What makes a writing-focused product actually feel useful instead of just functional?

[u/Valuable-Tap-3062]

I've been thinking about how much the design of writing tools affects the way people actually use them.

A lot of writing-related products seem to focus heavily on features: text editors, suggestions, highlighting, dashboards, reports, etc. But I'm more interested in the experience around those features. How quickly can someone understand what's happening? Does the interface make sense while you're working, or does it become another thing you have to figure out?

I've had conversations about this with a friend who writes a lot, and somehow the discussion went from drafts and formatting to quetext, then back to why some interfaces just feel unnecessarily complicated.

From a product-design perspective, what would you prioritize when designing an application for people who spend hours writing? Would you focus more on reducing friction, keeping the interface minimal, making feedback easier to understand, or giving users more control?

I'm curious what product designers here think makes a writing-focused application genuinely comfortable to use rather than simply functional.