NovelCrafter
Story-planning and drafting software for novelists, with optional AI help
NovelCrafter is built around the problem long fiction has: remembering everything. Its Codex works as a story bible that tracks characters, locations, and other details, and the planning views let you lay out a book before and during drafting. Authors writing a series can share a Codex across books so the details stay consistent.
The AI part is optional and you choose the model. NovelCrafter connects to providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic, and to local models, so you decide which one handles brainstorming or prose and what it costs you. The program feeds relevant Codex entries to the model as context, which helps the output stay close to what you have already written. Collaboration tools cover co-writers and editors.
There is no free plan, but there is a free trial and paid tiers, plus free courses and guides for new users. You pay NovelCrafter for the software and your AI provider separately if you use hosted models. Sudowrite and NovelAI are the closest alternatives. NovelCrafter suits authors who want control over the model and a tool that stays organized across a long manuscript.