[4] After Yeandle wrote one database-driven adventure game, Timeline, for Gilsoft, he realised that a database editor was needed, and it was this software which became The Quill.

Although not credited in the article, Chris Hobson submitted a patch to Crash magazine which allowed the Spectrum version to save to a Microdrive.

This was published in the September 1986 edition The Quill only allowed for the creation of text-only adventures, using a text interpretation process known as a verb–noun parser.

Micro Adventurer described it as "a product [...] to revolutionise the whole microcomputer scene" and rated it "10 out of 10",[15][16] while Computer and Video Games described it as "worth every penny of the £14.95 price tag",[17] while CRASH said it was "almost ludicrously underpriced for what it does and, more importantly, what it allows others to do".

[21] Following the success of the original, a second generation Quill was produced with more capabilities and sold under the name Professional Adventure Writer for the ZX Spectrum and CP/M range.