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Storyist (for Mac) Review

A writing app that borrows heavily from word processors

4.0
Excellent
By Jill Duffy
Updated February 24, 2020

The Bottom Line

Storyist packs the power of a full word processor into an app dedicated to writers. It's excellent for Apple users who want more features than distraction-free apps offer.

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Pros

  • Clean, clear interface
  • Includes tools for storyboarding, outlining, character sheets
  • Good exporting and importing options

Cons

  • No collaboration features
  • Mediocre auto-save functionality
  • Few templates
  • Apple-only

If you want a dedicated writing app that has the power of a word processor, Storyist for Mac may be your best bet. Storyist has formatting options galore, including style sheets, which help writers create a consistently formatted works. It also has all the tools a long-form writer would need, such as a corkboard view, folders for plot notes and character development, and so forth. This Mac-only app costs a bit more than its closest competitor, Scrivener, which is an Editors' Choice. For a more pared-down Mac app, try Ulysses instead, another Editors' Choice. Professional screenplay writers may find that Final Draft, which is much more expensive, is a better option due to its more advanced auto-formatting of scripts.


Storyist Price and Platform

Storyist, now in version 4, is available on macOS and Apple mobile devices. The apps sell for a one-time fee instead of a recurring subscription rate.

On Mac, Storyist sells for $59. You can download it from the App Store and use a free trial for 14 days (no credit card required) before deciding whether you want to purchase it. If you do decide to keep it, you pay to upgrade in the app.

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The iOS app sells separately and uses the same model: download for free; use for 14 days at no charge; pay in-app if you want to upgrade. The price for the mobile app is $19.99. If you own a previous version of the apps, you're eligible for a discounted upgrade.

Storyist does not have apps for Windows, Android, or the web. If you need a writing app that's cross-platform, Scrivener offers apps for Windows, Mac, and iOS. iA Writer also has more apps (Android, iOS, macOS, Windows), but it's a more lightweight app in terms of features.

Storyist (for Mac)
(Credit: Storyist Software)

How Do Storyist's Prices Compare?

Storyist's prices are on the low side of average when measured against other similar writing apps. Scrivener charges $49 for the desktop app. iA Writer costs $29.99, but keep in mind that it's comparatively lightweight. Both of those apps sell for flat one-time fees. You buy the software license and you own it indefinitely.

Ulysses has moved toward subscription pricing instead. It costs $4.99 per month, $10.99 for six months, or $39.99 per year.

There are a few writing apps that cost considerably more. Final Draft, which is something of an industry standard in screenwriting, sells for $249.99. Script Studio costs $199.95. Both of those apps really focus on screenwriting much more than prose.


What's New in Storyist 4?

If you've used Storyist before, there are three changes worth noting in version 4. For starters, it now supports dark mode (for macOS Mojave and later). Storyist switches to dark mode if you have your Mac set to Dark Appearance in your General Settings. You can also turn on dark mode at the app level if you want to keep everything else on your computer in Light Appearance.

The second change is more options for PDF export. You can now select parts of your manuscript that you want to compile and export. If you want to send your title page and sample chapters only to an agent or reading group, you can make the right PDF easily.

Third is a new go-to command for navigating to different projects and parts of your work quickly. Press command+ ' to get an in-app search that looks similar to Mac's Spotlight Search. Type a few letters for the project or chapter you want, just as you would with Spotlight Search, and to jump it.

Storyist go to command
(Credit: Storyist Software)

Getting Started

Downloading and installing the Storyist app takes no time at all. When you launch it, Storyist offers a few ways to get started. You can create a new project from scratch, use a template to start a new project, read a guide that walks you through some of the app's features, or visit Storyist's website for in-depth tutorials.

There's a thin template suggestion: novel, screenplay, and stageplay. You can upload templates or make your own, but if you want an app that comes with a wider variety, Scrivener has more. It caters to not only fiction writers, but also non-fiction book authors, academics working on professional papers, radio dramas, documentary films, and more.

