and make amendments. Readability-score suggests free checking three pages of unlimited length for each day. Develop your penmanship and have the guts to cut!
• Free or Premium for $4,91
• This free website assists you in organizing the thought-starter. Are you beginning a novel or narrative essay, us helps you to create the map of your ideas. Customize the bubble color, text size and formatting including hyperlinks. Even the registration is not required unless you want to save data. Brainstorm quickly with the online easy-to-navigate platform!

The Brainstormer

An app is responsible for the writers’ moment of inspiration. The wheel randomly combines plot, subject and style so that authors can make their conscious choices. Brainstormer has the thought-out and user-friendly interface which makes the process fun. Say goodbye to the writers’ block!

Story Skeleton

The tool for iPhone and iPad helps to structure the storytelling process. The electronic index cards jot down the ideas to construct the narration of plot elements and abstracts from the text. Story Skeleton is effective for creating outlines and structuring the narration. Download a text file or use index cards within the app — as you wish. Remember, even a ridiculous idea can be of use!

Writing Prompts

Here’s another effective source of lead for e-learners. Words, images, sketches, colors and current events combine billions of prompts to develop your imagination. You can store your favorite prompts as you wish. The tool is multitasking-friendly. When switching to another app, Writing Prompts works away right where you left off. Writing process is fun!

Clean Writer

A text editor hides away extra options and favors inspiration. The unique concept of Clean Writer is focusing on the plot instead of extra formatting and design options. An App is implemented on MacWorld, PCWorld and TheNextWeb.com. It handles only plain text files.

Clean Writer is perfect on the brainstorming stage and working on drafts. Focus on the score!

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How to Teach Creative Writing | 7 Steps to Get Students Wordsmithing

“I don’t have any ideas!”

“I can’t think of anything!”

While we see creative writing as a world of limitless imagination, our students often see an overwhelming desert of “no idea.”

But when you teach creative writing effectively, you’ll notice that  every  student is brimming over with ideas that just have to get out.

So what does teaching creative writing effectively look like?

We’ve outlined a  seven-step method  that will  scaffold your students through each phase of the creative process  from idea generation through to final edits.

7. Create inspiring and original prompts

Use the following formats to generate prompts that get students inspired:

• personal memories (“Write about a person who taught you an important lesson”)
• imaginative scenarios
• prompts based on a familiar mentor text (e.g. “Write an alternative ending to your favorite book”). These are especially useful for giving struggling students an easy starting point.
• lead-in sentences (“I looked in the mirror and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Somehow overnight I…”).
• fascinating or thought-provoking images with a directive (“Who do you think lives in this mountain cabin? Tell their story”).

Don’t have the time or stuck for ideas? Check out our list of 100 student writing prompts

6. unpack the prompts together.

Explicitly teach your students how to dig deeper into the prompt for engaging and original ideas.

Probing questions are an effective strategy for digging into a prompt. Take this one for example:

“I looked in the mirror and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Somehow overnight I…”

Ask “What questions need answering here?” The first thing students will want to know is:

What happened overnight?

No doubt they’ll be able to come up with plenty of zany answers to that question, but there’s another one they could ask to make things much more interesting:

Who might “I” be?

In this way, you subtly push students to go beyond the obvious and into more original and thoughtful territory. It’s even more useful with a deep prompt:

“Write a story where the main character starts to question something they’ve always believed.”

Here students could ask:

• What sorts of beliefs do people take for granted?
• What might make us question those beliefs?
• What happens when we question something we’ve always thought is true?
• How do we feel when we discover that something isn’t true?

Try splitting students into groups, having each group come up with probing questions for a prompt, and then discussing potential “answers” to these questions as a class.

The most important lesson at this point should be that good ideas take time to generate. So don’t rush this step!

5. Warm-up for writing

A quick warm-up activity will:

• allow students to see what their discussed ideas look like on paper
• help fix the “I don’t know how to start” problem
• warm up writing muscles quite literally (especially important for young learners who are still developing handwriting and fine motor skills).

Freewriting  is a particularly effective warm-up. Give students 5–10 minutes to “dump” all their ideas for a prompt onto the page for without worrying about structure, spelling, or grammar.

After about five minutes you’ll notice them starting to get into the groove, and when you call time, they’ll have a better idea of what captures their interest.

Did you know? The Story Factory in Reading Eggs allows your students to write and publish their own storybooks using an easy step-by-step guide.

4. Start planning

Now it’s time for students to piece all these raw ideas together and generate a plan. This will synthesize disjointed ideas and give them a roadmap for the writing process.

Note:  at this stage your strong writers might be more than ready to get started on a creative piece. If so, let them go for it – use planning for students who are still puzzling things out.

