Manuskript

Finding the time and inspiration, and staying motivated, writing, editing, rewriting and repeating this process over and over are just some of the most obvious reasons why writing a book is, by all accounts, a very challenging task

That said, it's easy to see why employing the proper tools to aid you in your endeavor can really make a difference.

Take, for example, Manuskript - an open source piece of software designed from the ground up to help writers to organize everything from the structure of their future books all the way to the most intricate of details regarding the characters, the plot, and various events.

Before we dive into details, please note that Manuskipt is in a fairly young development stage, so you might encounter a few bugs here and there. This is also the perfect time to point that you should always backup your work as regularly as possible.

The application does not have any special requirements and doesn't even require installation in its current stage. Just download the app, unzip its package, and run it via its designated executable file.

Right off the bat, we will say that this is definitely not the most stylish app out there, however, there's no denying that it more than makes up for this thanks to itsvery intuitive user-interface. Basically, the app's main window consists out a simple menu bar and a left-sided Navigation bar.

You can start off by filling in the basic information about the book and the author in the General tab, followed by a one-sentence summary in the Tab with the same name.

There's a fairly well-thought-out Characters section that allows you to sketch your characters to a great extent. For instance, you can select their level of importance in the novel, and add all sorts of details and notes regarding their motivation, goals, conflicts, epiphanies and others.

You can also devise unique plots, and define all sorts of physical and cultural items and objects, as well as establish important places from your novel. Of course, an application such as this wouldn't have been of much help if it didn't bundle a sort of built-in editor in the first place.

Happily, not only is the editor decent for most day-to-day writers, but the app also provides you with two writing modes (simple and fiction) and support for multiple text-related formats. There are two other self-explanatory features that deserve mentioning such as the Story Line, Frequency Analyzer, Outliner, and Index cards.

Before we end our review, we will highlight the fact that Manuskript also bundles a customizable, so-called Free Mode, which allows you to focus on writing better (it sports a few themes as well).

Sure enough, with time, the application will get better and better, however, all things considered, Manuskript is a fairly capable application of this sort, especially considering its development age.

It's intuitive enough even for the most novice of users, it's easy to install, and it sports efficient features that allow you to organize the structure of your future book in a hierarchical manner.