What Is the Best Tool for Writing Novels?

I remember when I wanted to write my first book. I had so many questions. “Which application should I use to write my novel?” was one of the first.

Microsoft Word or Google Docs came to mind as viable options since I already had access to them. I researched what other authors used, and there were a few recommendations, but I also found authors who used Microsoft Word. Without delving any further into the topic, it was off to the races.

I soon learned that there were rules, margins, and something called typesetting. To use Microsoft Word, it was advised that I use a template. Derek Murphy provided one for free, and it was recommended by several authors who used Microsoft Word.

But alas, it proved too complicated for me. I felt I needed a degree in typesetting. It may not be that bad, but all I wanted was to type my story without the hassle. This is when I found Reedsy Studio, and completed my first book!

What I Loved About Reedsy

Reedsy has a user-friendly interface with some powerful features. I loved the fact that you could just start typing and everything else was taken care of. No need to stress about indentation rules, margins, front matter, back matter, or starting a new chapter halfway down the page. It is all done for you.

At the time, Reedsy was completely free, but later, some features required a paid subscription. Still, for ease of use while creating a professional book, I give it full marks.

Reedsy Pros

• It does everything for you. You just write your novel.
• Has an intuitive planner to scope out your story.
• Exports to Standard PDF, Print PDF, Docx, and EPUB.
• Has a word-count tracker and session goal setting.
• Includes a collaboration feature for working with a co-author.
• My favourite: an easy-to-create shareable link that allows you to share selected chapters or your whole book with the rest of the world through a user-friendly reading interface. You can also set an expiry date for the link.
• Supports drop caps and hidden chapters.
• Pinned notes.
• Challenges.
• A writing timeline.
• Spell checker.
• Splitting chapters.
• Rearrange chapters with a drag-and-drop interface.
• Write from anywhere as long, as you have internet access.

Reedsy Cons

• Pinned notes, Writing Timeline, and parts of the planner require a subscription.
• Limited fonts (Merriweather and Crimson)
• No custom font sizes.
• No custom page breaks.
• Limited trim sizes: 6"x 9", 5" x 8", 5.5" x 8.5",  and 4.25" x 6.87."
  

Before Reedsy, I stored my notes for timelines, characters, and locations in Notion. When I started using the planner in Reedsy, it was simply so much more convenient, and I used it extensively for my second book. Halfway through, however, I could no longer view some of my notes because they required a subscription.

I also wanted to use a different font for my books and find something that would give me a planner without a monthly subscription.

Scrivener

Welcome to Scrivener by Literature & Latte!

This is a beast of an application, and it is what I use to write my novels. You can customise your writing experience your way. There seem to be very few limits to what you can do in Scrivener.

For a relatively low one-time cost, you can use Scrivener without paying a monthly subscription. One of the best parts is that you can install it on multiple devices.

I could go on all day about the extensive list of features Scrivener offers, but instead, I will say this: it is so worth it.

All the features you could ever want seem to be available in Scrivener: different views, extensive customisation, templates, research, notes, and support for importing documents and website links, to name just a few.

Listing every feature may make you drowsy, so I will only mention the ones I adore.

Scrivener Pros

• A well-designed, full-featured application created for writing long-form projects and stories.
• All the fonts your heart desire.
• Split-screen view.
• Full-screen view.
• Corkboard.
• Templates.
• A customisable Binder.
• Project goals.
  
• Notes in a supercharged way. There is simply so much you can do with them.
• Outliner.
• Compiles to Word much better than anything else I know.
• Exports to EPUB and PDF.
• Robust backups.
• Snapshots.
  
• Typewriter mode.
• Available on MAC and Windows.

Those are some of the features I use, apart from exporting to EPUB or PDF, and I will get to that shortly.

Scrivener Cons

• A very learning curve.
• It is not a simple one-button export experience, since you can customise the exact output you want.
• No Android support. It does have an iOS application.
• No online application. This may be a negative for some, but not for me. I learned the hard way that manuscripts are sacred.

There are other options, such as Obsidian, Motif, and Anytype, but I do not have personal experience with them.

Still, this should be a good start. You can now write your novel with less hassle and know that the end result can be professional.

There was one more reason I opted for Scrivener, and that has to do with handing your manuscript to your editor. Of all the hassle-free writing applications I have tested, Scrivener exports to Microsoft Word the cleanest, and the resulting document requires less editing than the rest.

This brings me to Atticus by Dave Chesson from Kindlepreneur. 

Why I Use Atticus As Well

Kindlepreneur offers some great products, and Atticus filled a much-needed gap.

Why?

While Scrivener shines as a novel-writing application, formatting can be a daunting task. Many of us simply do not want to fiddle with every little setting. We are more of a one-button-export crowd. And if you can achieve great results with less effort, why not?

Many authors using a Mac who write in Scrivener do their formatting and exports in Vellum. This allows you to create beautiful chapter headings, custom page-break images, full-page images, and more.

The problem for authors like me is that Vellum only works on Mac. This leaves the Windows crowd out in the cold.

