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Plot Device

Your first book

You can start writing within a minute. Planning is there when you want it, never before.

Want to look around first? Try a sample book, on the welcome screen, opens a short invented novel to explore. It’s a copy, so change anything you like; Start the sample over…, in its book menu, puts it back as it was.

Start a book

Section titled “Start a book”
  1. On the welcome screen, choose New project. With a book already open, it’s in the menu at the top corner, and Cancel, or Esc, takes you back to the book.
  2. Choose the Language of the book. It sets the direction your paragraphs run, Hebrew right to left and English left to right, and the language the template is written in: the cards below show the kinds of pages and outlines you’ll get, in that language. You can still mix languages inside the book.
  3. Choose what you’re making:
    • Novel: characters, places and notes, a three-act outline called “Main story”, and one for loose ideas.
    • Short story: characters and notes, one chapter ready to write, and a short outline.
    • D&D campaign: NPCs, locations, factions, items and lore, sessions instead of chapters, a session plan and a campaign arc.
    • Blank: characters, places and notes, and nothing else.
  4. Give the book a Title. The Name on the cover (optional) is optional.
  5. Where to keep it starts beside your last book. Choose… picks another place.
  6. Choose Create.
What are you making? The book's language, four cards: Novel, Short story, D&D campaign and Blank, then the title and where to keep itWhat are you making? The book's language, four cards: Novel, Short story, D&D campaign and Blank, then the title and where to keep it

A template is only a start. Everything in it can be changed afterwards: the kinds of pages, the outlines, the names. Nothing in the book remembers which template it came from.

Write

Section titled “Write”

A short story opens in Write on its chapter. A novel or a campaign opens in Story on its outline; switch to Write when you’re ready. Choose + New chapter at the side, give the chapter a title, and start typing.

There is no save button. Plot Device saves a moment after you stop typing, and whenever you switch chapters or leave the window. The top bar says Saved when everything is on disk.

Next

Section titled “Next”