Writing a script prior to Final Draft was like pulling oneself out of quicksand - cut, paste and formatting nightmares. Speech to Script. Speech to Script customizes Mac’s Dictation feature so you can write your screenplay without ever touching a keyboard. Reformat Tool. Here is a list of best free script writing software for Windows. All these software can be used as script writing software and screenwriting software. Linux, and Mac. Home Page Download Page SSuite QTWriter. SSuite QTWriter is a free writing tool to create and edit various types of documents. You can also use this freeware as script writer. Low-Budget to Hollywood Luxe: The 7 Best Screenwriting Tools for Filmmakers. By Marian Schembari. January 5, 2016. Cost: $45 for Mac, $40 for Windows. I don’t write script that often but when I do it I don’t want to have and headache. Scripts can be “run” from within the Script Editor application or saved as either script files or script applications, available for use at any time, and from within any application. Script files are launched from an application’s script menu or from the Mac OS system-wide Script Menu utility. Best Inexpensive Script Writing Software: Highland. Highland is a minimalist, distraction-free software that utilizes plain text. This means that your script is readable in any text editor and can move easily on and off of any device.
- Script Writing Program For Mac
- Script Writing App For Mac
- Best Script Writing Software For Mac
- Script Writing Tools For Mac
November is known for turkey, Black Friday sales, not shaving, and—since the year 2000—the month when writers try to (finally) craft the Great American Novel. We're talking about the sixteenth annual National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).
What began as a little event in San Francisco in July 1999 (it moved to November the next year) has ballooned into something far more than national. It's a worldwide phenomenon, backed by a non-profit company created by the founder, Chris Baty, that doubles as a major cheerleader for writers.
It's free to participate, but your tax-deductable donations are encouraged to keep it afloat. That's because you don't really need the NaNoWriMo site to get a book written. But consider how you 'win' at NaNoWriMo: You have to write a 50,000-word novel in just 30 days. That's 1,667 words a day. Stephen King might snap that much off before lunchtime, but the rest of us need encouragement.
Take the first step by announcing your novel at NaNoWriMo.org, and on November 1, start recording your daily word count. You'll earn badges along the way and get advice via newsletters (some by famous authors) and the forums. You can build a community of fellow WriMos online and through local events.
In the end, you'll have a novel. It will probably be crappy. No, it will definitely be crap-tastic. But that's okay! The only rule of NaNoWriMo is to finish—because that's the hardest part. Some famous modern novels, such as Wool, The Night Circus, and Water for Elephants all started life as NaNoWriMo novels. Over 250 traditionally published have come from NaNoWriMo. That's not counting countless more great self-published books. 325,142 people tried to write a NaNoWriMo book in 2014 alone—and 58,917 met the 50,000 word goal!
To truly succeed at NaNoWriMo you need things we can't help you with, like an idea, and a plot, and characters, not to mention the gumption to spend hours each day clacking at the keyboard. But we can point out some of the absolute best software and apps you can get to make it all a little easier to write, plan, and count all those precious words. After you finish that 50,000-word draft—that's the same size at The Great Gatsby!—you'll have all the tools you need on hand to keep writing. Always keep writing.
Desktop Writing Software
There is one primary tool any writer needs first and foremost: a word processor. Of course, the primo processor in the world is Microsoft Word. Plus, Word is available for Windows, Mac, and a simplified version for iPad, the latter being 'the first app that gets tablet-based word processing right,' according to our review). All are available as part of the Microsoft Office 365 Personal subscription for $69 a year (you can't even edit a document on iPad without a Microsoft Office account). There is no better tool for word-smithing overall.
Mac users may prefer to stay with the home team, which means Pages ($19.99), Apple's own design-friendly word processor. It happens to work with Microsoft Word documents. Pages can be accessed on the Web via iCloud.com (free, but you have to upgrade to iCloud Drive) or go through an iOS app ($9.99).
Having both Word and Pages are totally overkill for NaNoWriMo, of course, but chances are you have one of them on hand if you use a computer.
Oh, you like overkill? Then don't get a word processor that's for everything—get one that's ultra-powerful and designed with novelists (like you) in mind. Scrivener is that tool. Now available for Mac OS ($45) and Windows ($40), it contains extras so specific to fiction writing that you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. That includes corkboard outlining, story and script templates, and character files. For WriMos, there's the all-important ability to set up writing goals for the whole book, but also goals per writing session. It also can output books directly to self-publishing services like Amazon Kindle Direct. Whole books have been written on how to master Scrivener.
The free Scrivener trial lasts for 30 days, but there's a special version for WriMos—download it now and you can try it free til Dec. 7, 2015. If you reach your 50,000 word count, you can buy Scrivener for 50 percent off. If you don't reach the word count, you can still get 20 percent off using the coupon code NANOWRIMO when buying Scrivener from its website.