Atticus is often seen as the Vellum alternative for Windows users. Both offer several advantages over a dedicated novel-writing application, most notably the ease of formatting and image manipulation.

Because I am a Windows user, I have not personally used Vellum and can only comment on Atticus. I will list a few important features, although there are more.

Atticus Pros

• Templates.
• Master pages.
• Full-page images.
• Custom page-break images.
• Support for large print.
• Lots of fonts.
• Preview for paperback and e-readers.
• Custom themes.
• Different drop-cap designs.
• One payment for lifetime access.

Atticus Cons as a Formatter

• Placing images side-by-side is not possible.

I mention only this negative as I needed this funtion more than once, rather than placing two book covers below one another, I wanted them side-by-side.

Can you write within Atticus?

Yes, absolutely. You can also set word-count goals.

Then why am I not writing within Atticus? 

For a couple of reasons.

When exporting to Microsoft Word, the output is essentially plain text rather than a fully formatted manuscript. In my opinion, this leaves me with more editing to do before I can hand my editor a properly prepared manuscript.

I encounter a similar issue when importing from a Word document. The document needs to be formatted in a certain way before importing it into Atticus. This means that when I receive the edited manuscript back from my editor and make the necessary changes, I need to prepare it again before importing it into Atticus.

Reedsy is far more forgiving when accepting formatted Word documents and can automatically apply many of your settings. However, its Word exports are also relatively plain.

Scrivener gives me the best of both worlds. It is excellent at importing a Word document, and it does a much better job of exporting to DOCX, leaving me with minimal editing before handing the manuscript to my editor.

Another reason I write in Scrivener rather than Atticus is that Scrivener keeps everything in one place: notes, research, Corkboard, split view, full-screen writing, and much more. I do not need to use a bunch of different applications to achieve the same goal.

I am sure Atticus will continue to grow in that direction, but as of this writing, I have not found it as useful as a dedicated novel-writing application. As a formatter, however, it is fantastic.

You have made your choice, and you are now writing like a pro. But are your grammar, spelling, and sentence structure as tight as the pros’?

Every author needs help in that department.

Writing and editing tools such as Grammarly or ProWritingAid are great options. Personally, I use ProWritingAid because I bought a lifetime subscription during a Black Friday deal.

ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid works well with Scrivener. The toolbar can dock in various positions at the top, left, bottom, or right of your screen, as shown here on the right.

Clicking the up arrow at the bottom collapses the toolbar until only the ProWritingAid icon remains.

I also appreciate the Focus button. This allows you to hide or show suggested corrections live as you type. Constant suggestions can sometimes become annoying, so being able to switch them off temporarily is useful.

ProWritingAid has a plethora of features, and I have shown some in the image above. You can also access its online dashboard, giving you access to a community, help for new and unpublished authors, apps, and other useful writing tools.

One thing that can be a little confusing is that it has a browser extension for web-based applications and a separate desktop application for applications installed on your computer.

There is a lot I like about ProWritingAid. Here are a few of my favourite features.

ProWritingAid Pros

• A session timer. This is a relatively new addition at the time of writing, and I am glad it was added. It is a useful productivity tool that allows you to write in timed sessions and take breaks between them.
• The Summary function. I love this feature. It gives you a detailed overview of your chapter and highlights areas that may need improvement.
• Quote consistency checks. This is extremely useful. It is easy to end up with two opening quotation marks or a mixture of curly and straight quotes, and these problems can be difficult to spot within Scrivener. This happens especially when you write an idea for a scene in a different application and copy it over later.
• Checks for close repeats.
• You can create your own house rules based on your voice and style.
• The ability to choose the genre of your novel, which can influence the writing suggestions.
• It can critique your plot, chapters, characters, and marketability. This may be a positive, but it can also be a negative for me.
• Color-coded errors.
• Double-clicking a word gives you alternative word suggestions without opening a separate thesaurus.
• Highlighting a sentence allows you to request a Spark suggestion if you want to make it more sensory, improve a transition, increase readability, and more.
• Highlight a sentence and request a rephrasing suggestion.

ProWritingAid Cons

• Microsoft Word sometimes complains about ProWritingAid as an add-in.
• Once or twice, I have experienced issues involving the browser extension and the desktop application. I am not entirely sure what causes it, but the highlighted corrections can sometimes become garbled. Uninstalling and reinstalling usually fixes the problem.
• Sometimes it does not detect your text in Scrivener unless you highlight it first or refocus on the text window. At other times, it works perfectly without you highlighting anything.
• The Critique function often costs credits. In my opinion, the credits are expensive and not worth it.

My suggestions would include Publisher Rocket, another Kindlepreneur product, and BookFunnel for delivering your lead magnets.

Since this post is already becoming rather long, I may elaborate on each of these tools in future posts.

Conclusion

Do you have to use all of these tools?

Not at all.

But if you want to create a professional book with as little unnecessary pain as possible, I would recommend considering the tools above and choosing the ones that best suit your workflow.

Happy writing!

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