Outliner

In development builds, not in the beta yet

Plan the book as a list you type, as arcs running side by side, or as a story structure laid against your chapters. The outline reads your manuscript's order, so moving a written scene in the plan moves it in the book.

How the outline works

Part	What it does
One outline per book	The outline lays your plan over the manuscript: labels, beats, notes, arcs, and scenes not written yet. Reordering written scenes in the outline reorders the manuscript, with Undo.
Three views	List is a text outline. Threads draws each arc as a line under the scene cards. Lanes sits each card on its main arc. Threads and Lanes run across or down, with a zoom slider.
Scenes not written yet	Planned cards show a hollow ring, and Write this scene starts the scene where the card sits.
Arcs	Each arc has a page with its description, linked notes, silent stretches, and every scene it appears in. Wiki notes can mention an arc with @.
Behind-the-scenes notes	What an arc is doing off the page during a scene, as a small square on its line. A note can become a scene of its own.
Chapters, parts, and acts	Tinted bands, containers, and a bar. Drag a chapter's edge to move the break, or split a chapter between two scenes.
Story structure	Built-in structures such as Save the Cat, the Hero's Journey, and the seven-point structure, or your own. Each beat gets a band, a verdict, and a Checks summary.
Paths	Try another version of part of the story or the whole book. Compare lists every change, and Make canon applies the ticked ones in one step.
Alternates	A card can hold alternates for the same moment, and any one can become the one that counts.
Abandoned	Written scenes you take out of the book keep their text on the Abandoned shelf, out of the reading order and word totals, ready to drag back.
Quilliam	Build from my manuscript suggests labels, beats, arcs, and chapter summaries for a drafted book. Import an outline reads a pasted outline or a .md, .txt, or .docx file. Everything arrives as suggestions.
Whole series	String every book's outline together, and mark key moments that show as diamonds in every view.
Templates and export	Start from an outline template, save your own, and export to Markdown, plain text, or a one-page synopsis.

The beta runs on Storyteller, free, on Windows.Apply for the beta