Dedicated writing apps generally fall into two categories: those that support Markdown and those that use WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) formatting. Markdown is a very small coding language used to apply formatting without the need for a bunch of menus and windows. If you've ever put asterisks around words to make them bold, that's Markdown. Some writers prefer Markdown to WYSIWYG formatting because they find it less distracting. With fewer menus come fewer options and no chance of getting lost in thought looking at six dozen typeface options.

Storyist uses WYSIWYG formatting, which makes it closer to an office suite-grade word processor than many other writing apps. When you use Storyist, you get a full panel of formatting to the right of the editor. It also supports stylesheets. You can create and save your own style sheets, which makes it easier to format an entire work consistently. Storyist also gives you control over other kinds of page styling, such as tab stops, margins, indents, line spacing, page numbers, and headers and footers. Writing apps that call themselves "distraction-free" or "minimalists" usually don't have these tools. Whether it's better to have is a personal preference.


Look and Feel

The interface design and style look up to date. While Storyist isn't especially slick, it's nicer than Scrivener's UI, which looks like early 2000s vintage.

The left side of the editing window contains a Project Organizer, also known as a library or file-folder view. Writers who create longer works, such as books, often like to be able to see a library within the context of the writing environment because it allows them to drag and drop files into different folders as they revise and shape their manuscripts. Many apps that describe themselves as "distraction-free," such as iA Writer and Writebox, don't include a library at all. The apps that do have libraries, including Storyist, let you hide the library pane from view, or simply switch to a full-screen mode to get rid of all extraneous windows, menus, and options so they don't distract you while you write. I would rather have a library and be able to hide it than to not have one at all.

Apps for writers typically include a word count feature, and many also let you set a goal or target word count. With Storyist, you can set a word goal for the entire project, as well as a daily writing goal.

Storyist screenplay styling
(Credit: Storyist Software)

Advanced Features

I found my way around Storyist with little effort. It's not hard to get set up and begin writing quickly. The more I used Storyist, however, the more I found to explore.

Storyist's templates, though few in number, are richer than those found in most other writing apps because they are prepopulated with stylesheets.

The screenplay template is a good example. This file comes preloaded with style sheets for action, characters, dialogue, parentheticals, and scene headings. It also makes fairly intelligent guesses about which stylesheets to apply when you start a new line. For example, in a screenplay, a line of dialogue usually follows below a character's name. If you type a character's name and enter, Storyist beats you to the punch by automatically applying the dialogue style to the next line. If it's wrong, you can change it.

In a professional screenplay, formatting is extremely important and must be done to industry standards so that the whole production crew knows what's what in the script. Character names, when they precede dialogue, appear in all caps and centered. Lines of dialogue are also centered but use ordinary rules for uppercase and lowercase. These details and many others must be exact.

Final Draft has very similar features, but they're more advanced. In Final Draft, the app not only guesses what type of line will come next, but also what you're going to write when it's a character name or scene setting that has been used before. Type the letter "i" on a line for a scene, and it will autofill "INT." meaning interior. If you've already had an interior scene in a pool house and type "p" next, it will auto-suggest that information as well. While Storyist has some type-ahead guesses, too, only Final Draft compiles a list of all the characters, all the scene settings, and so forth for you.

Another advanced Storyist feature is Index Cards. This isn't unique, however, as both Final Draft and Scrivener have something similar. Index Cards are exactly what they sound like. They mimic physical note cards, which writers sometimes use to map out a story. Each card contains a scene, and the writer rearranges the scenes by physically moving the cards around until the story comes together in the order the writer wants. You can view Storyist's index cards on their own, or you can view them alongside the editing window to guide you while you write.

Similar to Index Cards, Story Sheets are another kind of reference material for your writing. They are a place to keep detailed notes about the work. Storyist includes a few different kinds of Story Sheets for storing information about plot, character, setting, and so forth. The sheets are like forms that you fill in with details, and they're fully customizable.

