A novel outline generator you can actually write from
Three acts, a midpoint that turns the story over and beats that are events rather than themes. Describe your novel and get ten ways to structure it.
A novel outline generator turns a premise into a structure. This one returns three-act outlines with a genuine midpoint turn, where every beat is something that happens rather than a theme. Describe your novel and get ten ways to structure it. It needs a free FeelyWrite account, which starts you with 15 free credits.
Novel outline generator
Describe your novel
Genre, length and structure in, ten outlines out, each with its midpoint named.
0 / 2000
Why outlines collapse in the middle
Most outlines are strong for twenty thousand words and vague for the next forty. The reason is almost always the midpoint. If nothing turns halfway, act two becomes a corridor of incidents and the writer loses faith somewhere around chapter fourteen. A midpoint is not just an event. It is a reversal of understanding.
The other common failure is beats written as themes. "She confronts her past" is not a beat, because nobody can write that scene. "She agrees to identify the body" is a beat. It happens in a room, at a time. Somebody has to speak first. Outlines made of events survive contact with drafting.
What a midpoint has to do
Save the Cat, one of the most widely used story structures, describes the turn simply: "Midpoints tend to fall into either false victory or false defeat categories" ([savethecat.com](https://savethecat.com/about-the-beats/cracking-the-midpoint-the-false-victory)). Either the hero seems to win and the win is hollow, or the hero seems to lose and the loss opens the real way forward. Both change what the second half is about.
That is the test every outline from this three-act generator is built to pass. If you can name the false victory or false defeat, the middle of your book has a job.
Pick a structure
Three acts is the default because it gives the middle a job, but a novel can take other shapes. A beat sheet such as Save the Cat sets fifteen beats at fixed points, which suits writers who like to pace to a plan. Kishōtenketsu, a four-part structure from Chinese and Japanese storytelling, turns on a twist rather than a conflict. Two strands, in two timelines or with two leads, suit a book about how two stories meet.
This generator builds three acts with a named midpoint turn. If your book wants one of the other shapes, keep the beats you like and rearrange them around it.
What the novel outline generator gives you
Describe the premise, the protagonist and the ending you think you want. You get ten ways to structure the book, each in three acts with a named midpoint turn and beats written as actions. Read them side by side. The best one is often a mix: the opening of the third, the midpoint of the seventh.
An outline is a plan until something is written. When you are ready, list the beats of a chapter in FeelyWrite and Draft writes each one as its own scene, up to twelve scenes in one chapter draft, in your point of view and tense.
Write every beat as an action
If a beat cannot be filmed, it is a theme wearing a beat costume. Rewrite it until it names something a person does in a place. The scene will be there waiting when you reach it.
Outline to the midpoint in detail, then loosely
You will learn things in act one that change act three. A detailed ending written before you start is usually the first thing you throw away, so plan the first half properly and sketch the rest.
Leave the outline open to argument
A draft that contradicts its outline is often right. Treat the plan as your best current theory rather than a contract. Update it when the writing tells you something better.
Common questions
- How detailed should a novel outline be?
- Detailed enough that you never sit down without knowing the scene of the day. Loose enough that discovery is still possible. For most writers that is a paragraph per chapter and a sentence per scene.
- Is the novel outline generator free?
- It runs on a free account. Sign up with no card and you start with 15 free credits; one outline generation uses one of them.
- What is the midpoint in a three-act outline?
- The turn halfway through, where the story changes direction. Save the Cat calls it a false victory or a false defeat. Either way, the protagonist cannot go back to what they wanted in act one.
- Do I have to outline at all?
- No. Plenty of good novels are discovery-written. An outline is useful if your middles sag or you lose momentum. It is pointless if planning kills your interest in the story.
- Can I outline a book I have already started?
- Yes, and it is often the most useful time. Describe what you have so far and ask for structures that fit it. In FeelyWrite, put the premise and main characters into Story DNA. Then Talk to your book can tell you which threads are still open.
- Can I turn the outline into chapters?
- That is what the studio is for. List the beats of one chapter. Draft writes each beat as a separate scene you can keep, rewrite or cut.
Draft it, scene by scene
An outline is a plan until something is written. FeelyWrite turns each beat into a first draft in your point of view, with your characters and rules from Story DNA in view the whole time.
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