Here are four ideas for planning:

Graphic organisers

A graphic organiser will allow your students to plan out the overall structure of their writing. They’re also particularly useful in “chunking” the writing process, so students don’t see it as one big wall of text.

Storyboards and illustrations

These will engage your artistically-minded students and give greater depth to settings and characters. Just make sure that drawing doesn’t overshadow the writing process.

Voice recordings

If you have students who are hesitant to commit words to paper, tell them to think out loud and record it on their device. Often they’ll be surprised at how well their spoken words translate to the page.

Write a blurb

This takes a bit more explicit teaching, but it gets students to concisely summarize all their main ideas (without giving away spoilers). Look at some blurbs on the back of published books before getting them to write their own. Afterward they could test it out on a friend – based on the blurb, would they borrow it from the library?

3. Produce rough drafts

Warmed up and with a plan at the ready, your students are now ready to start wordsmithing. But before they start on a draft, remind them of what a draft is supposed to be:

• a work in progress.

Remind them that  if they wait for the perfect words to come, they’ll end up with blank pages .

Instead, it’s time to take some writing risks and get messy. Encourage this by:

• demonstrating the writing process to students yourself
• taking the focus off spelling and grammar (during the drafting stage)
• providing meaningful and in-depth feedback (using words, not ticks!).

Reading Eggs also gives you access to an ever-expanding collection of over 3,500 online books!

2. share drafts for peer feedback.

Don’t saddle yourself with 30 drafts for marking. Peer assessment is a better (and less exhausting) way to ensure everyone receives the feedback they need.

Why? Because for something as personal as creative writing, feedback often translates better when it’s in the familiar and friendly language that only a peer can produce. Looking at each other’s work will also give students more ideas about how they can improve their own.

Scaffold peer feedback to ensure it’s constructive. The following methods work well:

Student rubrics

A simple rubric allows students to deliver more in-depth feedback than “It was pretty good.” The criteria will depend on what you are ultimately looking for, but students could assess each other’s:

• use of language.

Whatever you opt for, just make sure the language you use in the rubric is student-friendly.

Two positives and a focus area

Have students identify two things their peer did well, and one area that they could focus on further, then turn this into written feedback. Model the process for creating specific comments so you get something more constructive than “It was pretty good.” It helps to use stems such as:

I really liked this character because…

I found this idea interesting because it made me think…

I was a bit confused by…

I wonder why you… Maybe you could… instead.

1. The editing stage

Now that students have a draft and feedback, here’s where we teachers often tell them to “go over it” or “give it some final touches.”

But our students don’t always know how to edit.

Scaffold the process with questions that encourage students to think critically about their writing, such as:

• Are there any parts that would be confusing if I wasn’t there to explain them?
• Are there any parts that seem irrelevant to the rest?
• Which parts am I most uncertain about?
• Does the whole thing flow together, or are there parts that seem out of place?
• Are there places where I could have used a better word?
• Are there any grammatical or spelling errors I notice?

Key to this process is getting students to  read their creative writing from start to finish .

Important note:  if your students are using a word processor, show them where the spell-check is and how to use it. Sounds obvious, but in the age of autocorrect, many students simply don’t know.

A final word on teaching creative writing

Remember that the best writers write regularly.

Incorporate them into your lessons as often as possible, and soon enough, you’ll have just as much fun  marking  your students’ creative writing as they do producing it.

Need more help supporting your students’ writing?

Read up on  how to get reluctant writers writing , strategies for  supporting struggling secondary writers , or check out our huge list of writing prompts for kids .

Watch your students get excited about writing and publishing their own storybooks in the Story Factory

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Home › Study Tips › Creative Writing Resources For Secondary School Students

Creative Writing Resources For Secondary School Students

• Published July 28, 2022

Table of Contents

Do you LOVE writing? Do you wish you could learn more about creative writing and what it takes to be a creative writer? Do you know what career prospects you’d have as a creative writer?

It’s one of our most popular courses, and that’s why our creative writing summer course students demanded we release a guide!

We’ve put together this guide to give a detailed overview of everything you need to know about creative writing.

You’ll learn about:

• What is creative writing?
• Creative writing tips and how to use them
• Creative writing examples and why they’re good
• Creative writing exercises (over 30!)
• Creative writing prompts
• Creative writing prompts for middle school students
• Creative writing prompts for high school students
• What is the difference between prose and poetry?
• A Level Requirements for Creative Writing
• Best UK Universities For Creative Writing and what makes them good
• Career choices that creative writers have and what their salaries are
• & much more

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10 of the Best Sites for Student Writing

Imagine a world where writing is as easy as a gentle breeze, effortlessly carrying your words across the page. Like a warm embrace from a close friend, the best websites for student writing provide a haven where young minds can unleash their creativity and hone their skills.