Storyist (Mac, $59; iOS, $14.99) is nipping at the heels of Scrivener, focusing on fiction writers with specialized tools to track the plot, settings, and characters of your novel. On the desktop, it comes with a component to make scripts that meet the Hollywood standard. That iOS version allows writing on the go, even on iPhone—and mobility is a key item for the serious WriMo in this day and age. It also has tools to make outputting your final novel a breeze if you plan to self-publish.
Ulysses (Mac, $44.99; iPad, $19.99) has a NaNoWriMo trial edition (expires Dec. 7, 2015 that comes with a special version of Writing a Novel with Ulysses by novelist David Hewson. (He's also written a similar edition for Scrivener.)
There's also yWriter (Win/Mac/Linux, free), which does a lot of the above—tracking characters, chapters, etc.—but even in version 5.2 it's looking pretty old in the tooth these days. Consider it if you like your apps old-school.
New to the game is Bibisco, an open-source tool for Windows and Linux, complete with novel and scene organization, character development tools, even charts to show distribution across the book of where characters and locations and more appear. For a free tool, its and up-and-comer.
Distraction-Free Writing
The above are all examples of power tools for getting words down. To rid yourself of on-screen distractions, there is a breed of full-screen word processors that provide minimal disturbance—nothing appears on the screen except your story. There are a lot of them, for installation on the desktop or to use on the Web. To be fair, Ulysses, Microsoft Word, Scrivener, and most word processors have a full-screen mode that'll do this, but the bells and whistles could still be a diversion. Ain't nobody got time for that—you've got words to write!
On the Mac, there's iA Writer (Mac, $19.99)—it's so minimalist you can't even pick a font. Pair it with the $9.99 iOS version and $4.99 Android versions for a fully mobile distraction-free ecosystem.
The competition at WriteRoom (Mac, $9.99) has been called a 'Spartan writing utopia' by the New York Times. If you like the look of green-glowing-type on black, the kind of thing we had 25 years ago on the Apple II, you'll agree. (You can change the look with special themes).
Windows users should check out CreaWriter (donationware), which lets you customize the background image and add musical accompaniment via MP3 files. WriteMonkey (free) has multiple languages and even sound packages so you can feel like you're at an old-school typewriter. ZenWriter is $19.95 after a free trial, which is a little steep, but it does support changes in background, music, typing sounds, and more.
For those with multiple operating system options, OmmWriter Dana is available for Mac, Windows (minimum price of $5.11, but you can give more), or iPad ($4.99), and features noises and specially designed backgrounds to keep you free from interruption. Finally, FocusWriter is tip-ware—you pick the price from $1 to $20—and it comes for Windows, Mac, and even Linux, in multiple languages. You can throw a cool background behind it to make it a little less austere (like this).
Online Writing Tools
Downloadable programs aren't required to get your novel written. It's the Internet! All the tools you need are right online.
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Let's start with the uber-powerful tool of choice: Google Docs, the word-processor part of Google Drive/Google Apps, is just about as powerful as they come. It's free to anyone in the world with a Google account, and all the files are stored online. That might be a downside—needing online access—but you can get around that by using either Google Chrome as your browser (set it up on each computer by clicking More>Offline when in Google Drive) or by installing the Google Drive program to sync your online files with your computer. Google Docs is also available to edit your files via Android or iOS devices.
Microsoft Word is also available online, as part of Office Online. It looks a lot like the full-blown version of Word, but it's in the browser and OneDrive is used for online storage. Word users who want a mobile option should save docs to OneDrive and try Word for iPad or Android tablets. Don't forget that Apple's Pages program has an online version you can access at iCloud.com.
Web-based writing tools aren't limited to the big three of Google, Microsoft, and Apple. There's cool little startups trying to make a big splash. The latest is Novelize , which works like an online-only version of Scrivener. The cost is $5 per month or $45 for the year after a free 17-day trial. Unlike Scrivener, since it's Web-based and prepped for any screen, Novelize works for desktops, mobile device, and Web-only devices like a Chromebook. Plus, it has a distraction free writing option.
Novlr is also a relatively new entry with a clean interface and Scrivener-esque sensibility. It's online only, free during NaNoWriMo, then $10 a month after if you want to keep using it.
Prefer working with other writers? Quipis a free, communal online office suite with word processing and spreadsheets. It shines as a collaborative tool—great for anyone doing some kind of group NaNoWriMo novel. Quip offers free apps for iOS and Android, so you get full online, mobile writing options. Quip stores all your files on its own servers.
Dropbox, the much beloved file backup-and-synch service, just announced a new tool called Dropbox Paper that takes on Google Docs and Quip in some ways, providing an online tool for collaboration. Users can add images and videos and links based on what else is stored in their drop box, but for WriMos the tool of choice is using it as a whiteboard for writing. As of this writing Paper hasn't launched yet; sign up for the waiting list.
