Start (and develop) your story

USING A TRIED and TRUSTED PROCESS

Get everything you need to brainstorm and develop your book. Meet experienced writing professionals who will help you start and connect with fellow writers to solve story problems together as you progress from your novel idea through drafting, writing, editing, and finishing your book

Start your story now

SEE YOUR BEST IDEAS COME TOGETHER

with structured steps to writing a book.

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Helpful

Start and stay focused with outlining and brainstorming tools that help you develop your story ideas. Read examples as you go that guide you in honing your writing craft.

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Organised

Create story structure from the start. Answer concise prompts to add details of plot, character and setting to a private, comprehensive outline that generates as you go and download it anytime.

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Sharing

Get feedback from others who have similar writing challenges in free critique groups and connect in monthly live writing coach Q&As with a premium plan.

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Motivating

Discover inspiring ideas, and share extracts with peers to stay accountable, or work with an experienced writing coach for professional feedback and extra support.

“ I want to write a book, where do I start? ”

Send us your question for help and suggestions:

ASK US!

FIND YOUR NEXT GREAT IDEA

Complete the Now Novel dashboard process to develop ideas and explore story avenues that you haven't thought of yet.

Save your ideas to a convenient story outline automatically as you complete each step.

Download and print your private outline any time from your story dashboard, with links to edit each section as your ideas grow.

Example:
Screenshot of the Now Novel ideas finder tool

Get tools to get a story started and connect with a writing community to stay the course.

START

DEVELOP YOUR STORY

Use the step-by-step questions in the Now Novel Dashboard to unearth your core story and build direction.

Plan intriguing story arcs and character arcs or outline one character or scene at a time. Read helpful writing prompts and articles relevant to your challenges as you go.

Organize and sequence scenes and chapters or other story units in the Scene Builder overview. Get further help to develop your story when you work with a writing coach or editor. Tag scenes with words of your choice to see scene summaries grouped by theme, motif or subplot side by side.

Example:
Screenshot of the Now Novel plot dashboard

INVENT AND DEEPEN CHARACTERS

Get to know your characters in enough detail to feel confident to write your story.

Brainstorm key attributes for each character including roles, goals, strengths, flaws and more.

You'll finish with a detailed summary of each character's core attributes and a helpful overview of your story's core cast in your outline.

Example:
Screenshot of the Now Novel character tool

Books published using Now Novel

Joe Byrd: a Now Novel success story

Successful author Joe Byrd video testimonial for Now Novel
Tangled Fortunes by Kate Baucherel

"It all boosted my confidence and kept me writing until the end of the story".

Novel: Tangled Fortunes
Publisher: Sixth Element

Kate Baucherel

Kate Baucherel, successful Now Novel author
GET STARTED

Take the first step to finishing a story and meeting your writing goals:

BEGIN

SEE YOUR IDEAS COME TOGETHER

Import your outline to view your ideas alongside your draft in Google Docs using our free add-on. Premium members can outline multiple stories and toggle between them - an easier way to plan an entire series.

Regular first page panel reviews give premium subscribers more ways to get honest feedback on how to write stronger beginnings.

Get weekly writing feedback from a Now Novel editor when you subscribe to any monthly or annual membership plan.

Example:
Screenshot of the Cinderella story outline PDF
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What Now Novel members love:

The five stars are for the comprehensive range of topics and materials but also particularly for the commitment and involvement of the Now Novel team. A great feature of the site is the community of aspiring writers.

Mark

Now Novel is a great platform for all writers to check out - especially for plotting, brainstorming, characterisation and even world building. Their customer service is top notch and I highly recommend NN!

MJ

The platform tools have provided a highly effective way to map out the structure of my novel while my experienced, inspiring coach Hedi has provided feedback and strategies that have reminded me that writing is fun and that my stories are worth telling.

Maggi
Read more reviews on: Trustspot Logo

KEY AREAS WE CAN HELP YOU WITH:

IMPROVING YOUR WRITING CRAFT

Find coached writing courses, DIY workbooks (with video lessons) and free email lesson series to develop your writing craft and write better characters, dialogue, plots and settings.

Learn more
DEVELOPING YOUR IDEA

Get feedback and motivation to guide you and keep you accountable to your goals as you finish your draft. Go your own way or get extra guidance from an experienced writing coach.

Learn more
FIND A NEW IDEA OR CREATE A KEY CHARACTER NOW

Try the first free section of the process now. Includes finding and developing your story's core idea and creating your first detailed character outline:

Start Now
Oprah Magazine logo for Now Novel review in O Magazine

An online novel writing course that's tailor-made to get you to actually write that book you've been thinking about.

Oprah Magazine

Get more information about writing on our blog:

Learning how to make an outline for a book got easier. Find quick story ideas with a story planner for writers that helps you start to finish a book. See a story outline example that grows as you answer easy, step-wise writing prompts. You'll learn how to make an outline for a story by doing, and develop a character outline that includes ideas for plot, setting and more to inspire you as you draft.