Creating Chapters and Scenes
New chapters and new scenes are both born from the Chapter Outline on the left side of the Chapters page. Whether you're starting a fresh chapter or slipping a scene into the middle of one you've already drafted, it all happens with a right-click (or Ctrl+click on Mac); for scenes, there's also a quick button at the top of the chapter's detail area on the right.
Creating a Fresh Chapter
To add a brand-new chapter at the end of your book, right-click empty space anywhere in the outline and choose New Chapter. The New Chapter window opens, and the chapter you create lands at the bottom of the list with the next available number.
The window asks for a few things, all of them optional except your imagination:
- Chapter Title: what readers see at the top of the chapter. Up to 50 characters. Leave it blank if you only want a number.
- Subtitle: a smaller line under the title, useful for date stamps, points of view, or epigraphs. Up to 100 characters.
- In which...: a one-sentence summary in the spirit of classic chapter headings. This is your private note about what the chapter does. Up to 100 characters.
- Chapter Type: defaults to Standard. Other types (like Prologue or Epilogue) help you classify chapters that sit outside the regular numbered sequence.
- Numbered chapter: a checkbox controlling whether this chapter shows up in the numbered sequence. More on this below.
When you're happy, click Create Chapter. The new chapter appears in the outline, already selected, ready for details.
Inserting a Chapter Before or After
More often, you'll want to drop a new chapter between two existing ones. Right-click any chapter in the outline and you'll see two options near the top of the menu:
- Insert Chapter Before: opens the New Chapter window with the new chapter aimed at the slot just before the one you clicked.
- Insert Chapter After: opens it aimed at the slot just after.
The window itself shows you exactly where the chapter is going. A pair of Before / After buttons sit at the top so you can flip your mind between them, and a large "Chapter N" preview updates underneath to show the number this chapter will take when you save. Any chapters that came after the insert point get bumped one number higher automatically.
Note: Inserting a chapter shifts every later chapter's number. If you reference chapter numbers in notes or scene summaries, those references won't auto-update. Re-read after a big insertion to make sure nothing's stale.
When You're Not Ready to Commit
If you know something belongs between two chapters but you don't know what it is yet, you don't have to make a real chapter for it. A placeholder holds the spot without taking a number, without shifting anything, and without appearing in your manuscript. You can promote it into a full chapter later, and everything you wrote on it carries over. See Placeholder Cards.
The "Numbered Chapter" Choice
Most chapters belong in the numbered sequence: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and so on. But some don't. A Prologue, Epilogue, or Interlude usually sits outside the count, and forcing it into the sequence pushes every other chapter's number off by one.
Uncheck Numbered chapter and the chapter still appears in your outline in its proper position, but it doesn't claim a number. The numbered chapters around it keep their original order undisturbed. You can change your mind anytime: right-click the chapter and turn Numbered Chapter on or off in its right-click menu.
Tip: Pair an unnumbered chapter with a custom Chapter Type ("Prologue", "Interlude") to make its role in the book obvious at a glance in the outline.
Single-Scene vs Multi-Scene Chapters
Every new chapter is born with one scene already inside it. If your chapter is a single uninterrupted unit of prose, that's all you'll ever need. Write it and move on. The outline won't even show the scene as a separate row until a chapter has more than one.
When a chapter needs to break into multiple scenes (a viewpoint shift, a time jump, a cut to a different location), you can add as many scenes as you like. There are two ways to do it:
- Right-click the chapter in the outline and choose New Scene.
- With the chapter selected, click the New Scene button in the top-right of the wide strip at the top of the chapter view on the right side of the page.
Either way, the new scene appears at the end of that chapter's scene list, the chapter auto-expands so you can see it, and the new scene is selected and ready to fill in. Scene titles are optional: leave one blank and the outline labels it "Empty scene" until you start writing, then shows your opening words in italics instead. The right-hand side falls back to "Untitled Scene".
Tip: You can always add a scene to a chapter that currently has only one. The first time you do, the outline starts showing the scenes as a small list under the chapter so you can navigate between them.
Once a chapter or scene exists, the right-hand side is where you flesh it out. See Editing Chapter and Scene Details.