yWriter, a Writing Software Review

So, as some of you may know - I have been trying out different writing software. I started with StoryBook (see my review). Then I tried yWriter. If you recall I liked yWriter better. After I finished the first draft of my WIP I downloaded the trial version of Scrivener to give it a try. As I always do better with reviews when I can compare two things, I will compare yWriter to my first impressions of Scrivener. Stay tuned for my full review of Scrivener.

I really enjoyed using yWriter. It has some great features. And from what I have seen so far, it has similar functionality to Scrivener. Although it does not have many cool exporting functions, which I personally don't mind.

My Favorite Features

• It's Free
• With the click of a button it will read your writing to you. Great for revising. (By the way, Scrivener does not have this feature.
• Did I mention it is free?

What it is Lacking

• Embedded spell checking. It tells you when a word is wrong but does not offer suggestions. I am a terrible speller so this was an issue for me. (Scrivener does).
• You have to have a Chapter-Scene structure. I got around this by just having one scene per chapter. No big deal. But Scrivener has more flexibility in this area.

The Verdict

yWriter is on the list for my top 5. But since Scrivener is not to terribly expensive I may end up going with it. The big reason? I plan to self publish and Scrivener has some great export options for that. However, I do have a few more I would like to try before I decided for sure.