Whether you’re a budding poet, a future novelist, or simply someone looking to improve your grammar and style, these virtual sanctuaries have got you covered. There’s been a lot of changes since we first created this list back in 2013 – you’ll want to read on to see how technology has progressed.

Table of Contents

6. read, write, think, 7. hemmingway editor, 8. storiumedu, 9. boomwriter, 10. writereader, frequently asked questions about online writing tools.

In this article, I will introduce you to a collection of online platforms that will transport you to a realm of literary wonder. From interactive story creation tools like Storybird and Story Jumper, to collaborative writing projects on Boomwriter and Storium.edu, there is something for every aspiring writer.

So join me on this literary adventure as we explore the best websites for student writing. Together, we will unlock the power of words and embark on a journey towards self-expression and discovery. Get ready to improve your student’s literacy skills,  unleash their inner wordsmith and embrace the beauty of the written word.

Key Takeaways:

• There are numerous websites available for teaching and learning writing skills, catering to different grade levels and interests.
• These websites offer a range of resources and tools, including writing prompts, interactive activities, free grammar checking to ward off errors, and collaborative writing projects.
• Some websites integrate coding or multimedia elements into writing, while others focus on specific genres like poetry or comic strips.
• Popular websites for student writing include Grammarly , Storybird , Writing A-Z , and Boomwriter , among others.

1. Grammarly For Education

Using Grammarly for Education is like having a personal writing assistant that not only checks for typos and grammar mistakes but also helps students improve their communication skills to become more confident writers. It is a popular website among students and educators, offering a wide range of features to enhance the writing process.

With its advanced AI technology , Grammarly can detect and correct more mistakes than regular word processors, making it an invaluable tool for students looking to improve their writing. One of the key benefits of Grammarly for Education is its ability to provide suggestions for improved word choices. This helps students expand their vocabulary and develop a more sophisticated writing style. Additionally, Grammarly offers a plagiarism checker, ensuring that students are submitting original work and avoiding any potential academic misconduct.

Using Grammarly for Education can also help students develop their editing and proofreading skills . By receiving real-time feedback on their writing, students can learn to identify and correct their own mistakes, ultimately becoming more independent and self-reliant writers.  

With its user-friendly interface and comprehensive features, Grammarly for Education is an essential tool for kids of all ages and skill levels. It not only improves the quality of their writing but also helps them become more confident in expressing their ideas. By utilizing Grammarly for Education, students can take their writing to the next level.

With iWrite, students can unleash their inner creative geniuses and transform into writing prodigies at the click of a button! This incredible website offers a wide range of resources and activities for students in grades 1-8, allowing them to explore different forms of writing and develop their skills in a fun and interactive way.

Here are three reasons why iWrite is a must-visit website for student writers:

– Creative Writing Activities: iWrite provides a plethora of creative writing activities, from story starters to journal prompts, that inspire students to think outside the box and let their imagination run wild. These activities help students develop their storytelling abilities and encourage them to experiment with different writing styles and genres.

– Illustration Tools: iWrite also offers illustration tools that allow students to bring their stories to life. With the ability to create their own illustrations or choose from a library of images, students can enhance their storytelling by adding visual elements to their work. This feature not only engages students but also helps them develop their visual literacy skills.

– Interactive Feedback: One of the unique features of iWrite is its interactive feedback system. Students can submit their writing assignments and receive personalized feedback from teachers or peers. This feedback helps students improve their writing skills and provides them with valuable insights into their strengths and areas for growth.

3.  Magnetic Poetry

Immerse yourself in the world of magnetic poetry and let your creativity flow as you arrange words on the screen, creating captivating and heartfelt poems that will stir your soul.

Ideal for both introducing younger kids to poetry and engaging older students with the genre in a fun and creative way, this simple site is a digital form of the popular fridge poetry fridge phenomenon. Students are given a blank white screen and a group of ‘magnetic’ words to position how they choose, taking the pressure out of creating poetry and making it a fun and creative experience. New words can be added at any time if students get stuck, and the final result can be saved and shared with other students or parents.

Magnetic Poetry is a fantastic tool for students of all ages to explore the beauty of language and express their thoughts and emotions through poetry. Whether you want to write a love poem, a haiku, or a thought-provoking piece, this website provides an interactive and visually appealing platform to do so.

By playing with words and experimenting with different combinations, Magnetic Poetry encourages creativity and helps students develop a deeper understanding of language and its nuances. It also fosters a sense of belonging as you become part of a community of poets who share their creations and provide feedback to one another.

4.  NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program

The NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program offers an exciting opportunity for aspiring writers to participate in novel writing challenges and receive support from a community of fellow writers and educators.

NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel Writing Month, takes place every November and encourages students to write a complete novel of at least 50,000 words in just one month. The program provides resources, inspiration, and a supportive online community to help young writers achieve their writing goals.

Participants in the free NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program can track their progress, set personal word count goals, and connect with other writers through the program’s website. They can also access resources and writing prompts to help them stay motivated and overcome writer’s block.

Students can join virtual write-ins and participate in forums to share their experiences and receive feedback from their peers and mentors. In addition, the program offers classroom resources for educators to incorporate novel writing challenges into their curriculum.

By participating in the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program, students not only have the opportunity to develop their writing skills, but also to become part of a supportive writing community. This sense of belonging can greatly enhance their confidence and motivation as writers.

So, if you’re looking to take your writing to the next level and join a community of passionate writers, the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program is definitely worth exploring.

Explore PicLits, a captivating e-learning platform that combines stunning photography and creative keywords to ignite your writing skills and transport you to imaginative worlds.

With PicLits, you can enhance your writing abilities in a fun and interactive way. Here are three reasons why PicLits is a must-try website for student writers:

1. Engaging Visuals: PicLits provides a vast collection of captivating photographs that serve as inspiration for your writing. These visuals not only stimulate your creativity but also help you develop descriptive writing skills by prompting you to imagine and describe the scene.

2. Creative Keywords: Alongside the photographs, PicLits offers a selection of keywords that you can incorporate into your writing. These words act as writing prompts, guiding your thoughts and encouraging you to think outside the box. By using these keywords effectively, you can enhance the depth and richness of your writing.

3. Interactive Learning: PicLits is designed to be an interactive and collaborative platform. You can share your creations with others, receive feedback, and even participate in writing challenges. This fosters a sense of community and belonging, which can be motivating and inspiring for student writers.

Get ready to dive into the world of Read, Write, Think, an online resource that will take your writing skills to new heights!

Read, Write, Think is a high-quality education website that offers a wide range of interactive tools and resources for K-12 students. Whether you’re looking for writing prompts, interactive activities, or lesson plans, Read, Write, Think has got you covered.

One of the great things about Read, Write, Think is that it provides standards-based lesson plans that have been written and reviewed by educators. This means that you can trust the quality of the content and know that it aligns with your curriculum. The website also offers an app, so you can access the resources on the go.

Read, Write, Think is not just limited to writing. It also helps students plan essays or dissertations, providing them with a step-by-step guide to ensure they produce high-quality work. The website is user-friendly and easy to navigate, making it a valuable tool for both teachers and students.

Let’s dive into the powerful world of Hemingway Editor and discover how it can revolutionize your writing with its insightful feedback and style enhancements.

Hemingway Editor is an online tool that helps you improve your writing by highlighting errors and suggesting improvements. Here are two key features that make Hemingway Editor a must-have for any student writer:

– Clear and concise writing: Hemingway Editor helps you identify and eliminate unnecessary words, complex sentences, and passive voice constructions. By simplifying your writing, you can communicate your ideas more effectively and engage your readers.

– Readability and style enhancements: This tool analyzes the readability of your writing and provides suggestions to make it more accessible to your audience. It highlights long and hard-to-read sentences, excessive adverbs, and complicated language. By improving the clarity and style of your writing, you can create a more enjoyable reading experience.

Using Hemingway Editor can greatly enhance your writing skills and make your work more professional. It is a valuable resource for students who want to improve their writing and create compelling pieces.

Immerse yourself in the world of Storium.edu, an innovative collaborative writing game that will ignite your creativity and turn storytelling into an exhilarating adventure. Storium.edu is a unique platform that uses digital story cards as prompts to inspire and guide your writing.

Whether you’re a student or a teacher, Storium.edu offers a fun and engaging way to develop your writing skills and create captivating stories. The game works by presenting you with a set of story cards, each containing a different element or prompt. You can choose a card that appeals to you and start developing your story based on that prompt.

As you progress, you can invite other players to join your story and collaborate with them to create a cohesive narrative. This collaborative aspect not only allows you to learn from others but also fosters a sense of belonging and community.

Storium.edu encourages creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills as you navigate through different story arcs and challenges. The platform provides a safe and supportive environment for writers of all levels to explore their imagination and develop their storytelling abilities.

Boomwriter, a dynamic web-based publishing platform, offers a range of collaborative writing projects that will inspire your creativity and propel your storytelling skills to new heights.

With Boomwriter, you can embark on three different types of writing projects: StoryWriter, WordWriter, and ProjectWriter.

Under StoryWriter, you have the opportunity to co-author your own book. This project allows you to collaborate with your classmates in creating a captivating story. Each participant takes turns writing a chapter, building upon the previous contributions. It’s a great way to experience the joy of storytelling while honing your writing skills.

