How to write a novel. Best Writing Software & resources.

Firstly, it is very important to polish up your manuscripts before you publish them and they have to be good. Quality and originality are the keys to success. You need to make sure they are very well-written.

What is the best software to write an eBook? Selling ebooks is a very lucrative field, but the ebook market is getting more and more crowded every year. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to select free e-book editors in order to keep your costs down. With the best writing tools, you can write faster and more effectively.

Sigil is a free, open source, multi-platform ebook editor. It is designed to edit books in ePub format.

It supports both WYSIWYG and code-based editing of EPUB files, as well as the import of HTML and plain text files.

You may want to write your books using Microsoft Word, LibreOffice Writer, Google Docs, Evernote, FocusWriter, etc.

Then, when you are done (Save the Word document with the Web Page, Filtered option), you can convert them with Sigil or Calibre. You may also want to use Writer2ePub. It is an extension for OpenOffice.org or LibreOffice which allows you to create an ePub file from any file format that Writer can read.

FocusWriter is a simple, distraction-free writing environment.

Calibre is a powerful and easy to use e-book manager, converter, and viewer with support for a variety of formats and devices. Whether you are writing a comic book, cookbook, travel guide or the next great novel, Kindle Create is a free program designed to help transform a manuscript written in Microsoft Word or PDF format into a Kindle ebook that’s ready to sell in the Kindle store.

Secondly, it is very important to check your spelling, grammar, punctuation, and style mistakes. I usually give my manuscripts some time to rest and then, I print them and read them out aloud. Ask your friends and hire an editor to easily find out the mistakes and make corrections.

Make sure to use proofreading tools to write your content without any spelling and grammar mistakes, such as Grammarly, Hemingway App, Scribens, After the deadline, SpellCheckPlus, PaperRater, and SpellChecker.net.

Thirdly, and lastly, Scrivener is the best book writing software. Scrivener is a powerful content-generation tool for writers that allows you to concentrate on composing and structuring long and difficult documents. While it gives you complete control of your document’s formatting, its focus is on helping you get to the end of that awkward first draft.

However, it is proprietary software and it is not free. There is not a real alternative to Scrivener, but… LibreOffice is a free and powerful office suite. You can also use Google Docs to share and collaborate on documents.

Other alternatives include:

• Pagefour “is a tabbed word processor, outliner, and organizer for writers. It has _a simple structure based around Notebooks. Each Notebook contains as many folders and pages as you wish, and is structured in whichever manner best fits YOUR needs. Every writer works differently, and PageFour recognizes this.”
• yWriter is, as his creator put it, “a word processor which breaks your novel into chapters and scenes, helping you keep track of your work while leaving your mind free to create”.
• QuollWriter “is a writing application that helps you focus on your words. […] Quoll Writer’s interface keeps out of the way but has all the features you need.”
• Storyboarder is a free, open source software for creating 2D and 3D storyboards and animatics.
• Trelby is a free, multiplatform, and feature-rich screenwriting program.
• Dictionaries in GNU/Linux: sudo apt-get install dict dictd (a dictionary database server) dict-gcide dict-wn dict-devil (English dictionaries) dict-freedict-eng-spa dict-freedict-spa-eng (English-Spanish dictionary) gnome-dictionary (GNOME dictionary application) artha (handy off-line thesaurus). Use: dict word.

Other resources

1. Written Sound is an Onomatopoeia Dictionary.
2. FunnyInsults. Funny insults and comebacks.