Tools recommended by and for writers

[Quantum]

Recommended by the members of the Alliance of Independent Authors:

http://selfpublishingadvice.org/best-...

[Marie Silk]

Nice find, Alex. Thanks :).

I haven't tried or heard of most of these, but Grammarly sounds like it's worth a shot.

[Quantum]

Marie wrote: "Nice find, Alex. Thanks :).

I haven't tried or heard of most of these, but Grammarly sounds like it's worth a shot."

cool.

i also just added the Alliance of Independent Authors link to the author resources spreadsheet.

[Kent]

I used the free version of Grammarly to catch a lot of the small stuff. It did a fairly good job pointing out comma problems and other grammatical issues. What it didn't do a good job of was fixing incorrect preposition use. For example, if you used "in" instead of "on" by mistake, it didn't pick that up.

The paid version claims to help with word choice and other more advanced things. I didn't try it, so no idea if it's worth it.

Overall, I'd say it's definitely worth scanning your text with Grammarly. It's better than your editor checker and you can choose which changes you want to accept. Just be mindful of the fact that it doesn't catch everything. You still need the fine-toothed comb.

[Philip]

I tried Grammarly including paid for version but rejected it. I found it too fussy and the whole upload download was painful.

In terms of other tools I use Scrivenor (as my main tool), Aeon Timeline, Excel spreadsheets (for Sci-Fi alien measurement conversions), mind-mappers and various graphics software for covers. I know some authors use family history programmes too for their fictional long histories

Best tool overall - independent editors

[Rachel]

I just found a free app called 'Character Planner' which you can use form both plotting, world-building, planning characters etc. It has some nice questions you can answer to help you out, so I'd recommend it!

[Neil]

Grammarly and Hemmingway App are the two I use