Chapters & Scenes

In Manuscript Mode, your prose is organized into chapters and scenes. Chapters divide your book into major sections, and scenes divide each chapter into smaller beats of action or narrative.

Chapters

Chapters are the main building blocks of your manuscript. Each chapter appears as an entry in the sidebar on the left (showing your chapters and scenes) and shows a heading in the writing area with an optional chapter number, title, and subtitle.

Chapters in Manuscript Mode are the same chapters you see on the Chapters page in Worldbuilding Mode (the other main section of Penpoint, where you track characters, locations, and other story details). Creating or renaming a chapter in either mode updates it everywhere. This means your chapter outline, character assignments, and prose all stay connected.

• Title: You can rename a chapter two ways: click the chapter title in the writing area to edit it directly, or double-click the chapter name in the sidebar outline (max 50 characters)
• Subtitle: An optional line below the title for epigraphs or context (max 100 characters). Click "Add subtitle..." to create one.
• Numbering: Chapters can show "Chapter 1", "Chapter 2", etc. You can turn numbering on or off for each chapter from the sidebar outline by right-clicking (or Ctrl+click on Mac) and choosing the numbering option.
• Hiding the header: To make a chapter read as "empty" (like a prologue with no title), right-click its header in the writing area and choose "Hide Chapter Header." The number, title, and subtitle disappear while your prose stays put. Restore it anytime by right-clicking the chapter in the sidebar outline and re-checking "Show Chapter Header."

Creating Chapters

There are several ways to create a new chapter:

• Click the + button at the top of the sidebar outline and select "New Chapter"
• Right-click a chapter in the sidebar outline and choose Insert Chapter to add one directly after it
• Use a chapter break to split your current content into a new chapter. Click the chapter break button in the toolbar at the top of the writing area (it looks like a two-columns icon, rotated sideways). You can also use the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Enter (Cmd+Shift+Alt+Enter on Mac).

Scenes

Scenes are the building blocks inside chapters. Each scene holds a portion of your prose and is separated from other scenes by a visual divider (which you can customize in manuscript settings: click Settings in the toolbar at the top of the writing area).

Every chapter starts with at least one scene. As you write, you can add scene breaks to create natural story divisions: a change of location, a time jump, or a shift in point of view.

• Scene titles are optional. If a scene has no title, the sidebar outline shows a preview of the first few words of the scene's text instead.
• Empty scenes show as "Empty scene" in the sidebar outline.
• If a chapter has only one scene, the sidebar just shows the chapter; the scene is still there, it just doesn't need its own listing. Once you add a second scene, both appear individually under the chapter.
• Scenes can be reordered within a chapter by dragging them in the sidebar outline.
• Scenes can be moved between chapters by dragging them to a different chapter in the sidebar outline.

Creating Scenes

New scenes are created by inserting a scene break:

• Click the scene break button in the toolbar (it looks like a rectangle split in two; if the toolbar is narrow, look for it in the "More" dropdown). You can also use the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Enter (Cmd+Shift+Enter on Mac).

The scene break splits the current scene in two. Everything before the break stays in the original scene, and everything after becomes a new scene.

Merging

If you want to combine adjacent content, you can merge chapters or scenes:

• Merge chapters: Right-click a chapter and choose "Merge with chapter above" to combine its scenes into the previous chapter. Chapter merges cannot be undone, so be sure before you merge.
• Merge scenes: Right-click a scene in the outline and choose "Merge with scene above." Your writing from both scenes is kept: the text from the merged scene is added to the end of the one above it. You can also backspace across a scene divider in the writing area. Penpoint asks you to confirm either way, and Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on Mac) undoes a scene merge while you are still in that chapter.

Folders

If your book has Parts or Acts, you can use folders (also called groups) to organize chapters under those headings. Folders appear in the sidebar outline as collapsible containers that you can expand and collapse. Create a folder from the + button or by right-clicking a chapter that isn't already in a folder and selecting "Create Group."

You can also move chapters into or out of folders using the right-click menu: choose "Add to Group" to file a chapter into an existing folder, or "Remove from Group" to pull it back out.