Tools for (budding) novelists

stokkete, 123RF

stokkete, 123RF

Smart Typewriters

When writing fine literature, specialized word processors can help you stay on task, allowing you to shape your suspense-laden storyline and characters. To this end, we're examining four free authoring tools.

If you want to write a novel, script or short story, you could just fire up a word processor like LibreOffice Writer. In doing so, however, you can quickly lose sight of your characters, get bogged down by subplots, and finally deliver a boring, convoluted narrative.

This can be prevented by careful planning using a specialized authoring tool. Such tools first deconstruct your story into individual, standalone scenes. You can then list and sort them into correct order. That way, you always have an overview of the process and the overall story arc.

The whole process can be managed before actually penning your story. First, you set the scenes necessary for the action and only then write the necessary text second.

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