The perfect writing software is going to look different for every author. I’ve used most of the big ones at this point, and today we’re looking at two popular browser-based options: NovelPad and Novlr. On the surface, these two programs look fairly comparable: minimalistic, browser-based, community-oriented writing options. But take a closer look and they’re not even in the same category. Let’s get into it.
I’m going to take you through the writing process of both programs, from project creation to export, see how they compare, then I’ll tell you which I think suits what type of writer.
Content:
- What is NovelPad?
- What is Novlr?
- Writing a book with NovelPad
- Writing a book with Novlr
- Novlr Pros
- NovelPad Pros
- NovelPad vs Novlr comparison scores
- Conclusion: NovelPad or Novlr?
What is NovelPad?
NovelPad is a browser-based novel writing solution that provides high-tier organization, offline and online mode, secure backups, and many unique, user-driven features. NovelPad is compatible with any browser, device, and processing system. Users gush about features like their scene cards, intuitive goal-tracking, side-by-side revisions, inter-linking notes system, and attentive tech support.
What is Novlr?
Novlr is a browser-based novel writing solution that creates a friendly, encouraging writing environment. It offers features like project templates, writer and project analytical, and a thriving writing community for users. Novlr is currently available for community buy-in.
Writing a book with NovelPad
Now I’m going to take you through the process of using NovelPad, from creating the project to exporting your finished book.
Creating a new project
NovelPad works in browser on any device, and I like to write out of my browser, so I click this little pop-out and it opens as an app, which you can then access from your desktop without internet connection.
To create a new project in NovelPad, you either click the gray plus button, or you can hit IMPORT FROM WORD. So long as you follow a couple formatting rules, like replacing your scene breaks with hashtags and formatting your chapter titles as headings in Microsoft Word, it will split up your story into chapters and scenes for you. Here’s an import walkthrough.
Setting up the project
If you are a planner, you can follow these steps before you start drafting, or you can fill these out as you develop the story (or never use them at all).
1. Set up your Characters
On the Characters page, you can add your characters, including their nicknames and a bio. If you’re the type of writer who gets very into character building, you can link a Note to the character to have more space and formatting. More on that below.
But the coolest thing about the Characters page is, once you start drafting, every scene that this character appears in will show up there, in order. That makes it easy to check your continuity and tighten character arcs. This is why you include those nicknames, because if you have a character who is referred to by Debbie, and Debs, and Mom, you can make sure they are all included.
2. Locations
Locations function the same way as Characters, where you make a profile for each major location in your story. You manually assign Locations on each Scene Card, then you can see every scene that happens at that location, in order.
3. Plot board
With the Plot board, you can track plots, subplots, character arcs, romance arcs, etc. As you write, assign Plots to Scene Cards, just like we did with Locations, and see every scene that belongs to that Plot in chronological order.
Characters, Locations, and Plots are some basic groundwork you can lay out ahead of time, if you’re a meticulous planner, or you can completely ignore them and go the minimalistic pantser route. Dealer’s choice!
Backups
Security is so important for writers. Nothing will zap motivation like lost work you have to re-write.
NovelPad has a couple different ways they keep your work safe. One is automatic backups to a secure cloud every 60 seconds. You’ll never lose more than a minute’s worth of work.
Two, they have something called Rewind, which is where you can reset a project to any day or time, and it restores that version. If you do that and hate what you restored, restore it again to before you restored that version.
Settings
NovelPad offers the following setting options:
- dark mode
- font and font size
- line and paragraph spacing
- indentions, page width, text alignment
- chapter numbering
- typewriter mode
- ProWritingAid (included with NovelPad subscription) specifications
- smart quotes
- custom scene color labels
Goal Tracking
On the Goals page, we can see our progress in words and minutes, as well as today’s goal and how close we are to it.
You can set a goal of words or minutes, per day, week, month, or total. You can track words in all scenes or just the manuscript, set start and end dates, and specify how heavy you want each day to be.
