Writing Tools

• Grammarly can help give your writing a smoothness and gloss it otherwise might not have. The free version is quite good. 

• Good ole Microsoft Word: Under Preferences, choose “Spelling & Grammar” and explore options. Plus, You can highlight any word and right-click to do a “Smart Lookup” for a quick definition.

• Scrivener users will benefit from suggestions to enhance their writing. Navigate to Scrivener > Settings > Corrections to explore options. Grammarly also works within Scrivener. 

• Chicago Manual of Style for academic and professional writing. You must pay for a subscription.

• Free Thesaurus at Emote, the Merriam-Webster Thesaurus. 

• MasterWriter claims to offer a powerful suite of writing tools especially for Song writers, and also Creative writers.

• Free online tools by searching for “online grammar tools” or “online writing tools”

Books on Writing Style

• Strunk and White’s classic The Elements of Style (free).

• Any others you recommend? Send us an email.

Mechanics of Writing

• Scrivener for help with research, organization, writing, and formatting an app made exclusively for writers. Also with a user community forum.

• Scapple an app like a virtual sheet of paper or a whiteboard. Use it to draw notes of your ideas and connect them using lines, arrows, and more.

• Plottr an app to arrange (and rearrange) scenes, plots, and character arcs as you navigate your way to the end of your plot—a virtual corkboard.