Qenna Writer — free and open novel & screenplay software

I — The editorQenna Writer

Writing software that gets out of your way

Focus Mode, inline comments, cross-document tagging with @, and proper screenplay formatting (Scene, Action, Character, Dialogue, Parenthetical, Transition) when your project needs it — without an AI rewriting your sentences for you.

Qenna Writer editor, a blank page ready to write

the editor — a blank page

II — Keeping it organizedQenna Writer

Every story, organized your way

Drawers for characters, settings, objects, and lore. Multiple manuscripts in a single project — draft a whole trilogy without losing track of book one. The Reference panel opens beside the page, so a chapter three books ago is one click away, not a lost tab.

Unlimited documents, folders, and cross-references
Reference Menu — jump to any chapter or scene instantly
Search across the current document, the project, or any drawer

Qenna Writer with the Reference panel open beside the manuscript

manuscript with Reference panel open

III — Never lose the threadQenna Writer

Know who's where, and who said what

Automatic character-presence detection across chapters and scenes, a relationship graph built from how often characters actually appear together, and a searchable dialogue log — every line, sorted by who said it.

Character relationship and bonds graph, drawn from real co-occurrence in the manuscript — bonds graph

Dialogue log filtered by speaker, automatically attributed line by line — dialogue, by speaker

A character reference sheet with photo and backstory — character sheet

IV — Before you write a lineQenna Writer

Plan the world before you draft the sentence

The Builder designs magic systems, religions, and political structures as real trade-offs — every choice on the spectrum lists what it favors and what it demands, not just flavor text. The Timeline logs events automatically as you write them, tangled or radial. The World Map keeps geography honest — real countries, a ruler for real distance, and pins that stay put wherever your story happens.

The Builder — a magic system slider between soft and hard, listing what it favors and what it requires — the Builder — magic system

A radial timeline view, events connected by story time rather than chapter order — Timeline — radial view

World Map with real countries, pins, a ruler for distance, and a texture/globe toggle — World Map — globe view

V — Keeping the habitQenna Writer

The tools that keep you writing after the spark fades

Word or time-based goals, streaks, Pomodoro sprints — and a calendar that remembers every session, so a bad week is visible instead of vague, not just a vague feeling.

A calendar of writing streaks, with daily word count and goal completion — 105 days with the goal hit

Lifetime writing statistics: total words, total time, longest streak, average per day — 101 days in a row, at the record

VI — Making it yoursQenna Writer

143 themes, or build one from scratch

Page color and panel color are independent — a dark interface can wrap a bright white page, or the other way around. Set a day theme and a night theme and let Qenna Writer switch on a schedule. With this many, a search box and a favorites list got added this week, because scrolling stopped being reasonable around theme 80.

The theme picker, showing a grid of illustrated background themes

a slice of the theme grid

What's actually being written in itQenna Writer

A few real drafts, mid-progress

Not renders, not stock covers — these are open manuscripts from writers using Qenna Writer right now, taken straight from a live Library screen.

Cover of Imperium, a sci-fi novel by P.H. Lobato, written in Qenna Writer — Imperium — P.H. Lobato

Cover of A Motorista, a thriller novel by P.H. Lobato — A Motorista — P.H. Lobato

Cover of Where Do We Begin, a novel by A.C.S. Freitas — Where Do We Begin — A.C.S. Freitas

Cover of A Herdeira da Foice, a novel by P.H. Lobato — A Herdeira da Foice — P.H. Lobato

IndexQenna Writer

Everything else, briefly

ExportDOCX, ODT, PDF, and EPUB — whole project, one manuscript, or a single chapter.
Screenplay modeReal screenplay elements with correct margins and casing, not just centered text pretending to be one.
Ambient soundSoundscapes and focus music, built in — no browser tab full of rain sounds.
Cover CreatorA separate free tool bundled alongside it, for designing a cover from royalty-free art.
RemindersFlag anything left loose so a chapter gets revisited before it goes cold.
Three languagesPortuguese (Brazil), English, and Spanish, switchable in Settings.

Source & licenseQenna Writer

License

The Qenna Writer License — based on GPLv3. Anyone can read, change, and redistribute this code for free, but nobody can fork it into a closed, or a paid, product.

One person builds and maintains this in spare time. Bugs get filed on GitHub Issues and are usually fixed in days, not quarters — there's no support queue to wait in.

Links

Source code — Pedrovskigg/qenna-writer Build from source Releases & installers Third-party notices Cover Creator (separate repo)

Contact

To report bugs, suggest new features, or just scream about your plot at 3:00 AM: qennawriter@gmail.com.

I can take a few hours or days to answer, but I will — I promise. Or reach me on GitHub, on Qenna's repository.

"You shouldn't have to pay to write good stories, or pay for the tools that help you write them. The only payment Qenna Writer asks for is: write good stories."

— P.H. Lobato, creator of Qenna Writer