Neo

What is Neo?

Neo is a distraction-free word processor built specifically for writing books. Created by author Hugh Howey after frustration with existing writing tools, Neo strips away everything that doesn't serve the drafting process. It runs locally on your machine, saves your works-in-progress as plain files on your disk, and requires no accounts, no subscriptions, and no internet connection. The core philosophy is simple: Neo exists to help you get the rough draft written, and it formats your manuscript to look like a book while you write.

Who it's for

• Novelists and fiction writers who want their manuscript to visually resemble a finished book from the very first draft, not a plain text file.
• Distraction-prone authors who need a minimal interface that fades into the background, with no red squiggles or feature bloat to interrupt their flow.
• Writers who value ownership and privacy and prefer their work stored in plain, portable files on their own disk rather than locked into a cloud subscription service.

Key features

The bookshelf

Your library is displayed as a visual bookshelf, not a file list. You can organize shelves by series, status, or pen name, drag-and-drop books anywhere, and add cover art directly onto titles. Progress bars on each cover show how far you are from your word goals, giving you a motivating overview of your entire writing life at a glance.

Enter, Enter, Enter

The formatting system is built around a single key. One Enter creates a new paragraph, two Enters insert a *** section break, and three Enters start a new chapter. Chapters number and renumber themselves automatically, and typographic details like em dashes, true ellipses, and curly quotes are handled as you type. You never have to stop writing to fiddle with formatting.

Darlings and placeholders

Instead of killing your darlings, Neo lets you keep the bodies. Drag any passage you love but can't use onto the Darlings tab, and it leaves your manuscript without being lost — it restores to the exact spot it came from. Similarly, mid-flow placeholders let you drop a mark and a sticky note for names, facts, or dates you need to research later, with red dots on chapters that need your attention.

Outlining and exports

Plotters can outline chapters and sections in a dedicated tab, with section notes appearing as gray ghost paragraphs ready to be overwritten. When you're done, Neo exports to EPUB 3 built to KDP's guidelines, Word .docx, PDF, HTML, markdown, and plain text. You can even email a timestamped PDF snapshot of your work with a SHA-256 fingerprint for verification.

What stands out

Neo doesn't try to do everything; it just wants you to get that rough draft written.

That single-minded focus is the product's greatest strength. Most writing tools either overwhelm you with features or force you to fight formatting while you work. Neo eliminates both problems by making the manuscript look like a book from the start and handling all formatting with the Enter key. The Darlings feature is a genuinely novel solution to a problem every writer knows, and the local-first, plain-file approach means your work is never held hostage by a platform.

Worth checking out if…

You're a novelist who wants a free, local writing tool that respects your craft and your privacy. If you've tried Scrivener and found it too complex, or used Google Docs and hated the distractions, Neo offers a middle path. It's particularly appealing if you like the idea of seeing your work as a book while you write, or if you want a tool that gets out of the way and lets you focus on the one thing that matters: getting words on the page.