From the blurb on the box saying there’s a novel in all of us, and the very JK Rowlingesque picture of a female pensively pondering the screen of her laptop, you can guess that this program is aimed squarely at would-be writers.

If you're already writing fiction, this program won't help you polish your prose, but if you're a frustrated writer who doesn't know where to start it could be just what you need.

The starting point in Newnovelist 2.0 is an introductory wizard that prompts you for a title and a one-line pitch, and then presents you with 21 different story types in the plot, epic or character-driven categories. Having picked one of these you’re placed in the creative environment where all the action takes place.

On the left of the screen, your chosen story type is broken into twelve sections, and clicking on any of these produces a few hundred words of guidance about what should go into that section of your novel, plus two or three examples drawn mainly from classics such as Jane Eyre and Madame Bovary, but with the occasional frisson of a reference to Harry Potter or The Da Vinci Code.

On the right of the screen is the equivalent of a writer's notebook where you record details of people, locations and objects that feature in the story.

The central section of the screen is home to the word processor where your masterpiece is written. You can print out your finished novel from this, or export it in a format suitable for loading into a fully featured word processor.

There’s a spelling checker and a simple thesaurus, but the lack of a word-counting facility is a serious omission when the guidance notes tell you to monitor the length of each section.

The program includes gimmicky tools that suggest outlandish names for characters, places and objects, but what it doesn’t have is some sort of time-lining or outlining facility to display where each of the main characters is, and what they are doing, at key points in the story. Now that really would be useful.

Also Consider
StoryCraft
The program that inspired Newnovelist. It goes more deeply into the practicalities of plot and character development
Price: £40