The WordWriter project, on the other hand, focuses on the power of vocabulary. You are given a story starter, and your task is to continue the narrative by incorporating engaging and descriptive words. This project encourages you to expand your vocabulary and make your writing more vivid and compelling.

Lastly, the ProjectWriter project allows you to work on various types of writing, such as poetry, plays, and even non-fiction pieces. You can choose from a selection of prompts and create your own unique piece of writing. This project allows you to explore different genres and experiment with different writing styles.

Boomwriter provides an interactive and collaborative environment for students to develop their writing skills. It’s a platform that fosters creativity, teamwork, and a love for writing. So why not give it a try and see how Boomwriter can take your writing to the next level?

I am thrilled to have discovered WriteReader, a web-based literacy platform that has completely transformed many classrooms. Founded in 2012 by Janus Madsen, Babar Baig, and Ulrik Jensen, WriteReader offers an array of incredible features that have revolutionized the way teacher manage classrooms and facilitate remote learning.

One of the standout aspects of WriteReader is its quick classroom management capabilities. With just a few clicks, one can easily monitor students’ progress, provide feedback, and track their growth. This has saved me a tremendous amount of time and allowed me to focus more on individualized instruction.

In addition to its classroom management capabilities, WriteReader also excels in providing remote learning opportunities. Especially in today’s digital age, this feature has been an absolute game-changer. It has allowed me to seamlessly transition to online instruction and ensure that my students are still receiving a high-quality education, regardless of their physical location.

What truly sets WriteReader apart is its multimodal book creation platform. This feature empowers my students to become authors while simultaneously practicing various language skills. It has been incredible to witness their creativity and confidence soar as they craft their own stories. Furthermore, the platform aligns perfectly with the Science of Reading practices, making it an invaluable tool for evidence-based reading and writing instruction.

I am also grateful for the support that WriteReader provides. The platform offers templates that make it easy for me to create and share books with my students. Additionally, their customer service team is always available to assist me via phone and email, ensuring that I have the support I need to make the most of this incredible platform.

It’s worth mentioning that WriteReader has received numerous accolades and partnerships that further highlight its success and innovation. From partnering with Egmont, one of Scandinavia’s largest publishing houses, to being selected for Intel’s EdTech Accelerator Program, WriteReader has truly made a name for itself in the education industry.

How does Grammarly for Education differ from other writing aids?

Grammarly for Education differs from other writing aids by offering more comprehensive grammar and spelling checks. In fact, it corrects more mistakes than word processors. Additionally, it provides improved word choices, making it an invaluable tool for students looking to enhance their writing skills.

What are the specific features and benefits of the iWrite website?

The iWrite website offers a range of resources for teaching and exploring different forms of writing. It provides free online creative writing and illustration activities for grades 1-8, making it a valuable tool for students looking to improve their writing skills.

What is unique about the Magnetic Poetry website and how does it engage students with poetry?

The Magnetic Poetry website engages students with poetry by allowing them to position magnetic words on the screen, creating their own poems. The poems can be saved and shared, encouraging creativity and collaboration in a digital format.

How does the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program support young writers and educators in novel writing challenges?

The NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program supports young writers and educators in novel writing challenges by providing resources, guidance, and a supportive community. It encourages students to set goals, write daily, and complete a novel in a month.

What are your favourite online tools for student writing? Let us know below!

Laura is a writer and recent Cambridge graduate with particular experience in the area of education technology. She has worked with a variety of different education companies and is active in the 'edtech' community on Twitter, so she prides herself on always being in touch with the latest developments and exciting new tools in e-learning.

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Student software: the best free and paid-for student software

Do you have the right student software? Check our list of the best paid-for and free tools available today.

Along with a computer, student software can be the most expensive purchase you make before starting college or university. That's especially the case if you're pursuing a creative discipline like photography, design, art, illustration or marketing. But the good news is that most software providers are keen to lure you in, and so provide some sort of student deal. 

Note we say most, not all, though. Some tools are so established as the industry standard that its makers don't need to. Conversely, even with a discount, some student software may still be more expensive than cheaper equivalents. Don't miss our round up of the best student discounts , cheap school supplies and the best Apple Back to School deals available now for some really great savings. 

To help you navigate your way through the maze that is student software, in this post we bring together some of the most important tools you may need as a student on a creative course, explain what they do, and how you can get hold of them. We'll start with paid-for student software, and then list the best free student software below that. 

• Jump to the best free student software

Student software: the best paid-for tools

Why you can trust Creative Bloq Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test .

01. Microsoft Office 365

Specifications, reasons to buy, reasons to avoid.

When you become a student, everyone tells you that you'll have to work harder. But actually, it's more about working smarter. Which means you'll need productivity software to plan your activities and schedule, which includes features like a calendar, email, document editing, spreadsheets and more. 

