Struggling to compose a story? Nick Peers reviews five tools that all provide more than a simple writing environment to help bring your novels to life.
HOW WE TESTED…
We took a couple of our halfformed story ideas and ran them through each program to see what they could do to help us develop them into finished pieces. We focused on examining each tool’s core set of planning and organising tools, from structuring your narrative to helping you record vital information about the various elements that make up your story. We also looked at additional helper tools, from templates and questionnaires to stats helping you track your creative progress.
We also examined each applications’s user interface – is it easy to navigate? How cluttered is it? The last thing you need is a tool that’s too distracting to help you focus. And with distractions in mind, we also examined their core writing tools – what help do they offer you as you write, and do they provide a view that hides everything except the words you’re writing, helping you to focus on the task in hand?