Novel Planner
Describe your novel concept and get a chapter-by-chapter outline with summaries and character profiles. Edit and refine until you have a plan you can draft from.
Keep reading
Plan a Novel: Expert Tips & Strategies
How to plan a novel from concept to chapter outline before you start writing.
How to Write Chapter Summaries
Write chapter summaries that track plot, character arcs, and pacing across your manuscript.
How to Structure a Novel
Choosing the right structure for your story and organizing chapters around it.
Character Development Exercises
Exercises to build characters with depth, motivation, and believable arcs.
Other tools you might like
Story Generator
Go from a story idea to an AI-generated plot outline. Tweak any part to see how a plot change trickles down and affects the story.
Character Name Generator
Get unique character names with meanings and origins. Pick a type (elf, samurai, villain, pirate, and dozens more) and generate various options with AI.
How the novel planner works
You describe your novel concept (characters, setting, conflict) and pick a genre. The AI generates a 10-chapter outline where each chapter has a title and a 2-3 sentence summary stating concrete plot events. It also generates three character profiles: protagonist, antagonist, and ally.
Each character profile includes five dimensions: starting point, journey, transformation, motivation, and conflict. These track how the character changes across the novel, not just who they are at the start.
After generating, you can edit any chapter's title and summary. When you save, the AI regenerates every chapter after your edit, using your version as context. You can also click the dice icon on any chapter to reimagine the story from that point forward while keeping everything before it intact.
Getting better results
Name your characters in the premise
If you give the AI character names, it will use them consistently across chapters and build profiles around them. "A detective named Ren Castillo investigates..." produces a more coherent plan than "a detective investigates..."
Mention your target length
A 60,000-word YA novel needs a different chapter structure than a 120,000-word epic fantasy. Including a word count target in your premise helps the planner distribute plot events appropriately across the 10 chapters.
Describe the ending if you know it
If you know how your novel ends, include it. The planner will work backwards from your ending to build chapter progression that arrives there naturally.
Edit early chapters to steer the rest
If the AI takes the story in a direction you don't want, edit the first chapter or two and save. The AI regenerates everything after your edit, using your version as the foundation. This is faster than regenerating from scratch and keeps the parts you liked.
What this tool is for
This is a planning tool, not a writing tool. It gives you a chapter-level roadmap and character reference you can use while drafting. The output works as a starting point for a new novel, a way to pressure-test a concept before committing months of writing, or a second opinion on an outline you have already started.
Ready to write the novel? ShyEditor is a writing environment with an AI assistant that tracks your characters and plot, a knowledge base for world-building, and everything you need to draft from first chapter to last.
Frequently asked questions
Is the novel planner free to use?
Yes. No account required. Generate a novel plan, edit chapters, reimagine from any point, and copy the result.
Can I use the generated plan in my own work?
Yes. The plan is yours. Use it for a novel, screenplay, serial fiction, or any other project.
How is this different from the story generator?
The story generator produces a structural outline (acts, beats, or stages depending on the framework you pick). The novel planner produces 10 numbered chapters with titles and plot summaries, plus three character profiles with arcs, motivations, and conflicts. Use the story generator to explore structure, then the novel planner when you are ready for a chapter-level plan.
What do the edit and reimagine buttons do?
Edit lets you rewrite a chapter's title and summary. When you save, the AI regenerates every chapter after your edit, keeping your changes as context. Reimagine regenerates a chapter and everything after it with a fresh take, while keeping all earlier chapters intact.
How is the novel planner different from ChatGPT?
This tool generates a structured plan with a fixed format: 10 chapters and 3 character profiles. You can edit any chapter and the AI regenerates the rest while staying consistent with your changes. A chat interface does not enforce structure or support selective regeneration.