Looking for the best software to write a novel with? In this series on reviewing story writing software for authors, we compare the best available programs to help you write a book. In this article, we review the Campfire and Notion apps.

A woman writing on a laptop. — Photo Credit: Kaitlyn Baker via Unsplash.

If you’re here, you’re probably an author in search of book writing software to help you plan out and write your stories. But there are a lot of options out there, and without trying all of them, it can be hard to decide which is going to best help you complete your novel. To start, you should ask yourself what you’re looking for when choosing which story writing tools to go with. It’s likely you want something that:

Is affordable and user-friendly.
Helps you organize your story notes.
Lets you customize your writing workspace.
And of course, helps you finish writing your book(s) quicker!

If you need help narrowing down which book writing software is for you, this article can be a useful guide; we’ll discuss the most popular features in two of the top story writing programs, Campfire and Notion. You can gauge which software might be best for you, and then choose what has the features you’re looking for.

In this article, we’ll take a look at:

Campfire key features
Campfire pros and cons
Notion key features
Notion pros and cons

Let’s get started!

Comparing Campfire and Notion

Before we deep dive into the features and benefits Campfire and Notion’s writing tools provide, we’ll quickly review the most important features of each:

Now that we’ve covered the basics of what Campfire and Notion can offer you, let’s take a closer look at each of these unique author tools.

What is Campfire?

Founded in 2018 by Northeastern University sophomore, Jason Louro, Campfire was made for those who have struggled to find a program that actually helps them stay organized. While Louro set out to write a screenplay, he ended up creating a writing and worldbuilding tool that has gone on to help storytellers of all sorts around the globe.

A sample Character Module element page, featuring Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice, available in the public domain. — A sample Character Module element page, featuring Elizabeth Bennett from *Pride and Prejudice*, available in the public domain.

Now comprising a team of creatives who are passionate writers and readers, Campfire is on a mission to become the best storytelling platform around. With authors that come from all backgrounds as traditional novelists, poets, fanfiction writers, video game creators, graphic novel and comic book artists, and tabletop game masters, the software’s appeal lies in its versatility.

Beyond our comprehensive suite of writing tools, the newest pillar of Campfire is Campfire Explore—a platform for authors to create landing pages for their stories and worlds, connect with the community, and share behind-the-scenes content of what goes into their work. We also regularly post industry interviews, community spotlights, and educational articles on our blog, Campfire Learn. And finally, we share the best tips, tricks, and writing fun facts in our animated YouTube series, Story Tips.

Key Features of Campfire

12+ Writing and Worldbuilding Modules

Since its founding, the Campfire team has designed and developed 12+ modules for writing your manuscript, creating characters to populate your world, drafting wiki-style articles, and so much more.

With a freeform, corkboard style, you can add, remove, and resize panels within modules to fully customize how you outline and write your story. And because we know that no two worlds are alike, we made it so modules can be individually bought on an affordable subscription basis or by a one-time purchase.

Notes Integrated With Your Manuscript

Your manuscript is the beating heart of your story, but what about all of those notes you made in the lead-up to actually writing it? Campfire's Manuscript Module makes it easy to access your plots and plans without having to leave the page thanks to our collapsible navigator.

You can either tag story elements within your manuscript for quick reference or search for them in the navigator. With easy access to all the minute details of your characters and world, never forget an eye color or place of origin again.

Then, when you've penned an epic scene and want a second pair of eyes to review your work, invite your friends or editor(s) by email or by generating a shareable link to your project. Choose what they can or can't see thanks to visibility settings and communicate right in your manuscript document with advanced commenting features.

Write From Anywhere

Because we know that inspiration is unpredictable (ya know, that whole thing about how it could strike anywhere), we made it so that you can access your story everywhere, on nearly any device.

Mockups of Campfire on mobile, desktop, and laptop. — Campfire's mobile phone, desktop, and browser apps.

Work on your project from your browser of choice, on our downloadable desktop app, or right from your smartphone—all are 100% free of cost and free of ads, too! Power users and commuters can enjoy uploading their notes on the go and picking up right where they left off when they get back to their computers.

Pros of Using Campfire

A Custom Writing Workshop

Campfire's Manuscript Module, featuring the Navigator to access notes quickly and comments. — Campfire's Manuscript Module with an element shown in the navigator panel and a collaborator comment. Features an excerpt from *Pride and Prejudice*, available in the public domain.

