Here we are in the middle of National Novel Writing Month, (Or, “NaNoWriMo” as it’s known to the cool kids), so we figured we’d give a little nudge to the aspiring writers in our audience by suggesting a few Mac Apps that can help you get your thoughts in place, plan your plotlines, and keep your mind on your writing. I know, we could have posted this at the first of the month, but we’re writers. We work best right up against a deadline!
Scrivener – $44.99
Scrivener is a powerful content generation tool that is designed to aid in the creation of long and detailed documents. The focus of this app is on getting you to the end of your first draft. Then you can decided on things like fonts and formatting.
Scrivener allows you to compose your text in any order, and then view the components of the draft individually, or together. You can import and refer to your research files in the form of PDFs and images right alongside your masterpiece.
Scrivener’s corkboard and outlining tools are integrated with your text, so an overview of your work is always handy.
Scrivener is available for $44.99 in the Mac App Store. [DIRECT LINK]
A free trial of Scrivener is also available at the publisher’s website. [DIRECT LINK]
Movie Draft SE – $37.99
Movie Draft SE is designed to give the writer a clean and uncluttered interface. The developers claim it’s the best tool available for writing screenplays. Its tools are designed to take you from concept, to outline, to a finished draft.
Movie Draft SE isn’t a word processor. It sets up its workflow in a Single Scene mode allowing you to write your script in any order you wish. Write the ending first, and ten work your way back. The built-in Scene List acts as an outliner and your scenes can even be laid out like index cards to be rearranged however you wish.
Movie Draft SE is available in the Mac App Store for $37.99. [DIRECT LINK]
A demo version of the non-Mac App Store version of Movie Draft can be downloaded at the publisher’s website. [DIRECT LINK]
WriteRoom – $9.99
This is one of our favorites, WriteRoom has what may be the most uncluttered interface you’ll ever see. Want no distractions on your screen? How’s a completely blank screen grab you?
Although the interface may by uncluttered, this word processor is just as fully featured as its more screen-cluttered brethren. WriteRoom gives you a live word count and reading time. You can shift lines, select words, sentences and paragraphs. It can even automatically log your writing sessions to a spreadsheet.
If the blank screen doesn’t do it for you, the app also allows you to select your own background images, paper textures, and even typing sounds.
WriteRoom is a great choice for writers who are prone to distractions.
WriteRoom is available in the Mac App Store for $9.99. [DIRECT LINK]
A trial version of WriteRoom is available from the publisher’s website. [DIRECT LINK]
Ember acts as a digital scrapbook. Websites, photos, apps, anything that inspires you. Drag in images from your Mac, organize them, annotate them, even share them to your favorite online services. You can setup and apply tags for your images, and build Smart Collections.
You can also save websites to your Ember library, directly from Safari or Chrome. Ember doesn’t even need to be running when your add images from your browser.
Natural language, using terms such as “light blue” can be used to search the Ember library. Your library can also be saved to iCloud and synced to your other Macs.
Use Ember to collect your thoughts and ideas for use in your documents.
Ember is available in the Mac App Store for $49.99. [DIRECT LINK]
A trial version of Ember is available from the publisher’s website. [DIRECT LINK]
MindNode Pro – $19.99
MindNode Pro is a mind mapping application. It is designed to aid you in your brainstorming session. Allowing you to lay out your notes and tasks visually to give you an overview of your projects.
MindNode Pro uses an infinitely expanding canvas, so no matter how big your project gets, it can help you keep track of it.
The app’s Brainstorm function allows you to create new nodes with one click, create cross-connections, drag-and-drop to move or reconnect nodes, add images and links, and can even work in full screen mode under OS X Lion or higher.
MindNode Pro also allows you to share your mind maps by exporting it in various formats, including PDF, OPML, PNG, TIFF, RTF and more.
MindNode Pro is available in the Mac App Store for $19.99 [DIRECT LINK]
A free “light” version of MindNode is also available in the Mac App Store. [DIRECT LINK]
While these apps won’t automatically make you a good writer, they will certainly make you a better writer by helping you avoid distractions, organize your thoughts, sources, and files, and allowing you to see the big picture.
