Quite honestly, when I wrote my first novel I didn’t know what the HE double hockey sticks I was doing. I wrote my manuscript in Word and tried to make sense of the whole thing at once by saving each chapter to individual files. This made it difficult to move scenes around and it was really hard to keep up with what was where when dealing with so many chapters. If only I’d known that there were software programs out there that nudge you along on the path to writing greatness. I decided to share my thoughts on the two programs I use and throw in a freebie to boot for those of you who are not ready or able to make a financial commitment.

Novels are broken in to scenes and the yWriter the first program on my list helps you get everything in order from the scene level to keep you organized yWriter allows you to drag and drop scenes from one chapter to another and work out the overall flow of your book. You can also drop a scene completely if you've written yourself into a dead end, without feeling you've ground to a complete halt. Check out yWriter’s list of Features:

1. It’s FREE
2. Organise your novel using a 'project'.
3. Add chapters to the project.
4. Add scenes, characters, items and locations.
5. Display the word count for every file in the project, along with a total.
6. Saves a log file every day, showing words per file and the total. (Tracks your progress)
7. Saves automatic backups at user-specified intervals.
8. Allows multiple scenes within chapters
9. Viewpoint character, goal, conflict and outcome fields for each scene.
10. Multiple characters per scene.
11. Storyboard view, a visual layout of your work.
12. Re-order scenes within chapters.
13. Drag and drop of chapters, scenes, characters, items and locations.
14. Automatic chapter renumbering..

If you want to spend a little more money but not break the bank I recommend Writer's DreamKit, by Write Brother's. At 59.95 it’s not too expensive and it really helps slay the monster we writers refer to as (hear scary Music) Writer’s Block. Writer’s DreamKit is a complete step-by-step fiction writing system designed for the aspiring writer. Now every writer has their own method of doing things and I no plenty who don’t want anything to do with an outline when it comes to writing a story. I am not one of those. Writer’s DreamKit is almost like having a virtual teacher at your beck and call that asks you questions and gives you examples. If the software could answer the question’s it would be perfect. Instead, the software is based on a story development environment where together you’ll solve the plot and character problems that prevent many stories from becoming great enough to sell.

Ok, now these are the folks from Write Brother’s words not mine and I have to say that or I would be breaking copyright law. “You’ll cast and build your characters, plot out your story, layer in themes with universal meaning, and put it all together into scenes to form a solid step outline. And as your mentor, the Writer’s DreamKit will do something no other writing program can do—it predicts parts of your story based on creative decisions you make! You’ll be inspired to incorporate those ideas into your developing story and make it even tighter—with no plot holes or character inconsistencies!”
I must add as a user of Writer’s DreamKit, I agree with every word in quotation marks.

My final software recommendation is Serenity Software’s Editor. The Editor checks spelling, usage, punctuation, and style. And unlike a teacher it doesn’t mark everything in red. Before I turn my manuscript over, I send my work through Editor. I have to admit that it can be tedious because it gives you feedback line through line. But it worth it, like the marketing material says, “Its professional critiques of usage and style help writers edit and polish their work. It checks for many spelling mistakes that other checkers miss and for myriads of common stylistic flaws that other checkers ignore.” At only $50 I strongly recommend it for the serious writer.

All of these programs have trial versions, be sure to check out the link to the respective sites and take programs on a test ride.