Cheese Paper is a text editor designed for writing long-form prose, particularly fiction. It organises projects into individual scenes which can be moved around independently and accompanied by summaries and notes.
The software also provides dedicated areas for keeping information about characters and worldbuilding close at hand while writing. Projects remain straightforward to work with outside the application, as the underlying text is stored as Markdown with metadata held in TOML headers.
Cheese Paper works entirely offline and automatically notices files that have been created, edited, moved, or deleted externally. This makes projects suitable for use with separate file synchronisation software while keeping the writer in control of their data.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Organises long-form writing projects into independently movable scenes.
- Keeps summaries and notes alongside individual scenes.
- Provides dedicated documents for characters and worldbuilding information.
- Stores prose as Markdown with metadata in simple TOML headers.
- Automatically detects files created, edited, moved, or deleted outside the application.
- Works with external file synchronisation software without requiring a proprietary cloud service.
- Exports an outline containing project notes, summaries, and other supporting information.
- Combines story scenes into a single Markdown file for further conversion to formats such as EPUB, DOCX, HTML, and PDF.
- Includes supplied light and dark themes and supports custom themes.
- Operates entirely offline, leaving project files under the user’s control.
Website: codeberg.org/ByteOfBrie/cheese-paper
Support:
Developer: Brie
License: GNU General Public License v3.0
Cheese Paper is written in Rust. Learn Rust with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Tools for Novelists | |
|---|---|
| FocusWriter | Distraction-free writing environment with goals and statistics |
| Ren'Py | Engine for creating visual novels and interactive stories |
| novelWriter | Structured plain-text editor for novels and long-form fiction |
| CherryTree | Hierarchical notes for research, characters and story planning |
| Zettlr | Markdown writing environment for long-form projects |
| oStorybook | Novel planning and writing suite with scenes and timelines |
| Twine | Visual tool for creating branching and interactive stories |
| Manuskript | Novel-writing environment built around structured planning |
| Quoll Writer | Novel-writing workspace with chapters, assets and goals |
| Joplin | Note-taking application useful for research and story planning |
| Hammer | Offline-first story editor with scenes, notes and references |
| Bibisco | Novel-writing environment focused on characters and structure |
| Story Architect | Bring characters, scenes and screenplays together in one workspace |
| WareWoolf | Minimalist fiction-writing environment with planning tools |
| Scriptorium | Plan, write and publish novels and other manuscripts |
| Cheese Paper | A comfortable writing environment for lengthy prose |
| Skribisto | Writing studio with corkboard, sessions and rich export support |
| novelibre | Novel organiser integrated with LibreOffice and OpenOffice |
| Scrivus | Plan and write your novel while keeping everything on your own computer |
| NovProg | Tracks and graphs writing progress against project goals |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
 Explore our carefully curated directory of recommended free and open source software, covering every major software category.The directory forms part of our extensive collection of articles for Linux enthusiasts. It includes hundreds of detailed reviews, together with free and open source alternatives to proprietary software from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. LinuxLinks also covers interesting projects worth exploring, Linux-compatible hardware, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application that we haven’t covered? Tell us about it using our submission form. |
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.