Build characters and an outline

Characters and the outline are the plan your chapters are written from. The more specific they are, the less you’ll rewrite later. Both steps open once Basics is finished.

1Step 1: Generate a cast in Characters

Open Characters. Next to Generate, choose how many characters to create — one to eight at a time — and press Generate with AI. It’s free. New characters are written to fit alongside anyone already in the cast, so you can work in rounds: main characters first, then the supporting cast.

2Step 2: Shape each character

Click a character to open their card. The fields are Name, Role, Age, Gender, Appearance, Background, Personality, Motivation, Internal conflict, External conflict, Stakes, Character arc and How they speak. Every field feeds the chapters. How they speak has the biggest effect on dialogue, so note vocabulary, rhythm and the things this person would never say. Changes save when you click away from a field.

3Step 3: Revise with AI, or add your own

To change a character, type an instruction in the box at the bottom of the card — for example, “give him a reason to distrust the captain” — and choose Edit with AI. Regenerate writes a fresh version of the same character. Both are free.

To build someone from scratch, press Add manually and fill in the card yourself.

4Step 4: Order and trim the cast

Use the arrows to move characters up or down, and keep the main characters at the top. The trash icon removes a character; if they already appear in written chapters, you’re told which ones and asked to confirm, and those chapters are flagged for review. A book can have up to 60 characters. When the cast is ready, press Next step.

5Step 5: Set the length and structure in Outline

In Outline, set the number of Chapters (1 to 100). For fiction, choose a Plot structure: Three-Act Structure, Hero’s Journey, Save the Cat, Seven-Point Story Structure, Freytag’s Pyramid or Kishōtenketsu. If you’re unsure, leave Let AI choose what fits.

6Step 6: Generate the outline, or write it yourself

Check the line next to the buttons. Your first outline on the account is free; after that, an outline costs 3 credits per chapter, and the line shows the exact price and your balance afterward. Press Generate outline. A progress banner shows the work, and you can leave the page.

Prefer to plan by hand? Write outline manually creates empty chapter cards for you to fill in, at no cost.

7Step 7: Edit the chapter cards

Click a chapter to open its card:

• Title
• What happens — the chapter’s job in the story
• Beats — the key moments, one per line, in order
• Ending hook — how the chapter should end
• Location — the main setting
• Target words
• Characters in this chapter — click names to include them

Specific beats give specific chapters. “They argue” is vague; “Mara accuses Theo of reading her letters, and he admits it and hands her the one she never sent” gives the writer something to work with.

8Step 8: Rearrange the plan

Move chapters with the arrows, add one with Add chapter, or delete one with the trash icon. Deleting a chapter that already has text asks you to confirm first, because its text and history go with it.

9Step 9: Regenerate without losing work

To rework the whole plan, describe the change in What should change? (optional) — for example, “move the betrayal earlier and add a chapter at the lighthouse” — and press Regenerate outline. Regenerating never deletes text: chapters you’ve written keep their prose, and if the new outline is shorter, they’re kept at the end of the book.

When the plan for a written chapter changes, its card shows a warning. Rewrite the chapter, edit it by hand, or choose The chapter still fits — clear the flag.

10Step 10: Start writing

When the cards read like the book you want, press Start writing to open Write chapters. While you work, the Plan tab beside each chapter shows its summary and beats, with a link back to the outline.