Plume Creator is a free, open-source project manager and rich text editor designed specifically for novelists and writers of long-form fiction, short stories, and episodic content. Developed primarily by Cyril Jacquet, it was built to provide an alternative to popular proprietary writing tools like Scrivener for Linux and Windows operating systems.
Plume Creator stands out with its highly customizable, multi-pane workspace that breaks the traditional word processor format into a structure geared toward the writing process. Key features include:
Scene & Chapter Management: Allows writers to break down large projects into manageable acts, chapters, and scenes. You can outline your book and draft piece-by-piece, which helps reduce writer’s block.
The Attendance Manager: A unique tool that lets you catalog characters, locations, and items. You can associate these specific elements with individual scenes, ensuring consistency and making it easier to track character POVs (Point of View).
Distraction-Free Mode: A full-screen mode that blacks out your desktop and covers menu bars so you can focus entirely on the text.
Notes & Synopses: Dedicated tabs for tracking the overarching story and planning what needs to happen in each section.
Exporting: Supports exporting manuscripts in common formats like .html and .odt. Current Status and Alternatives
While it was highly popular within the open-source writing community, development of Plume Creator largely ceased around 2016. Because it relies on older libraries, it may struggle or fail to launch on modern Linux distributions without modifications.
If you are looking for an active open-source writing tool that evolved directly from this project, consider Skribisto, which is written by the same creator and serves as the spiritual successor to Plume. Alternatively, for similar Scrivener-like functionality in the open-source space, many writers use Manuskript. ParaplegicRacehorse/plume-creator: Software for writers
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