Start with the skeleton
The Story outline template gives you six branches: Characters (with Protagonist and Antagonist under it), Setting, Act I — Setup, Act II — Confrontation, Act III — Resolution, and Themes. It is a starting shape, not a rule. Rename the acts, split Act II in two, or delete the whole structure and use chapters instead.
If you already have notes in a text file, copy the indented list, select the root and press ⌘V, or import the file as Markdown. Each line becomes a node and the indentation becomes the structure.
Draft scene lists in the outline
Under each act, add one node per scene and keep it to a sentence: who wants what, and what stops them. Tab under a scene holds beats or lines of dialogue you don't want to lose. When a scene belongs somewhere else, select it and press ⌥↑ or ⌥↓ to move it among its siblings, or drag it to another act. Its beats go with it.
Characters work the same way. Give each character a node, and under it: what they want, what they are afraid of, and how they change. When you are drafting a scene and can't remember a minor character's surname, it is one search away (⌘K searches inside every node).
Check the structure in the map
Press ⌘⇧M to see the story as a mind map. Each act gets its own colour, so imbalance is easy to spot: an Act I with fourteen scenes next to an Act III with three is visible at a glance, long before it shows up in a word count.
- ⌥1 shows only the acts and main branches: the story on one screen.
- ⌥2 adds scenes. Read them left to right and ask whether each one changes something.
- Collapse finished acts to keep the map readable while you work on the rest.
Before a big restructure, you don't need to make a copy by hand. Each note keeps its last 20 snapshots on your device (taken when you open it and every five minutes while you work), and Version history restores any of them, in place or as a separate note to compare.
Use AI as a sparring partner, or not at all
Some writers want a second opinion on a stuck scene; many don't want AI anywhere near their draft. Both are supported.
- Expand into ideas (in the AI menu) adds a few possible next beats under a scene as child nodes. Keep one, rewrite it in your own voice, and delete the rest, or undo the lot.
- Rewrite › Make it a question turns a plot point into the dramatic question it raises, which is a useful check on whether a scene has stakes.
- AI off (Settings › AI) sends nothing to any AI provider. Typeahead keeps working from your own notes, which is handy for invented names and places: they autocomplete with the spelling you chose.
AI only acts when you ask: typeahead waits for Tab, and a rewrite or expansion happens only when you choose it from the menu. Every one can be undone, and a version snapshot is taken before it runs.
Unpublished work stays yours
In guest mode the outline exists only in your browser on this device. If you sign in to sync, it is stored in Supabase under your account. AI requests send only the text needed for that request, and only while AI is on. Details are in the privacy notice.
From outline to manuscript
When you are ready to draft, export Markdown: the outline becomes a nested list, with acts at the top level and scenes beneath them, and it pastes into most writing tools. Export JSON as a full backup of the outline, and a PDF of the map to pin above your desk.
Open the story outline template and give your book a skeleton.