yWriter 5

Pros

Simple, helpful in completing your story from start to end

Cons

Packaged with Trojan. Make sure you decline the add-on and use the advance install to avoid the unwanted toolbar install.

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Pros

On the whole intuitive, and not too prescriptive.

Cons

Some features are to my mind unnecessary but they can be ignored.

Summary

Like others, I've tried a number of writing programs from Writer's Cafe to new Novelist - yWriter5, overall, is the best one.

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Pros

yWriter 5 helped me to keep all the vital information related to my novel in one place. Characters' info (description, bio, notes, etc.), locations, items (like Frodo's ring) - everything in the same writing environment, in the same program. Create scenes, assign them to chapters, instant word count, and your progress tracking.
Bottom line, I don't need anything else.
yWriter does what I need. After all, David Eddings wrote his novels in longhand.

Cons

I didn't find any particular cons in yWriter 5. I wish it allows you to keep a list of characters open as the Storybook does, but it is not a big deal for me.

Summary

I've checked several programs, including the Writer's Cafe, Scrivener (for Windows), and Storybook 4. The first two are for the writers who write non-linear style and thus did not worked for me. I read good reviews about these programs, but found them not suitable for my purpose. I don't use index card (real or virtual) and I don't really thuse nitty reference features. Those, I think, are mostly for the research papers. The Storybook is free and its interface looks very nice, but you have to pay for the Pro edition if you want to export the files into any format. I also had problems with fonts (too tiny for me, and I couldn't figure out how to change the default)
What I needed was a way to keep a list of names, locations, scenes, something to help me track all those characters (who, where, why).
I used to keep a list of names in one spreadsheet, outline with chapter by chapter in another, list of scenes in a third, images in a separate folder. I tracked my writing time and counted words using my own forms. I've ended up with dozens of files. I had to update this file and that. I've designed a timeline for my novel in Visio. So I used Word, Excel, Visio (and Notepad).
With yWriter you don't need them. Well, the Word will be useful when you start the final editing, but until that the yWriter will keeps everything in one place. Create your scenes and take a look at the storyline - you will be able to see your timeline from different POVs. You can changes the order of scenes by dragging them around. You open a project and can easily get to the characters description to find his/her date of birth or some other details, look at the image of mountain you would like to describe, create or combine scenes into a chapter, export text as HTML or RTF or text.
There is a built-in word counter and the program follows your progress.
After testing several programs, I found the yWriter5 is the best for my needs. (I'm about to finish my 95,000-word fantasy novel!).
My advice: try several programs and look for the features you really need. If you don't know exactly what you need, no program will help you to write. The best approach will be to start writing in WriteMonkey until you encounter some problems (like too many characters, or scenes). Then you can search for a program that helps you to solve those problems. yWriter5 did exactly that for me. I'm sure Steven King doesn't use any programs, but then, again, I'm not him. Good luck.
And, by the way, thanks, Simon Haynes. Great job!

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Pros

Your entire book becomes interchangeable

Cons

Scenes can be moved where needed - even entire chapters.

Summary

I <3 this software.

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Pros

I've tried other writing programs, but have always came back to yWriter. I use it for building short stories by using each chapter as the title of the story and the scenes as scenes to build on the short story. I have used it for full novel writing - chapters & scenes. And I have use it to write Non-fiction, where each chapter is a main idea and the scenes I use to flush out the idea. Simon is always open for suggestions and if you find a bug. It really is one great piece of software.

Cons

None that I have found.

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Pros

The truly excellent thing about yWriter is that it covers EVERY facet of writing a novel. If you just need a program to chop your story into manageable scenes and chapters, yWriter can do it. If you're the sort who spends weeks creating detailed character backgrounds and world histories, yWriter can hold that, too. It has a million useful features and all of them are optional and flexible.

Cons

There are some slightly annoying redundancies - dialogues where a screen could've been skipped or combined, mainly. The program saves on close and automatically backs up your work every half-hour or so, so shutting down the program can be disconcerting at first, because there's no "hey wait you forgot to save" alert. The interface is very plain, but that works as an advantage - fewer distractions!

Summary

I've been using this program since 2005 and it just keeps getting better. It is the best novel-writing software available, in my opinion: full-featured, intelligent, free, and continuously updated by the original programmer. If you're writing a large project and you're sick of endlessly scrolling, losing your spot, or keeping multiple files for notes, use this instead. It will change your life.

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Pros

Gives complete rundown to writing a book lots of help

Cons

Cannot transfer word or any office writings into it without a lot of changes

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Pros

Awesome product a bit clunky to work with out of the game but with a bit of work you can tailor it to the way you write.

Cons

none so far

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Pros

Excellent organizing tool. Ability to move scenes, paragraphs, chapters, etc. around easily. Save scenes, even if not using them. Character bios, location information, project notes, all in one easy to use package.

Cons

Haven't explored all the capabilities yet, but so far I see no cons.

Summary

Easy to use software package. Has almost everything one could want for writing all in one place. The only thing missing is the ability to see the entire story in one continuous document and formatting capability. I do not consider this a minus, though, since there already are numerous word processors available to accomplish these simple tasks. Why reinvent the wheel?

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