Is Deckle the next great writing software?
My review after 2 weeks of using Deckle.
You’re reading Soft Hobbies, a weekly newsletter for artists in all mediums, with a special focus on writers. Here you’ll find resources to nurture your creativity, advice to overcome perfectionism, and inspiration to make time for art. I’m Auzin, a Seattle-based fiction and poetry writer. Feel free to visit my author website or check out my socials.
Greetings to the 1,496 softies who subscribe to this newsletter! Thank you for being here.
Like many other writers, my ultimate dream is to publish a novel. Ideally this novel will be Great and Meaningful and Original, but in order for it to be any of those things, it has to exist first. The transition from dreaming about your book (fun, easy, rewarding) to actually creating it (difficult, time-consuming, exhausting) is a hard one, and most people don’t make it to the finish line. Writing a novel requires a level of discipline that is contradictory to the ~divine gift of inspiration~ that is supposed to magically manifest as a finished 250-page product.
Thankfully, there are tools to help you go from the ideation stage to drafting, to revising, to formatting, to publishing. The problem is that those tools are often scattered, require separate payments or subscriptions, and need you to onboard onto using them and remember how to use them across the months and years it will take to finish your book.
What if every software program you needed for your book was all in one tool, and it was purchasable for a one-time cost with no subscriptions and no paid upgrades? Lifetime access to all updates, with a 30-day money back guarantee if it doesn’t work out?
Meet Deckle — I think it’s one of the most exciting new tools on the market. I was sent this software for free by the developer, but I chose to download it and test it out to see if it was worth sharing with you all. They are not paying me to say any of this, but I do get a small percentage if you decide to purchase it with my code.
I wanted to get the word out because there are so few competitors in this space, and there are only a couple days left for you to purchase Deckle at its Early Access price of $107. After Sunday 8/8, it will go up to its full price of $197. However, keep in mind that these prices are all-inclusive and are not subscriptions! That is simply incredible to me, in this age where we don’t truly own anything on our devices. If you buy Deckle, you own it forever, and that includes access to updates as the developers add more features and bug fixes.
You can use my code SOFTHOBBIES at checkout to save an extra 10% off the current and future pricing.
My experience using Deckle
I’ve only been using Deckle for a couple weeks, but I can tell you right now that I will be using this software to write, revise, and format my debut novel, whatever that timeline is. The UI is uncluttered and intuitive, and it exists on my computer separate from the internet, so I’m not distracted by everything that would catch my attention with an in-browser tool.
There is a detailed tutorial that gets you comfortable with all the buttons, and then you’re free to customize the interface as you like and get started with drafting your project! One of my favorite features is the “Codex” tab, which is perfect for fantasy/SF authors or anyone whose project requires keeping track of worldbuilding. You can add definitions of items, locations, customs, or anything else that’s important to keep track of — a pantheon, maybe?
There’s a Focus Mode that makes the interface even simpler, an Outliner to get all your plot points down before you flesh them out, and Project Stats to keep you on-track and motivated.
Keep in mind that I’ve never used any other book-writing software, not even the famed Scrivener. As a newbie, I found Deckle to have a moderate learning curve, but the more consistently I used it, the quicker I was able to get into a flow state. You would probably have an even easier time if you have experience with tools like this. But I think Deckle is great for both debut novelists and veterans!
For a much more detailed review of Deckle and how it compares with Scrivener, check out this review from a fellow Substacker and fiction writer:
You can learn more about Deckle on their website and purchase it at the Early Access pricing for two more days (sorry for the late notice!). And once again, my coupon code is SOFTHOBBIES for you to get 10% off. If you’ve used other book-writing tools, let me know what you recommend, what you don’t, and what you’d like to see in the future.
Join me in Seattle this month!
On the 21st, I’m performing a selection of my writing alongside original musical compositions by my friends in the band Bupp! Every single Bupp! show is different and it’s always a blast, so come to Cocoa Legato in Greenwood, eat some delicious chocolate, and listen to us make something brand-new for you. I’ll also be reading a new short story that I’ve never shared with an audience before! You can buy tickets here.
On the 30th, I’m hosting the next in-person Soft Hobbies event at Kerry Hall! It’s a calm space tailored to help ease your burnout, stop the scroll, and foster real human connection. Let’s finish off summer by making something with our hands and building creative community. You don’t need to bring anything except yourself. Learn more and register here. Paid subscribers get in free, but you still have to register!
Thanks for reading and I hope to see you soon. Thanks for supporting me as a writer, I appreciate it more than you know.
Softly yours,
Auzin
Oooh, this is sick! It's hard for me to justify trying Deckle since I already splurged on Scrivener years ago, but it's also tempting because you mentioned that it had only a moderate learning curve - Scrivener's is very steep 😅 I feel like I only use maybe 25% of its features because the other ones are so outside of my paygrade. Also the UI looks beautiful!