You can set it to adapt the schedule to your progress, which means if you write over or under your goal for that day, it will automatically update the remaining days in your goal span to reflect that updated number.
You can add sprints and vacations, so if you have a one-time event where you’ll write more than normal or not at all, you can factor those in here. It’s a very intentional and controlled goal-setting and tracking method.
Drafting
Drafting can be done in the main manuscript, or via the Chapters page in individual scenes. The Chapters page is where you can organize your Scene Cards.
You can click-and-drag Scenes and Chapters, which is helpful for restructuring, and you can assign those elements we mentioned above on this drop-down menu.
Offline mode
One thing I love about using NovelPad is that I can open it anywhere, anytime, from any device. It’s obviously available online, since you can access it anywhere, but you can also write exclusively offline. Then the next time you have internet connection, it’ll resync and those changes will be available on any device. I love that you don’t need internet connection to initially open the project.
Proofreader
NovelPad has a ProWritingAid integration. If you have a ProWritingAid extension on your browser, you’re going to want to disable it while you’re using NovelPad to avoid overlap. You can enable, disable, and customize ProWritingAid’s features on the Settings page.
Notes
NovelPad’s note-taking system is great for worldbuilding, research, outlines, revision notes, character information, and whatever you typically keep a thousand little post-it notes and Microsoft word documents to keep track of. You can organize into folder tiers, and you can use all of the formatting options we have on the drafting page.
The best Notes feature is linking. Highlight something in a note, and you can link the Note to any other part of your project. So if you do that really extensive character building, link this Note to that Character. It makes navigation and organizing very easy.
You can also pin the Notes page to have Notes open next to your drafting document for easy reference.
Revisions
One of NovelPad’s gold star features is the Side-by-Side Revisions. You can make an infinite number of scene revisions and store them attached to the original version. Just click the arrow icon to swap out which version appears in the live manuscript.
This feature has completely destroyed my fear of revising!
Export
You can export your projects from NovelPad as EPUB, DOCX, or markdown. A recent update made it where you can now download the entirety of your project, rather than just the manuscript, so if you plan a whole novel on NovelPad, then decide it’s not for you and you want to move your work somewhere else, you can take all of your Character sheets, Notes, and everything else with you.
Community
Another aspect I’m looking at for both Novlr and NovelPad is their community because writing is such a solitary thing that if you’re outsourcing something or using a program, I think it’s a good opportunity to choose something with a social component. Lots of writers don’t have an easy opportunity to connect with other writers.
NovelPad has an active Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Discord. As of today, Discord channel has just under a thousand members, and the developers are promptly responsive to questions and bug reports.
NovelPad’s developers use Instagram to share author spotlights when a user publishes a book, host frequent giveaways to hand out free accounts, and are generally very active members of the writing community.
The most stellar aspect of their community is that your NovelPad account will get you into a writing workshop, hosted in the Discord channel. They match you up with a handful of other writers in similar genres, teach you how writing workshops run, then you can give and receive feedback and learn from other writers. Very cool!
Writing a book with Novlr
Now let’s take a look at those same features in Novlr.
Creating a new project
You create a new project in Novlr by hitting Create and selecting your format. There may be intent to provide more comprehensive templates for each format, but currently it only seems to go as far as a “Poems” project labeling your project sections as “poem” rather than “chapter”.
Backups
You can sync your Google Drive or Dropbox to make automatic daily or weekly backups.
Settings
Here are the settings option we get in Novlr:
- light/dark mode
- font formatting (mono, sans, serif, sizes)
- curly quotes
- paragraph indention
- proofreader toggle
- commenting toggle
Goal Tracking
Novlr’s goal tracking system is fairly simple, the highlight being a writing day streak counter.
You can set daily writing goals and/or monthly writing goals, specifying word count and if you’d like it in all novels or a particular project.
While the goal tracker is fairly simple, there’s a ton of other information to look at. Next to our goals page is an analytics page. Users can view a graph of their words written, words deleted, word count, and total words.