Free and Actually Useful Writer’s Software
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There are lots of writing sites around the web with various freeware programs for writers. Most of them are junk. Here are 3 absolutely free ones that I’ve personally tested and found to be capable at what they do. None of them contains any nag screens, ads, “trial” limitations, or other things to try to get you to buy something.
QuickPlot A very simple tree structure program that functions like index cards. An unlimited number of text pages, each with an unlimited number of sub-pages, each of those with an unlimited number of sub-sub-pages, like that. You can have your book’s title, under that a lot of chapter headings, under each of those some scene pages, well, you get the idea. For a program that doesn’t do a lot of different things, it’s pretty useful.
OpenOffice Sun Microsystems’ open source office suite that does virtually everything MS Office does, and it’s free. Compatible with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2003 documents. I’ve used it for years and wholeheartedly endorse it. An extremely nice software package that won’t cost you $500, or even a dime.
Page 2 Stage, formerly Screen Writer Studio This was a commercial screenwriting software title until January of 2007, when it was released to the open source community by Windward Studios when that entity changed its business model. I’ve tested it, and to me it’s just as useful and just as reliable for the spec screenwriter––you––as Hollywood Screenplay or Sophocles or even the now horribly bloated, way overpriced and hard-to-figure-out Movie Magic. P2S doesn’t have production features, and who cares––if you get to the point where you’re involved in the production end you can buy any software you like because you’ll have sold your script and made a ton of money. There’s also a stage play and radio play mode. The people who wrote the Canadian TV show “Point Blank” a few years ago used this program. Don’t know about others, but it’s a good screenwriting word processor for Windows, it doesn't take up much disk space, and it’s now free, so you don’t have to use the lame ScriptMaker or Word templates you can’t figure out in order to hold on to your hard-earned money.
500 Most Misspelled Words There are many such lists, of course. This one includes the words I see misspelled most often.
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