Campfire is yours to create and customize a writing space wholly unique to you. With advanced settings & functionality, you can:

Organize and filter: Arrange modules in whatever order you prefer or even opt to filter out ones you aren't using. Then, drag and drop elements within modules to sort them however you'd like, and organize everything neatly into folders.
Tune everything else out: There are a lot of things competing for our attention these days, and your writing software should be the last thing to do so. You can choose to collapse all panels when writing or planning so that it’s only you and what you’re working on.
Decorate the place: It's great to have the option of light and dark themes, but what if I told you that you could also design your own theme? Campfire's Theme Editor allows you to change the typography, site theme & font colors, and add background images to your projects and element panels. Learn more about creating your own theme on Campfire.

Free Account Tier

Not only do we want our book writing software to be as accessible as possible, but we also understand that using any kind of software can be a fairly personal experience—what one person loves, another may absolutely hate. That's why we happily offer a free tier in our range of payment plans; you'll always have access to a limited number of elements in every single module, no matter what. Get a feel for the ones you need to bring your story to life or enjoy using all of them!

The Campfire Community

The force is strong with the Campfire Community and we're certainly proud of it. Our Discord server currently hosts several thousand creatives and we interact with them nearly every single day of the week. Whether we're sharing cool maps, debating character arcs, or simply posting pictures of a delicious homemade meal, it's a great place to connect with others to improve your craft and make new friends. We even run weekly writing sprints as a chance for members of the community to work towards a shared goal of completing their WIPs and get to know each other better in the process. Join us!

Cons of Using Campfire

For all the story planning tools that Campfire has, it is missing a dedicated plotting tool that many other leading writing software currently offers. While we do have our Timeline Module, it is admittedly not the same. Those who are hardcore index-card plotters may have to get creative with their plotting.

Additionally, there is also the simple fact that Campfire just has a lot going on! It is wonderful that you can truly make the software your own, but this means that those who are more tech-savvy will have an easier time navigating the platform while others could at first feel overwhelmed.

TLDR: Campfire is an affordable story planning and writing program for writers and worldbuilders that is different from anything else currently available. However, because of its highly custom nature, those who aren't very tech-oriented may experience a learning curve.

What is Notion?

Notion is a project management and productivity collaboration tool created in 2013 by a team with a mission to make the ultimate everything-tool for everyone everywhere. If that sounds crazy, it isn’t—and they’re on track to becoming just that. Notion allows you to do everything from creating extensive databases and wikis to making kanban-style project management boards and keeping a personal diary.

Businesses and teams made a great initial use case for Notion—with workplaces trending towards remote and hybrid environments, Notion was perfectly situated to replace heavy, overflowing filing cabinets and abandoned offices with an intuitive digital workspace. But now, businesses aren’t the only ones making Notion their own. People are using it for everyday purposes such as keeping reading lists, digital recipe books, personal blogs, and even writing and planning their stories!

Here, I’ll cover a few ways you can use Notion for writing, and how it works well as a budget-friendly and user-friendly creative writing tool.

Key Features of Notion

A Page in Notion displaying an excerpt from Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story, A Scandal in Bohemia. — A sample Page in Notion's word processor.

Digital Binder & Content Blocks

Notions helps you stay organized with an intuitive and versatile digital binder made up of pages and “blocks”—everything starts and ends with these in the app. Create innumerable pages which can also double as folders, and drag and drop these elements as needed. Customize them by labeling pages and assigning icons that match your story. Then with each page you create, choose from 40+ types of content blocks to add, including but not limited to headings, checklists, tables, media files, social media post embeds, and of course, plain text.

Databases

Notion's Table Database feature used as a digital book library.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that everyone visualizes information the same, right? Right?… Notion took the concept of differing perspectives and ran with it by providing the option to create databases and format different ways to view information on a page. Make tables, lists, calendars, kanban boards, photo galleries, and even timelines, so you can store your notes your way. Even better, the elements of your databases are automatically made up of individual pages in Notion, meaning that you can make a list of characters, then click on each character to find a page where you store the more granular details.

