: Best free writing software? I can't afford much right now, so I am looking for free writing tools that can help me. I already have Microsoft word, but am looking for something to outline with.

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Actually I highly recommend oomwriter (http://www.ommwriter.com/). It's not free but it worths your expense. Plus, it's super cheap, just .11.

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For outlining, WorkFlowy is good for topical focus, tagging, and simplicity.

For writing, Google Docs has an automatic outlining feature based on headings and I also enjoy the built-in speech-to-text capability for when I'm tired of typing then I can speak my story as a means to get content typed up quickly with the intent of going back and reworking into better sentence structure later.

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It depends... Personally, I like to use latex for my word processor. You can use it for free locally or online. With latex you can just type and worry about the formatting later. If you get familiar with the syntax, formatting wouldn't be an issue.

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I can propose you such free writing software:
1. FocusWriter
2. WriteMonkey
3. Celtx
4. LibreOffice Writer
5. Sigil

You can check them out and choose the one you'll like the most.

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Best is a very relative term because it depends on you. But, some suggestions:

If you want your basic Microsoft Word, go with it. It has an outlining mode which works out pretty well. Plus you can use a ordered or unordered list for most outlines which it handles fairly smoothly. It is also the tool you appear to know, so that's a bonus.

You can also look up Freemind or Freeplane. These are mind mapping tools which are pretty good for outline most novels or concepts. It has a lot of outputs and is relatively easy to use and expand as you go.

You can also consider Evernote or OneNote as possibilities. They are good for gathering information and also building up an outline complete with images. Both are free at lower levels but have premium versions if it works out for you.

I don't use Microsoft Word, but I do most of my outlining in a text editor with Markdown. It works for me, but it very "low tech" as it were.

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