Writers can be both easy and difficult to buy for, I’ve been told. You can always go with the ever-classic pretty notebooks (that we probably won’t use but love to see lined up on our shelves). We can never have too many pens – especially the cool ones that don’t smear or go through thin paper. The LEGO typewriter seems to be very popular, and again looks cool on a shelf.
BUT – if you’re looking for something ELSE, something they’ll use every time they sit at the desk to write here are my top suggestions for digital gifts for writers.
Gifts I’ve Personally Used
These are tools and resources I’ve personally used and can endorse without qualification. Doesn’t mean there aren’t better tools out there, but these are ones I’ve found useful.
Scrivener – $79CDN (one time purchase)
This is a fantastic tool I’ve used for many years. There are periodic updates, but I’ve never had to pay for one. It lets you organize your thoughts, map out your writing process using a corkboard or lists. It creates a template for digital and print manuscripts. And at the end, it spits out the correct file types you need to publish on Amazon and other sites. There is a learning curve, not gonna lie there. I’ve turned to google a few times to figure out how to do something, but I’ve always found the answer fairly quickly.
The feature I love most is the background, distraction-free screen you can use. A perk, certainly not a necessity, but very fun.
Masterclass $20USD/month *but at the time of writing this there’s a 50% off sale
This is a digital library where you get access to bite-size content from bestselling writers of various genres. They cover editing, worldbuilding, crafting characters, publishing, finding your author voice, and so much more. Now, these are not how-to videos. They are very high-level birds-eye view offerings on these topics, and you don’t interact with the instructor in any way. They have this feature called “Sessions” which I don’t remember, but this is curriculum with step-by-step instructions that might be fun to try.
What I loved most about this resource is learning how they view stories, the unique way they see the world and how to ask better questions of the world, of yourself, and your stories. I treated myself to one year of an all-access membership. I watched classes from Margaret Atwood, David Mamet, James Patterson, N.K. Jemisin, Neil Gaiman, Amy Tan, etc.
I also found the classes by directors like Ron Howard, and actors like Natalie Portman, Helen Mirren, and Jodie Foster fascinating and insightful to see how they view story, how they try to capture and bring to life a character, their process of getting into character. These were amazingly insightful to me as a writer – but again, high level rather than a how-to. There’s often sales on, or buy one membership and get another to gift – that sort of thing. And they’re always adding new classes.
One Stop For Writers $11USD/month
This is a resource from the ladies who published the super successful line of Emotion Thesaurus books. While I haven’t personally purchased a membership to the One Stop For Writers resource, I have used a few of the free resources like their story maps to help with structure (that I actually use for every novel). There’s help here for worldbuilding, writers block idea generators, and a fun timeline tool.
I was a regular guest blogger for them for a couple of years and know Angela and Becca to be amazing resources. You can get a two-week free trial, or why not buy a 3 month subscription for the writer in your life!
Amazon Prime or Kindle Unlimited Membership
Every writer is a reader. Why not grab a yearly membership to Amazon Prime to get deals and free shipping on books, or a monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited (for ebooks only) or Audible (for audio books).
Deep Point Of View Masterclass – $335 CDN
Of course, registration is open right now for my 4 week masterclass on writing in deep point of view. This is a popular writing style that’s actually not as easy as some blogs make it seem. This course not only breaks down how to create the specific effects that are a hallmark of this writing style, but what effects each tool creates and how and when to use them. Plus, the writer gets personalized feedback on their work and lifetime access. Class begins January 12, 2025.
I also offer two of the units in the larger masterclass as stand alone courses: Deep POV Foundations ($45CDN) and Writing Emotions In Deep POV ($49CDN). You get the cost of the smaller courses off of the 4 week masterclass if you decide to upgrade.
Gifts I’m Considering Gifting To Myself
Creating Character Arcs Course by K.M. Weiland – $99USD
I’ve long respected K.M. Weiland’s wisdom on creating characters and own a few of her books. I try to always be learning something new (that’s not related to deep POV) to help my craft as a writer. I’ve watched the two preview lessons for this course and it’s something I’m interested in doing.
This course is based on the book by the same name, and will help guide you through creating compelling character arcs that have readers leaning in and taking an emotional journey with characters as well as being entertained.
Writer’s Digest Subscription – $16/yr digital Subscription; $19.96 Print Subscription
This is a fantastic resource for writers at all levels. Lots of industry articles (genre-specific techniques and insights), how-to articles, and inspirational stories about writers who are living the dream.
Ommwriter (free but also has $7/month upgrade)
Sometimes you just need a different environment, something to unstick whatever and gotten your creative juices ‘stuck’ and this sounds like something really fun to try. The website says “it’s the perfect place to think and write” and who couldn’t use more of that!
There’s background noises (like simulating the sound of an old-school typewriter using your keyboard!!!), and backgrounds to play with.
Fictionary -$19/month or $169/year (free 7 day trial)
This seems to combine the best of AI with story craft to really hone in on structure. It’s using a generic plot structure and AI to help you find holes in your story, help maintain conflict and tension through AI summary, as well as some other fun features.
Sometimes you just a helping hand to get you up and over the hump of structure problems in the editing phase.
Grammarly – find coupon code here
Not so much for fiction writing, but for my nonfiction blog and my writing blog, this is a tool that could definitely help me better articulate what I want to convey to readers. Lots of really positive reviews.