Web Clipper

Go ahead and cancel your Evernote subscription, or simply keep your book’s web research separate from your browser’s bookmark tab thanks to Notion’s Web Clipper. Save web links to a specific page in your Notion workspace or to a database made just for them. You can also add notes, tags, and other properties to organize your saved links however you’d like, or share them and assign them to collaborators, too. Download the Notion Web Clipper as an extension for Chrome, Safari, or Firefox so you can save links to your book planning dashboard without leaving the web pages you’re browsing.

Pros of Using Notion

Free Personal Plan

You can honestly do a lot with Notion’s free personal plan! Though you can only upload files up to 5MB, you can enjoy unlimited pages and content blocks—feel free to store all the novels in your Notion workspace. Then, when you’re ready for your book to be reviewed, invite up to 10 single-page guests and make use of real-time collaboration with on-page commenting features.

Of course, if you’d like to benefit from add-ons such as unlimited file uploads and guests or access to a 30-day version history of your work, you can upgrade your account to Personal Pro starting at $5 USD monthly.

Personal Publishing

Sharing a singular Notion Page as a web link.

Notion makes it easy to share your work, blog, or even author website through its link-sharing feature. Choose what you want to share and what viewers can do on a page. Want to add your editor? You can allow the option to edit or add comments! Feeling generous? Select to allow your page to serve as a template for other Notion users to grab and make it their own.

On a paid plan, you can choose from additional options, such as setting a timer on your link—handy if you’re running a book sale, for example—or opting to have your site indexed on search engines—a must if you want organic traffic to find your page(s)! In short, it’s a handy tool for authors on a budget.

Templates

Notion's Template library modal, with a range of template types.

More and more people in the writing community have been gravitating toward Notion over the last several years, so naturally, the demand for Notion templates for writing a book has increased as well. Notion’s template gallery offers the choice of more than 50+ Notion- and community-created templates—both free and paid options.

Although, it is important to note that these aren’t all book writing templates. They range in selection from marketing dashboards and people directories for teams to habit trackers, reading lists, and travel planners for personal use.

Cons of Using Notion

I wrote this blog in Notion as a bit of an experiment, then transposed it to Google Docs which I most commonly use for work purposes. Because Notion export options are limited, I copy-and-pasted everything. In the process, I lost all of my formatting and paragraph spacing, and many of my hyperlinked text didn’t translate correctly, so I imagine that doing similar with a full-length novel might be cumbersome.

There is a lot of good to using Notion, however, it simply wasn’t built for the purpose of writing books and this shows in the design of its limited text editor. While you do have formatting options such as the ability to apply headings, change the color of selected text, and bold and italicize text, you can’t do much outside of this. For example, you can only choose from three typefaces and two font sizes.

Notion works well as a kind of wiki or blog for your work, but its somewhat limited text formatting options could get in the way. Those who want a more traditional writing tool—or even a more customizable one—are often better off with something else. Another word processor will help you format things the way you want; and a dedicated web hosting and creation service such as WordPress or Bluehost will usually help you present it to the world better.

TLDR: Notion is a user- and budget-friendly planning and productivity tool, so it’s great for storing research and categorizing your notes as you plan your story. However, the text editor isn’t designed for writing long-form content like a novel.

Which Writing App is Best: Campfire or Notion?

Campfire and Notion are both powerful story-planning tools that can benefit writers of all kinds, depending on your specific writing workflow.

If you are looking for something with dedicated tools for each part of the story planning process, Campfire’s suite of modules could make up just the writing toolkit you need.

If you are looking for something simple with a freeform digital binder for all of your story notes, Notion’s app could be the one to help you reach The End.

If you still aren’t sure, that’s okay! They both offer a free tier with no time limit. With the ability to also customize your interface to a certain extent, create an account with each and get a sense of what you like best when setting up your story details.

When all is said and done, the only thing that matters is that you accomplished what you set out to do. So no matter if you choose Campfire, Notion, or some other story writing software, we’ll be rooting for you to achieve all of your author goals! Go forth and make something incredible.

Start Writing For Free With Campfire 🔥

Campfire vs. Notion App for Writing a Book

The latest post in our writing software comparison series takes a look at Campfire vs Notion to help choose the right one for you!

Latest on the Blog

Latest on the Blog

Campfire vs. Notion App for Writing a Book

The latest post in our writing software comparison series takes a look at Campfire vs Notion to help choose the right one for you!

Latest on the Blog

Latest on the Blog