How the novel outline template works
The template moves from core to detail. The first sections pin down the story in a sentence and identify the protagonist's want (the external goal), need (the internal change) and flaw (what stands in the way inside them). The antagonist and stakes give the conflict force. Setting and theme give it texture and meaning.
Then it asks for the ending, because knowing where you're going makes every other decision easier. Only after that do you sketch the plot in three acts. Once complete, you can apply any beat sheet on this site to the act sketch and break it into chapters with the chapter outline template.
Where it comes from
This is a general-purpose planning document drawing on common craft concepts: the logline from screenwriting, want versus need from character-arc teaching, and three-act structure. It is not tied to one author's method.
Worked example: The Glass Orchard
Premise: A greenhouse keeper on a terraformed moon must save the colony's last orchard from a creeping blight.
- Logline
- A reclusive greenhouse keeper must work with the engineer she blames for her brother's death to save her moon colony's only orchard before winter.
- Want / need / flaw
- Wants to save the orchard alone; needs to trust others; refuses help.
- Antagonist
- The colony governor, who wants to burn the orchard to stop the blight spreading.
- Theme
- Can grief and forgiveness live in the same place?
- Ending
- The orchard survives in part because she shares her brother's research.
Tips
- Fill in the ending early, even if it changes later.
- Keep the whole template to a page or two; it is a compass, not a draft.
- Write want and need as opposites that pull against each other.
- Revisit the template after each act of drafting and update it.
Common mistakes
- A logline with no obstacle or stakes.
- Theme stated as a moral rather than a question.
- An antagonist with no motive of their own.
- Skipping the ending 'to see where it goes', then stalling in the middle.
Using this template with Inkora
When you start a fiction book in Inkora, it first plans the whole book from your brief: a premise, a synopsis, the characters, a style guide and a chapter-by-chapter outline. That outline waits for you. You can read it, rename chapters, rewrite summaries and reorder the plan before any chapter is written.
Inkora does not apply the novel outline template automatically. To have the plan follow it, click Copy as text above, fill in your own notes under each part, and paste the result into the book idea and instructions field when you create the book (it accepts up to 20,000 characters). The planner reads that brief when it designs the chapter outline; check the outline against the template before you start writing and adjust anything that drifted.