Script Writing App For Mac
Online Research Tools
Tools for WriMos aren't limited to just getting down the words. There are other aspects of crafting a novel that have to be taken into account, such as planning and research.
Outlining tools take (some of) the pain out of plotting and writing a novel. It all depends on what kind of outline you want, and what kind of outliner you are. An ultra basic outline with indented lines is a breeze with WorkFlowy (iOS/Android/Web, free) or SimpleNote (iOS/Android/Mac/Web, free)—and both have mobile apps, so you can work on the outline via phone or tablet. Trello (iOS/Android/Web, free) organizes lists into cards that looks like a Pinterest board—pretty great for storyboarding a book as if you're making a movie (and it works with multiple users, so great for the collaborative novel). If you're willing to learn Markdown language—a way of creating rich text without a rich-text editor—build an entire wiki with a free tool like scribble (Web, free). If you want to try a mind-map approach to planning, check out a free, personal account at SpiderScribe (Web, free limited to 3 private maps).
What about all that great research material you run across online, all of it fodder for creating more and more words each day of NaNoWriMo? It goes without saying that you should have an Evernote account. It's the ultimate storage space for everything you find online, type on your phone (via the free apps), or photograph. If you don't believe it, check out PCMag's roundup of the 30 Tips Every Evernote User Must Know.
Microsoft's Onenote (Windows/Mac/iOS/Android/Windows Phone/Web, free) is a different kind of note-taking beast, but still useful and accessible online, with the content syncing no matter what version you use. One great feature for WriMos is OneNote's Ink to Text—when using the software in tablet mode with a stylus, you can 'handwrite' notes that get converted to text, which you can then use as part of your novel's word-count.
One thing we haven't talked about yet is keeping track of your word counts, an all-important aspect of 'winning' at NaNoWriMo. Mostly, it'll be on you to keep track of that in your word processor of choice (in Word, just type Cntrl+Shift+G). To track the numbers, and your progress, consider Word Keeper Alpha, created by a former WriMo, or WriterStat Nuwa. Each tracks your progress and goals for projects with some splendid looking graphs.
Mobile-Only Apps
I've mentioned a bunch of mobile apps already that will get you going and keep you going on a NaNoWriMo novel; most are offshoots of existing desktop programs. Word for iPad, Google Docs for iOS and Android, Storyist for iOS, Pages for iOS, and Quip for iOS are all great for writing; for research you should load OneNote and Evernote on every mobile platform, ASAP. But there are a few mobile-only tools with no desktop equivalent that might work well for those eschewing the full-size keyboard.
One app written just for this very novel-writing occasion: Novel in 30. It's for the iPad only and costs $4.99. It's probably not the most robust word processor for a tablet, but that's not what you want—this is program to help you meet goals, get support, and make backups so you don't lose all that work. Shame it's not also useful on the iPhone. To make up for that, the developer of Novel in 30, also offers My Writing Spot (Android $2.99) which syncs with a free Web-based version; the site lists iPad and iPhone version that don't appear to currently be available.
Foremost among app-only writing tools is arguably Drafts (iOS, $9.99). It's ostensibly for making quick notes, a lot like SimpleNote, but with more options for where to save the data (services like Dropbox or Evernote, or post to Facebook and Twitter). In fact, you can use it as the front-end writing interface for a lot of different services.
On the Android side, check out Write ($1.99): it's listed as a tablet notepad/journal, but enjoys a lot of the same great features as Drafts—with an emphasis on keeping track of word count, great for WriMos.
Byword (iOS, $5.99) supports a lot of the same features as Drafts. Editorial (iOS, $9.99), is similar in that it saves to Dropbox, but otherwise it uses Markdown to provide some rich text editing as you go. It's also full of automation functions to turn Editorial into your personal workflow nirvana, if you're into that (or you've got the skills and patience to write the scripts—not the Hollywood kind).
Want to use your phone to keep track of your NaNoWriMo word count? It's a little easier than making a spreadsheet. WriteChain (iOS, free) is an extra-basic way to do it. Just slap your word count in each day, and each 'link in the writing chain' will eventually add up to show when you will likely hit your word count, based on the end goal. Writing Journal (iOS, free; right) is a little more involved, more like a writing stop-watch that tracks not only word count, but the amount of time it takes per session to get all those precious words.
Best Script Writing Software For Mac
Quick tip for those with iOS—you don't even need to type. iPhones and iPads take almost full voice dictation. Just click the microphone icon next to the spacebar on the on-screen keyboard and start talking. You say things like 'period' or 'open quote' or 'new line' or 'all caps'... here's a full list of everything you can tell iOS (or Siri) as you give dictation. This instant transcription is a great way to get a little more writing done on the sly (don't do it in the car.)
Script Writing Tools For Mac
You've got a few days before Nov. 1. Start planning that novel, and when the big day comes, hit the ground running... and write!