Microsoft Office 365 is a serious software package that's widely used across the business world, and as a student you can get a version of it, called Office 365 Education, for free. This includes Microsoft Word for documents, Microsoft Excel for spreadsheets, Microsoft PowerPoint for presentations, Microsoft OneNote for notetaking, and Microsoft Outlook for email. 

Featuring Microsoft's most popular productivity apps, you can sign online, from any device, to organise your activities wherever you are. And best of all, you get a whopping 1TB of online storage.

02. Adobe Photoshop

So popular that it's even become a verb, Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard tool for image editing and manipulation, photo retouching, graphic design, web and app prototyping and 3D modelling. With that in mind, it's something that any student of photography, illustration, graphic design, digital art, web design or marketing will find useful.

Photoshop is available as a subscription, but there's no specific student discount. At the moment, the cheapest way to buy Photoshop is as part of the Creative Cloud Photography plan , which costs $9.99 / £9.98 per month and gives you access to Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic.

There is, however, a huge student discount on an all-apps subscription to the Creative Cloud , which gives you access to Photoshop as well as 50 other creative tools, for just $19.99 / £16.24 per month for the first year.

03. Affinity Photo

Affinity Photo is a tool for image editing and manipulation, photo retouching and graphic design that's squarely positioned as a cheaper competitor to Photoshop. This fully-loaded photo editor is integrated across macOS , Windows and iOS and while it doesn't have exactly the same features as Photoshop, it is increasingly respected within the creative industries and is subscription-free. 

Even though there's no student discount, Affinity Photo's one-off cheap price ($49.99 / £48.99 for Mac or Windows; $19.99 / £19.99 for iOS) still makes it somewhat of a bargain. So if your area of study includes photography, graphic design or marketing, it's well worth investigating. 

04. Adobe Illustrator

Used to create everything from small icons to full-blown illustrations, Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard for vector drawing software. Available for Mac and PC, with an iPad version on its way , it's your go-to app if you're studying art, illustration or design as a practitioner.

Adobe is currently offering a huge student discount on the Creative Cloud, which gives you access to Illustrator as well as 50 other creative apps, for just $19.99 / £16.24 per month for the first year; that's less than the cost of a subscription to Illustrator alone.

05. Affinity Designer

Want a vector graphics program that doesn't require a subscription? Affinity Designer , the sister app to Affinity Photo is a respected alternative to Illustrator for graphic design and illustration students, and boasts some unique features, including one million per cent zoom. Affinity Designer can be download for a one-off fee of $49.99 / £48.99 (Mac or Windows) or $19.99 / £19.99 (iOS). There's no student discount, but there is a 30-day free trial.

With a powerful and intuitive set of vector editing tools, Sketch has been the go-to tool for UI design amongst digital designers, interface designers and web designers for around a decade. And though it now has serious competition in the form of the free Adobe XD (see below), and it's still only available for Mac, anyone studying design will want to at least try it out.

Sketch usually costs $99.99 to download, but it also offers a free trial, free licences for educational institutions, and a 50% discount for students and teachers with valid ID and proof of eligibility. 

07. Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign is the industry standard desktop publishing software for graphic designers. It's commonly used to create posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers, presentations, books and ebooks, social media images and more, by marketing professionals and newspaper, magazine and book publishers. So it's a useful tool for anyone studying graphic design or marketing, particularly if you're interested in print publishing. 

There's no student discount to subscribe to InDesign alone. So it's actually cheaper to subscribe to the Creative Cloud, which gives you access to InDesign as well as 50 other creative apps, for just $19.99 / £16.24 per month for the first year with a student discount.

08. Affinity Publisher

An upstart in the world of desktop publishing software, Affinity Publisher was launched last year and includes some powerful features including master pages, facing page spreads, grids, tables, advanced typography, text flow and full professional print output. The tool completes a trinity of interoperable tools aimed at designers and illustrators with Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer. Like its sisters, there's no specific discount for students, but it is available for a low, one-off fee of $49.99 / £48.99.

If you’re aiming to work in the post-production end of the movie and TV industries after you graduate, you'll want to become familiar with the software that big VFX and animation studios like ILM, Pixar and Framestore use. And that's Autodesk's Maya , 3D software that comes with powerful modelling, rendering, simulation, texturing and animation tools. It doesn't come cheap but thankfully, there's a free version you can use as a student for one year, as long as you only use it for educational and not commercial projects. So why wouldn't you?

10. 3ds Max

The sister to Autodesk's Maya, 3DS Max is a powerful 3D modeling and animation software for 3D modelling, animation, rendering and visualisation. As such, it's a must-have for anyone studying game design, animation, VFX, architectural visualisation, or VR experiences. Again, students can download it for free for use in their studies, as long as the work you produce is not commercially exploited. Also make sure you check out our 3ds Max tutorials .

