Craft your bestseller – a round-up of First Draft Pro's powerful writing features

The process of writing a book is as individual as the writers themselves. Some people jump straight in and see where their imagination takes them. Others prefer to plan meticulously before putting pen to proverbial paper. Still others like to do a little bit of both!

While there's no right way to write a novel (say that three times fast), First Draft Pro has the right tools to help you make it happen. In this post, we'll be covering just some of the features designed to help you develop your concept, finish your first draft, and polish your manuscript to perfection.

Writing made easy with First Draft Pro

🏡 A home for all your notes

The start of a book is often an amorphous thing – a jumble of notes, some snippets of overheard dialogue, and perhaps a character sketch or two. First Draft Pro's notes features help you organise your worldbuilding notes and research in one place, making the transition from idea to reality as seamless as possible.

• Space for brainstorming. Just get those ideas out of your head and onto the page! There's no rulebook or imposed structure for note taking in First Draft Pro, so you can organise your notes in whatever way feels right for you.
• Weave your notes into your story. Link notes into your manuscript for easy reference – simply highlight your text and link the relevant note you want to keep handy.

Have a draft already? Get it into shape with First Draft Pro. If you have an existing manuscript in another file format you can import it into First Draft Pro via paste.

🗺️ Map out your plot

While most existing writing tools were built for office word processing, First Draft Pro puts storytelling first. Whether your prefer to plan your plot meticulously or let your narrative emerge organically, outlining and scene prompts can help you find the shape of your story.

• Create a framework for your story. The outlining feature allows you view each scene and chapter as a separate card. This makes it easy to either plan your plot in advance, or reorder it later – whichever best suits your writing style.
• Guide your writing with scene prompts. If you've planned each scene in advance, your upcoming scenes are visible right alongside your manuscript, so you always know what's coming next. If you prefer to make scene notes as you go, these are automatically added to your outline so you can restructure them later if need be.

⬆️ Navigate through your manuscript

No more infinite scrolling! First Draft Pro makes it easy to navigate your manuscript without getting lost, confused, or distracted:

• Use your keyboard. Quickly flick through your manuscript with the up and down arrows.
• Use your file library. Jump into your manuscript from the list of chapters and scenes in the left navigation.

📝 Format your writing

Sure, writing is about getting words on the page, but we also want your words to look beautiful! Structure to your manuscript with headings and formatting, and include images to add to the reading experience:

• Format your text with the formatting functions available on the toolbar bubble. Simply highlight the relevant text and the toolbar will appear.
• Add images to your project from the toolbar bubble and resize them to fit your manuscript.

Craft a better story with First Draft Pro

Whether you're putting your first tentative ideas to paper or making finishing touches, First Draft Pro has great features to help you craft your next bestseller.

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