Storyist plot points
(Credit: Storyist Software)

Saving and Sharing

Storyist does a mediocre job with version histories. It saves a copy of your work every time you open a project, and once an hour otherwise. Given that it's not impossible to automatically save a file at every keystroke, the way Evernote does, there's no reason Storyist or any other writing app shouldn't be held to that standard. The one winning aspect of Storyist's version history is the ability to, at any time, save a version and name it. Being able to name it means you can easily restore something that you saved intentionally, rather than sifting through a stack of files and eyeballing them by time-and-date stamp or content to figure out the right one to restore.

Writers typically want to export their work to a format that's useful for publication, whether they intend to publish online or in print. Storyist has options for exporting to a good array of formats, including DOCX, HTML, RTF, TXT, as well as SCRIV (Scrivener), FDX and FCF (Final Draft), and a few others. It also has options for exporting to ePub and Kindle formats for ebooks.


What's Missing

Generally speaking, writing apps don't allow you to collaborate easily with co-authors. There are a few writing apps that come close to matching Google Docs when it comes to real time collaboration. WriterDuet comes to mind, though it's overpriced. Final Draft supports some amount of collaboration, but it's very restrictive. Only one collaborator can have editing power at a time. If you use Storyist, or pretty much any other writing app of its kind, you can kiss your dream of real-time, synchronous coauthoring goodbye.

If you're writing with a partner and want to work together in real time, you might stick with Google Docs or even Microsoft Word or Apple Pages because they all handle co-author better than any writing app I've seen.

The primary hurdle to true collaboration features in writing apps is getting them to offer their own syncing and storage. Without native syncing and storage, collaboration is difficult to support. There are other benefits to offering storage and syncing, too. For one thing, authors wouldn't have to bring their own online storage service to be able to use mobile apps. Also, it would make it easier for these app developers to build a web app version of their products as well, another feature that's notoriously missing. It's not just missing from Storyist, mind you, but from nearly all apps for writers.


An App for Writers Who Love Formatting

Storyist is an excellent app for writers, especially those who don't want to give up rich formatting. It includes the right tools for producing professional work. Scrivener is the most closely comparable app, and it has a leg up on Storyist for a few reasons. Scrivener is for both Mac and Windows, while Storyist is for Mac only. You can install Scrivener on all the machines in your household with a single license. It costs less and it includes many more templates.

If you find yourself in the less-is-more camp, Storyist may be too visually stimulating and distracting. Ulysses isn't. It's more pared down while maintaining an ample feature set, though it is for Mac only. Windows users might try yWriter instead.

Finally, professional screenwriters will likely prefer Final Draft to Storyist because it's more capable and has more templates for that profession. Storyist is a fine runner-up, however, and aspiring screenwriters on a tight budget will find that they can get by with Storyist until they reach the big leagues.

Storyist (for Mac)
4.0
Pros
  • Clean, clear interface
  • Includes tools for storyboarding, outlining, character sheets
  • Good exporting and importing options
Cons
  • No collaboration features
  • Mediocre auto-save functionality
  • Few templates
  • Apple-only
View More
The Bottom Line

Storyist packs the power of a full word processor into an app dedicated to writers. It's excellent for Apple users who want more features than distraction-free apps offer.

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About Jill Duffy

Columnist and Deputy Managing Editor, Software

I've been contributing to PCMag since 2011 and am currently the deputy managing editor for the software team. My column, Get Organized, has been running on PCMag since 2012. It gives advice on how to manage all the devices, apps, digital photos, email, and other technology that can make you feel like you're going to have a panic attack.

My latest book is The Everything Guide to Remote Work, which goes into great detail about a subject that I've been covering as a writer and participating in personally since well before the COVID-19 pandemic.

I specialize in apps for productivity and collaboration, including project management software. I also test and analyze online learning services, particularly for learning languages.

Prior to working for PCMag, I was the managing editor of Game Developer magazine. I've also worked at the Association for Computing Machinery, The Examiner newspaper in San Francisco, and The American Institute of Physics. I was once profiled in an article in Vogue India alongside Marie Kondo.

Follow me on Mastodon.

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