11. Cinema 4D

Cinema 4D is a professional 3D software package with a relatively small learning curve, a lively user community and a wealth of Cinema 4D tutorials online, making it popular with motion graphics and animation students. Students can get a free Education Licence for Cinema 4D, as long as you can provide provide proof of enrollment, which may include a student ID, enrollment certificate, class schedule) or employment (teacher ID, proof of class schedule, valid employment verification).

12. Adobe After Effects

After Effects is the industry-standard software for motion graphics, compositing and VFX. Although it's occasionally used to create entire movies, it's more often used for more modest sequences such as TV show titles or animated commercials: exactly the sort of work graphic design and animation students are likely to be working on, in fact. 

As with the other Adobe software on this list, there's no student discount on After Effects. But there is a huge 60-65% student discount on the Creative Cloud, which includes After Effects as well as 50 other creative apps, for just $19.99 / £16.24 per month for the first year.

13. Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe's Premiere Pro is one of the best video editing software packages on the market, with simple layout and range of impressive features. Used to create professional content for film, TV and the web, it supports 360 VR content, 4K and HDR video, and comes with some very useful collaboration features. 

As with the other Adobe software on this list, there's no student discount on a Premiere Pro subscription. But you can making a big saving on the Creative Cloud all-apps subscription, which gives you access to Premiere Pro as well as 50 other creative apps, for just $19.99 / £16.24 per month for the first year.

14. Final Cut Pro X

Apple 's video editing software, Final Cut Pro X, combines video editing with powerful media organisation and impressive performance to let you create your content quickly and efficiently. As such it offers a robust alternative to Premiere Pro, above, that's subscription-free. 

Optimised for macOS and the latest Mac hardware, it's a good option for anyone tied into Apple's ecosystem, although it's not actually available for Windows. Currently retailing at $299 / £299, there's no student discount on Final Cut Pro X, but there currently is a generous 90-day free trial.

• Jump back to the top  

Student software: the best free tools

01. Google Drive

When it comes to organising your life, your work, your schedule and more as a student, Google Drive has pretty much everything you could need for free. It works on any device with an internet connection, as it's based in the browser, and includes a number of brilliant tools. 

Google Docs is a very capable document editor, and can save your work in a variety of proprietary formats, including Microsoft Word and PDF. Google Sheets allows you to create spreadsheets, while Google Slides is there for your presentations. You can store up to 15GB of images, documents and other files for free. You can easily share all this with teachers and students you're collaborating with, and add comments in real time. And with Google's awe-inspiring search technology, you'll be able to find everything quickly and easily.

02 Adobe XD

If you're studying digital design or web design, you need to know about Adobe XD. Adobe's digital prototyping tool has two advantages over its main rival, Sketch. Firstly, it's available for Windows as well as Mac. And secondly, the basic version is free forever, with no commitment.

This starter version gives you unlimited local documents, access to a limited number of fonts and 2GB of cloud storage. And until October 2020, you will also get unlimited editors, unlimited shared documents and unlimited shared links. So it's really a no-brainer to download it and at least give it a try.

If you're taking design as your main area of study, you'll probably need to buy some professional software, such as Photoshop and Illustrator. But if you're studying a related discipline, such as marketing, and just need to do the odd bit of design work, then Canva is a free and very capable alternative. This browser-based app is easy to pick up and use, even if you don't have any design training, and can be used to make posters, flyers, social media images and more.

Even within the world of digital art, not a lot of people seem to know about Krita. Which is a shame, because this free and open source tool is among the best software for digital artists around. It's been purposely made by artists who want to see affordable art tools for everyone, and is suitable for creating concept art, texture and matte paintings, illustrations and comic art. Check out our list of the best Krita tutorials to learn more.

05. Premiere Rush

Filmmaking students will need something more powerful, like Premiere Pro. But if you need to do a spot of video editing as part of another course, then Adobe has a free alternative for you, in the shape of Premiere Rush.  

This cross-platform tool has all the main tools and export settings of the paid-for app, and a simpler, intuitive layout that makes it much easier for non-techie students to pick up and use.

You're not a photography student, but you need to make some simple edits to an image as part of your course. Crop, resize, remove red-eye, that kind of thing. In that case, you don't want to bother with something as expensive and complex as Photoshop; there are plenty of free tools for doing basic tasks like that. 

We like Pixlr best, as it's free, reliable, based in the browser, and has more than 600 effects, overlays and borders. Its user interface is easy to use, and there are also iOS and Android available. Alternatively, check out one of these Photoshop alternatives instead.

