Rich in statistics and heavy on structure, yWriter encourages you to write scenes rather than chapters because the former are more manageable. It gives you dozens of places to store your job details and compiles all this metadata into useful charts and tables. If that level of information doesn’t bother you, yWriter is an excellent tool. That said, it doesn’t offer any templates or support collaboration features. Scrivener And Ulysses Be our Editors’ Choice winner for Writing app Because they offer a wider range of features and a more flexible interface, especially for long-form projects.
How much does yWriter cost?
yWriter is free to download and use for Windows users. You can support Simon Hayes (the developer of the app who works under the business name Spacejock) and register your software with a suggested donation of $11.95 (Silver) or $24.95 (Gold). Gold level entitles you to a discount on Hayes’ eBook creation services. The macOS app, which is still in beta, is free to use now, though it will eventually require payment. The iOS version of the app costs $14.99, and the Android version costs $5.49.
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Even yWriter’s Gold Tier is very reasonably priced. Apps for novelists and book writers typically cost between $50 and $60 for a one-time license or as a subscription per year. Novelize ($65 per year), Scrivener ($59.99), Storyist ($59), and Ulysses ($39.99 per year) round out the range.
Screenwriting apps are expensive. Fade in ($79.95) is the most affordable option. final draft ($249) covers the high end, though you can sometimes get it at a discount. Script Studio ($199.95) comes with sample movie content to help you write. These apps have tools to track characters, lines of dialogue, locations, and more, not to mention auto-formatting, which ensures that the people creating the script understand it.
Lightweight, distraction-free writing apps cost the lowest, ranging from $10 to $30. byword ($10.99 for macOS) and iA author ($29.99 for Windows) Two examples. They’re better for writing blog posts, memos, and short-form articles than 50,000-word manuscripts or 100-page screenplays.
Getting Started with yWriter
The latest version of the app for PCs is yWriter 7 It works on Windows devices running Windows 7 and later Beta versions with the latest features are available for download, although you may run into errors with these releases
After you download and install yWriter, you can start a writing project immediately. The interface and menus are intuitive, whether you start from scratch or import work-in-progress from another app as an RTF file.
Creating chapters and scenes is easy enough, though the app limits you to working on one scene at a time. From the default interface, you can read the text of each scene, but you can’t edit them – you have to click on a section to open an edit window. In testing, we found it frustrating not being able to type text directly into a visible view without opening a new window
Another minor annoyance is that the on-screen text is quite small. There isn’t a simple zoom tool anywhere in the main interface, although you can Ctrl click and scroll to make text larger or smaller. Furthermore, the ability to choose a font and text size is in the View menu rather than a part of the main interface.
A data-first writing method
In yWriter, each chapter and scene has multiple fields where you can add more details. For example, you can describe the location, identify which characters appear in which scenes, organize project notes, and specify whose perspective the scene is from. You can even add inspiration images, specify which items appear in the scene (very useful if you’re going to bring them back up later), and add specific locations. Each scene also has a status, indicating whether it is in draft stage, first edit, second edit, etc.
Some of these data collections, such as character sheets, are for your reference only. The software compiles others into reports and tables. For example, when you look at a chapter, you can see how many words are in each scene, the names of all the scenes in it, and whose point of view it is from.
But yWriter doesn’t stop there. With two clicks, you can pull up a report that shows how many scenes each character appears in You might want to see Gwendolyn in a major role, but reportedly, you notice she’s only in a few scenes. And where many writing apps let you set a daily word goal, yWriter lets you set one hourly.
Whether you find all this information valuable or confusing depends on which author you are. If you’re losing an hour per writing session looking at font options, the amount of data here might overwhelm you. You can get better with a distraction-free writing app like Ulysses.
There are no prebuilt templates or collaboration features
You don’t get any default templates with yWriter, although you can create custom ones. It does not provide any auto-formatting feature. Of course, automatic formatting is not a requirement for writing novels or books.
The software does not support any form of collaboration, meaning real-time co-authoring and editing is not possible. That said, only a few writing apps like Fade In, Final Draft, and Writer Duet have that option.
Decent storage and export options
yWriter automatically saves your work, and you can specify exactly how often it does so in the settings. These automatic saves allow you to revert to an earlier version of your work whenever needed.
To back up your work Online storageLike Box or Dropbox, you must enable that setting in the Tools menu. We wish this option was more common. Once you enable it, however, yWriter saves your work locally and in the cloud.
For exporting your work, yWriter’s options are average. You can export to HTML, LaTeX, PDF, RTF, and a few other formats. There is also an option Export to eBook; You can use either Caliber or to do so by doing a chapter or its entirety in the integrated approach of the app.
Verdict: yWriter keeps track of all details
yWriter may not appeal to the traditional creative writer, but if you’re looking for data and organization, it’s worth exploring. It encourages you to think of scenes as moving parts, which can be helpful if you struggle to get away from long, rambling and seemingly endless chapters. That said, yWriter’s lack of default templates and tendency to hide some settings are downsides. If you want a writing app that balances features and ease of use, you’ll want to spend more for our Editors’ Choice winner, Scrivener or Ulysses.
3.5
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Statistics-heavy yWriter is ideal if you’re keen on organization and track your writing data, though it doesn’t offer any templates to help you get started.
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