Best Free Open Source Novel Writing Software for Windows

Here is a list of Best Free Open Source Novel Writing Software for Windows. These are the novel writing software whose source code you can find on internet. You can freely download the source code of these novel writing programs as well as study and manipulate them without any restriction. Using these open source software, you can easily write a novel with multiple chapters and then export it in various formats like PDF, TXT, HTML, RTF, etc.

These software provide a variety of tools that enable you write your novels or any other creative piece without much hassle. One of the most important parts of a novel writing software is character management. In each of the listed software, you can easily introduce characters of your novel with their respective descriptions which include name, age, importance, goal, etc. Besides that, you can also add locations that are used in your novels. Furthermore, these let you add multiple other items like notes, plots, reference items, tags, etc. After defining main aspects of your novel, you can start writing scenes in the novel using main editor of these software.

Apart from essential features, you also get additional handy features in these software. Some of these tools include statistics, spellchecker, dictionary, automatic save, and fullscreen mode (for distraction free writing). Overall, these are feature rich software that help you write novels, stories, trilogy, and many more creative writing piece.

My Favorite Free Open Source Novel Writing Software for Windows:

Quoll Writer is my favorite software on this list. It is one of the most feature rich open source novel writing software that provides an advance set of features. Plus, you can also share your novels with any other editor and get his/ her feedback.

I also liked Manuskript as it is very simple to use and is suitable for different kinds of writing projects including novels.

You can also check out lists of best free Novel Writing Software, Open Source Screenwriting Software, and Story Writing Software for Windows.

Quoll Writer

Quoll Writer is a free open source novel writing software for Windows. It lets you create a novel and manage different aspects of the book effortlessly. Using it, you can write novels and other kinds of writing piece like screenplays, stories, essays, and more. It comes with all essential features that you may require to write a novel. Let’s checkout main features of this open source novel writing software that you can look forward to.

Key Features:

• Chapter Management: You can add and manage multiple chapters in your novel. You can further add several scenes, plot, etc.
• Character Management: It lets you add multiple characters to you novel which you can use in different scenes. You can easily edit or delete characters at any time.
• Items and Research Items: You can also add plotlines, notes, and research items to you novel project which you can use as a reference while writing your novel.
• Annotation: This is another nice feature of this software which you can use to add annotations to your novels.
• Full-Screen Mode: In case you want a distraction-free writing environment, you can use its fullscreen mode and write your novel without any onscreen distraction.
• Export: It supports a good number of formats to export your novels including DOCX, HTML, EPUB, etc.

Additional Features:

• Problem Finder: As its name suggests, this feature basically finds out problems in the written text. It finds out problem based on predefined rules or customized rules.
• Editor Mode: You can share your projects with your colleagues using this mode. A chat feature is also provided in this mode. Plus, colleagues can comment on your novels.
• Statistics: You can find out various statistics related to your novel like word count, readability, session charts, etc.

Conclusion:

It is one of best free open source novel writing software which facilitated you with all the features that you required to write your novels.

Manuskript

Manuskript is another free open source novel writing software for Windows. It is a dedicated software that lets you create several fictional and non-fictional writing projects. You can use it to write a novel, story, research paper, trilogy, etc. This software is also portable in nature. So, you can run it without an eventful installation and quickly start writing a novel.

Let’s see what are the highlights of this open source novel writing software.

Key Features:

• You can start with defining number of chapters as well as number of scenes per chapter and words per scene.
• It lets you add general information related to a novel such as title, subtitle, series, author, volume, genre, etc. You can also write a summary defining your novel.
• It lets you add as many characters to your novel as you want with respective information such as goal, conflict, motivation, importance, etc.
• It provides a Plots section where you can write the main plot and turns of your novel.
• A World section is also provided in it to add important items to your novel which may include climate, astronomy, wild life, history, language, education, ethics, religion, rules, organization, important places, etc.
• To write down the main content of your novel, you can use its Editor section. Also, you can use its Debug section to review and edit your work.
• When done writing a novel, you can simply save it in Text or Markdown format using Compile feature.

Additional Features:

Some more handy tools that further help you write a novel are also offered by this software. These tools include Spellchecker, Frequency Analyzer, and Dictionary.

Conclusion:

Manuskript is a great portable and open source novel writing software which you can use to create various writing projects including novels.

Plume Creator

Plume Creator is yet another open source novel writing software for Windows. Using it, you can write short and long novels. You can easily define novel structure in it and then add content. Let’s checkout main feature of the novel writing software.

Main Features:

• You can define multiple acts, chapters, and scenes in your novel to manage different aspect easily. And then, it lets you write content to these parts in different tabs.
• It lets you add and manage multiple characters in your novel. You can add characters’ details including name, age, importance (main/secondary), type (protagonist/supporting/neutral/antagonist), and one line description.
• You can add notes while writing novels.
• In it, you can find and option to write text as normal or poetry.
• You can also add various locations that you want to use in your novel.
• To format content, it provides basic modification tools including font, style, size, etc.
• It supports a number of formats to export your novel which include PDF, HTML, CSV, ODT, and TXT.

Additional Features:

• To make sure you don’t lose changes made to novel, it provides an automatically save option using which you can specify duration after which your novel is automatically saved.
• It provides a fullscreen mode that enables you to write novels in a distraction free mode.

Conclusion:

Plume Creator is another good open source novel writing software that you can use to easily write novels or any other kind of creative writing.