Apps for writers

It’s no secret that writing is one of the most personal, challenging and validating things for a person to engage in, which is why software manufacturers have continued to churn out different options to cater to the different needs of writers around the globe This piece takes a look at what’s available and sorts out the best ones for you fledgling writers out there.

Microsoft Word

For many people, Microsoft Word offers the best compatibility option and the best mix of features. It’s no surprise that it is a permanent fixture on many devices. You can rely on Microsoft Word to start up and shut down with no fuss, meaning you can quickly take a break from your favourite mobile casino or any other game that reviewed on this trusted gaming site and jot down some thoughts for that meeting you’ve got coming up.

There’s a reason hundreds of thousands of users adopt Microsoft Word for their lengthy reports and school work: the formatting options, customisable toolbars and range of keyboard shortcuts make it the most complete writing app available today.
That said, visual clutter is often referenced as a problem for some people but there are remedies available.

Scrivener

Although Microsoft Word continues to satisfy millions of writers around the world, some long form writers aren’t satisfied with what it offers them. Enter Scrivener – an app created to address this challenge. With Scrivener, you get tools to keep notes, gather research, create outlines and organise your writing. Additionally, you can quickly navigate to different sections of your text or easily move around different parts of the research all due to a robust, intuitive search option.

FocusWriter

If you are looking for apps that will allow you to write without any distractions, you will find thousands of them online. Most of these will simply provide you with a plain, full screen view with nothing else to grab your attention. However, of the many apps available, FocusWriter is arguably the best. It works across all platforms and has some additional features that make it better than the others, such as: allowing you to write text on a page and save it as a TXT file. Other bells and whistle include timers, alarms, themes, sound effects, and spell checking and typing statistics.
However the main goal is to maintain a simplistic writing view, which is something FocusWriter excels at.

Final Draft

If you are a screenplay writer, you’ve probably already heard of this app. If you haven’t heard of it, then you need to check it out straightaway. It is unquestionably the industry standard when it comes to writing screenplays. It features a high quality notes section for keeping track of characters and an index card system to manage your summaries. The special ‘scene view’ allows you to quickly go over the script at a glance.
There are also different screenplay templates available and the formatting assistant comes in incredibly handy when you are still getting your head around screenplay formatting, and when the fateful day arrives where you are ready for the production stage, you’ll be thankful for the revision system. The app is costlier than all others on this list so it pays to test the app’s trial version to be sure it is what you are looking for.

You may notice apps like Evernote and Simplenote are missing from this list. Although these apps are solid for casual note-taking, we wanted to focus solely on the best apps for all forms of serious writing, instead.
The apps listed and discussed above are the ones you can rely on to move from blogging to becoming an accomplished writer and everything in between.