Templates & checklists
A template is worth having when it stops you rebuilding the same structure for every book, and worth ignoring the moment it starts asking for information the story does not need.
Everything in this category is a reusable artefact you can copy straight into your own project, with notes on which fields matter and which are safe to leave blank.
16 articles
Building an Index of Scenes
The single most useful revision document.
Building a Chapter Summary Document
The whole book on one page.
Character Relationship Map Template
Who knows what about whom, which is where large-cast books actually go wrong.
Continuity Checklist for Novels
Seventeen checks, run one row at a time across the whole book.
Character Arc Tracker Template
The column that is actually the arc: what they would not do, and when that changes.
Pronunciation Sheet Template for Audiobooks
The sheet a narrator can actually read, written before recording rather than during it.
Narrator Notes Template
How the book should sound, including the things the reader does not know yet.
Beat Sheet Template for Novels
Eleven turning points, and the same beats translated across three frameworks.
Novel Timeline Template
Sorted by when things happen, not the order you tell them in.
Magic System Template
Record the limits, not the powers. The limits are what the story runs on.
Scene List Template for Novelists
One row per scene, and a column that exposes the sagging middle.
Series Bible Template
Eight sections, worked examples, and an honest split between what you can extract and what you must write.
Story Bible Template for a Single Novel
The single-book version, built around the scene list you will actually search.
Character Profile Template
Thirteen fields worth keeping, and why eye colour is not usually one of them.
How to Build a Style Sheet for a Novel
Every decision you make twice is a decision you never wrote down the first time.
Writing Templates and Prompts Worth Using (and When to Ignore Them)
A good template saves a decision that didn't need to be original. A bad one flattens every book to the same shape.
Templates & checklists, on your own manuscript.
One pass returns the names, places, factions and terms these templates ask for. See the style sheet it drafts →