Three writing software tools that are actually useful – chosen by a real writer

There's no shortcut to becoming a good writer; writing lots of terrible drafts, and reading widely is still the way to actually improve. No single tool will ensure you become a wordsmith worth reading, but a solid word processor or writing app can help you organize your thoughts.

As someone who hasn't quite cracked a complete first draft of her debut novel -on account of all the fanfic I keep writing instead - trust me when I say that I speak from experience. Some people swear by Grammarly and Hemingway Editor's AI writing tools - I don't. I'm just not sure tools like this are actually that helpful. While I understand the appeal of software that highlights long sentences or an overabundance of adjectives, such AI tools simply don't understand context or cliché like a human editor - that's a trial by fire no AI tool can replace.

Joking aside, I'm going to tour you through three writing tools as part of TechRadar's Content Creator week. Each bit of writing software is actually worth noodling with yourself and all of them have free options, not to mention paid features that I would argue are actually worth the money.

So whether you're a slam poet, or want to dip a limb into scriptwriting, or are just trying to get 500 words down somewhere about all of the scraps your Dungeons and Dragons character got into before rocking up to the table, at least one of these writing apps will suit.

1. LibreOffice Writer

If, once upon a time, Microsoft Word had your heart but you've since fallen out of love, LibreOffice Writer will rekindle the magic. Besides a polite request for donations, it's completely free to download alongside a full suite of office applications.

You can save your documents to a wealth of formats too, including .doc, .docx, and .XML, making it easy to collaborate with another writer using Microsoft Word.

But if you're just writing for yourself and you're really missing the writing app that was your first love. (You know, before it started spending all of its time with Copilot.)

You can even set up LibreOffice's UI to mimic Word's 'ribbon'-style menus. That said, sometimes it's best to let go of all those memories of your ex so that you can usher in something new.

2. Celtx

Celtx is great scriptwriting software, whether you're a YouTube video essayist, an audio drama nerd, or you have your heart set on writing for the screen. On Windows and Mac, Celtx is now primarily based in the Cloud so that you (or your team) can access your drafts from anywhere. You can also download an Android or iOS app version of Celtx to your phone to keep your drafts in hand.

Celtx offers a packed feature set; alongside industry standard script formatting, you've also got a place to plot out beat sheets, compose shot lists, or even handle a bit of budgeting. There's even a timer to keep track of the minutes you spend actively writing and the hours you spend 'thinking' (for me, you could replace that latter timer with research/procrastinating/the experience of existential dread that only arises when I find myself staring at a blank page).

There is a free tier, but you're limited to one project file, and locked out of a lot of those handy pre-production features. Unfortunately, a professional quality tool means a professional price which in this day and age means a subscription model.

The most basic 'Writer' tier costs a little more than $11 / £9 a month, gives you three projects, some collaboration tools, and then offers those story development and production planning tools as optional add-ons. For a few bucks more a month, the 'Writer Pro' tier offers the story development tools as standard, and this is what you enjoy as part of the seven day free trial.

Some tools are definitely best suited to particular projects. As such, pure prose or poetry writers may not get all that much out of this one.

3. Scrivener

And now, drum roll please for the writing software I personally use for all of my creative projects now. I love Scrivener, not only because its organizational tools make some sense out of the red-string corkboard I call a brain, but also because the full version requires a one-off payment.

After a 30-day free trial, a single payment of $59.99 / £55 gets you a powerful piece of software you can easily use for prose, poetry, or scriptwriting. Better yet, you can use the same software license on multiple devices at no additional cost.

Scrivener's dense, binder-style UI can look a bit intimidating at first but I love about that it allows me to collate multiple folders full of ideas, and research into one easy to navigate project file. Then, when I feel like an idea has actually got enough legs to stand on, I can spin it off into its own project file.

When I'm knee deep developing a longer prose idea, I can easily write chapters or scraps of a scene, then reorder them on my project corkboard too. If you love to plot with post-it notes, this is like that without introducing more bits of paper to potentially lose.

Scrivener is also highly customisable. For instance, if you're after a really clean look, you can easily hide UI elements until it's just you and the page. Embrace the existential dread of possibility, and write your magnum opus!

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