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App Weekly: A list of apps for budding writers to pen down their thoughts

Pen and paper are really all you need to write but since you spend so much time on your phone, might as well make the best of it!

FP Archives|Jul 16, 2017, 16:26:52 IST

Always wanted to be a writer? Can’t help but pen down your thoughts on the backs of your notebooks when you’re supposed to be studying? Pen and paper are really all you need to write but since you spend so much time on your phone, might as well make the best of it! These apps will help you read and write a whole lot more, conveniently and on-the-go.1. PratilipiPratilipi is an app that has stories in eight regional languages, including Bangla, Marathi and Telugu. While the app does not have a writing feature at the time of writing, authors can publish their stories on the Pratilipi website. There is the option of following authors and browsing through the huge collection of stories as well. The stories are neatly categorized by genre and available for offline reading. The collection includes contemporary romance and horror as well as classics.2. National Digital Library of India

This is an initiative by the government to make a huge number of resources available online. The collection includes books from various state public library networks and the West Bengal Public Library Network has a good collection of literature on the site. The app is easy to use but does not include an inbuilt reader. The chapters have to be downloaded and opened up using another app which might get a bit difficult to organize if you read a lot. This app could help you with research for your historical fiction novel or give you the chance to explore Satyajit Ray’s science fiction stories (highly recommended). 3. Wattpad

This site is a staple for budding teen writers of YA fiction. Wattpad makes it quite easy to fulfill your dream of becoming an author. The app is well-established which means there is a huge potential base of readers for your stories. You can write wherever you are and also upload a book in chapters as you keep writing them. The app makes it easy to reach out to an audience even if your story isn’t complete yet. There are also awards and competitions within the app which can get you featured at the top. 4. WriterWriter is a neat app where you pretty much can do only one thing; write. This makes it easy to avoid distractions that pop up when you have to write something (and indeed, there were several distractions threatening the creation of this very article). The app is built for a singular purpose; to make it easier for you to put your thoughts into words and it achieves that admirably well.5. JotterpadThis app has a few more features than the previous one and assists you in sharing your writing as well. There is even a research option within the app so you can search for just the perfect word without leaving the beautiful blank page. Jotterpad supports sharing in a range of formats. You can also connect the app to Google Drive to ensure that you can work on your novel on any device.6. EvernoteThis app is already a staple for anyone whose work includes studying or reading or writing. It is one of the best note-taking apps out there and the number of features and ease of accessibility will make it an oft used application on your phone.7. KeepKeep is another note taking app and is also a part of the Google Suite. There are fewer features than Evernote but Keep makes it effortless to share your notes with collaborators. You can even open these notes up in Google Docs, making the Google Docs and Keep combination a solid combination of apps for anyone who has to write regularly.8. Moon+ Reader Moon Reader

Moon+ Reader is an amazing app for reading on your Android device. There are a lot of settings that you can tweak to customize your reading experience. The best thing about the app is the cool bookshelf which you can fill with e-books and somehow fill the void that actual books left in your heart. So what if I can’t buy that book for Rs. 800! I have 600 books in my virtual bookshelf. 9. CeltxCeltx is an app for theatre artists, screenwriters, radio performers and comic book creators. The app has templates which will be useful to all of the above professionals. The comic book template, for example, has different formatting options and details including panel type, character and speech bubble. You can also share your work within the app which makes it easier for projects where collaboration of the writers is necessary. The interface is slick and you can access your writings across devices. 10. MirakeeMirakee helps writers of flash fiction and really short prose create beautiful posts and share them with followers. You must have come across those bits of philosophical text upon beautiful images of sunsets on various social media sites. Using this app, you can create them within minutes and gain a massive fan following. 11. Rekhta Rekhta

Rekhta is an app dedicated to the curation of Urdu poems. You can read these in English, Hindi or the original Urdu. You can also access the definition of each word by simply tapping on it. These definitions might be helpful if you are not particularly fluent in Urdu but want to enjoy the beauty of the language. The interface is simply beautiful and poems are collected and featured to make discovering new authors or topics easy. 12. tttThis is the app for the website ‘Terribly Tiny Tales’ which is dedicated to telling the biggest stories in the shortest word limit. It is hard to ignore their work, it is splashed across all our social media feeds. The app shows you a stream of poems and short prose pieces written by the numerous authors who contribute to ttt. Each piece will not take more than five minutes to read and it easily makes for much better reading than that list of ‘10 Cakes to eat before you die’.