[ReviewAZON asin="1904286089"]The best way of describing a product honestly is to let a professional software reviewer give you their opinion. The following review appeared in Computer Shopper, and was awarded the "Best Budget Buy Award" in September 2005. "Reading is fun but writing is even more fun because you can invent everything!" Story Wizard provides a stimulating environment in which to write stories, including a full dictionary and thesaurus as well as an automatic spellchecker, and there's help at hand when users try to decide where to start or what to write next. It even helps with fictitious names, offering a billion name combinations for convincing characters, and has a place name database covering the whole world. Although the software doesn't write the words for you, its templates provide structure and guidance. To start you choose a type of story and give it a working title. You also need to decide on its size: short, with three phases, beginning middle and end; medium, with six episodes giving scope for development; or long, with 12 chapters. Story Wizard then focuses on characters, encouraging users to think about the role they play in the story and about their defining characteristics. It also pays attention to location and themes; indeed, to all the ingredients of a well-crafted story. One of its helpful features is a link to the Microsoft speech engine to read aloud what has been written on the screen, although to use this feature you need Windows XP. Finally, when you want to publish your work it provides facilities to design the front cover. Story Wizard is motivating and fun and earns a Best Budget Buy award. It is ideal for home users but also deserves a place in the classroom." Janet Swift. Story Wizard is also supplied to the schools system in the United Kingdom, where it is considered a core curriculum title relevant to teaching creative writing for ages 9-16.[/ReviewAZON] Read more »