• How to get an Apple student discount
• The best student laptop
• Kids desk: buy the best children's desk as they head back to school

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Tom May is an award-winning journalist and editor specialising in design, photography and technology. Author of the Amazon #1 bestseller Great TED Talks: Creativity , published by Pavilion Books, Tom was previously editor of Professional Photography magazine, associate editor at Creative Bloq, and deputy editor at net magazine. Today, he is a regular contributor to Creative Bloq and its sister sites Digital Camera World , T3.com and Tech Radar . He also writes for Creative Boom and works on content marketing projects. 

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More From Forbes

Students aren’t writing well anymore. can ai help.

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A group of students begins an in-class writing test. According to new data analysis, half of U.S. ... [+] eighth graders have difficulty with long-form writing on tests and classwork that involves reading.

Fifty percent. That’s the approximate number of students in eighth grade who struggle with long-form writing on tests and classwork that involves reading.

A colleague of mine, L Burleigh, studying reading data collected in 2022 from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that fewer than half of eighth graders write “long answers to questions on tests or assignments that involve reading.”

While people may put a premium on the notion of short and sweet when it comes to writing and reading – doing so at formative ages means that young learners will not build the skills they need to convey and explain ideas and information.

Writing Frequency Matters

Frequency of practice is a common theme cited by both researchers and teachers in assessing causes for declining K-12 student writing skills. Middle and high schoolers simply are not engaging in and practicing writing enough. The reasons for this are myriad but overburdened teachers without the time or support to grade more frequent writing assignments is a significant factor.

In a survey I did with some colleagues a few years ago, a key challenge was workload. More than 70 percent of educators say they are overwhelmed with grading, providing feedback, and other administrative tasks. Additionally, according to our report, educators in low-income schools are almost 20 percent more likely than teachers in other schools to report being overburdened by routine duties like grading essays.

In short, kids are not writing as much as frequency in writing education falls victim to staffing, time, and resource shortages.

Highlighting this point is NAEP reading data for eighth graders collected by L that included the following question to students about their writing habits: “How often have you been asked to write long answers to questions on tests or assignments that involved reading?” The results: Never - 2%; Once - 3%; Two or Three Times - 22%; Four or Five Times - 25%; More than Five Times - 48 percent.

Samuel Alito: Supreme Court Justice’s Biggest Controversies—As Another Contentious Flag Spotted Outside House

Nvidia are splitting 10-for-1 here’s what it means and how to profit, why is chief boden leaving ‘chicago fire’ eamonn walker’s exit explained, using ai to aid writing gains.

There’s lots that can be done to fix this problem: Improved teacher professional development, greater emphasis on writing across the curriculum, etc. For my part, I’m optimistic that AI will be a deep help to students, given recent advances in the technology, and many are exploring new avenues to support students in boosting their long-form writing ability.

For instance, the team at ThinkCirca is working on a formative assessment and feedback tool to enhance student writing. This tool focuses on argumentative essays and identifies key elements within the text as students write. By highlighting these elements, the tool provides real-time assessment and feedback, creating mini-instructional moments that guide students in improving their arguments during the writing process.

Large language models can help, too. Indeed, just asking ChatGPT provides helpful feedback. But for more targeted support, researchers have found that fine-tuning is necessary. For instance, when researchers looked at holistic scoring using ChatGPT (version 4), they found the technology could provide human-level performance.

However, when asking the chatbot to focus on more granular, discourse-level evaluation, ChatGPT began to struggle. More specifically, it had a hard time identifying the distinct elements of argumentative writing (e.g., claim, counterclaim, rebuttal, supporting evidence). Additionally, ChatGPT was a more generous grader than humans when focused on smaller writing segments, like discourse elements, rating them at a higher effectiveness level than a human would.

This finding makes sense because chatbots are usually trained to create text using thousands of example essays. However, chatbots don't see many examples of labeled essay parts during their training compared to tasks like summarizing a text or analyzing the emotion of an essay. So, while ChatGPT is not as reliable for evaluating the structure of an essay due to its lack of training, it is extensively taught on what forms a strong long-form essay and its ability to generate essays is an area of greater concern for educators.

Some worry certain LLM technologies could help students cheat by doing their long-form writing for them, although recent research from Stanford and others indicates this is not occurring as frequently as initially feared. The potential benefit of incorporating technology to help students strengthen their writing skills may far outweigh any risks posed by introducing AI solutions – especially since researchers point out that declines in student writing can be traced to how often students are engaging in long-form writing.

Even as AI carves out its place in improving student writing, staying true to some hallmark tenets is recommended to help young learners build on the writing skills and abilities deemed indispensable in the workforce.

Whether gains on this front are realized through AI or teacher interaction, the ultimate goal is to make the essential communication and job skill of writing something that students can navigate naturally and with confidence that will carry them successfully through college and the workforce.

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