yWriter 5

yWriter 5

yWriter5 helps you to organize your ideas and build new scenes and chapters as you work on completing a novel. You can add all of the elements your novel needs, including characters, locations, and items, and then refer back to these at any time to keep your writing flowing and your details consistent.

PROS

Nice setup: The interface is arranged nicely, with a list of Chapters on the left and spaces to add new Scenes, Characters, Project Notes, Locations, and Items on the right; This tabbed interface makes it easy to switch between categories and to see what kind of progress you’re making in different areas as you assemble the structure of your story.

Good guide: From the moment you open it, yWriter5 helps you take advantage of all available features. The New Project Wizard shows you where to start with your initial project, and there are helpful tips that pop up in various situations as well. There is also a Sample Project you can look through to get a sense of how all of the features of the program work and what it’s capable of. And you can consult the Quickstart Guide or full User Manual from the Help Menu.

CONS

Specialized for fiction: This program is really only useful for writing fiction. While you may be able to customize it a bit for other uses, there are better tools out there for writing non-fiction that provide more of the tools and structure that kind of writing requires.

BOTTOM LINE

yWriter5 is a well-crafted program with a lot of upside for fiction writers. It’s a free app, and it will help you keep all of your ideas clearly organized as you work, which both improves the quality of your work and can help you finish faster. While it’s not the right fit for every writer, it’s worth checking out to see if there are any aspects of the program that might be useful to you.