Chapter outline: [Book title]
How to use this template
Fill in the book, then give every chapter a row in the tracker, a prologue or epilogue included. Before you draft a chapter, copy the chapter card, from its Chapter heading down to the divider under it, and work through it: whose eyes, what they want by the end, what stops them, and what is different when the chapter closes.
Outcome: end most chapters on “yes, but…” or “no, and…”. A plain yes lets the tension out.
Closing hook: the last beat on the page, the question, threat or reveal that sends the reader on.
Notes: clues to plant or pay off, facts to check, continuity (names, injuries, who knows what).
When the draft is finished, fill in the reverse outline from the pages as written, not from the plan, and give each chapter a verdict: keep, cut, merge or move. A chapter where nothing changes is the first to cut or merge.
The book
Genre | |
Logline | |
Target length | |
POV characters | |
Draft and date |
Chapter tracker
Ch | Working title | POV and setting | Words | Status |
1 | ||||
2 | ||||
3 |
Status: planned, drafting, drafted or revised.
See an example chapter
Chapter 7: The night ferry
POV: Ruth
Setting: The 11:40 ferry from Harwick to the island, a Friday in November
Place in the story: Act II, first pinch point
Target words: 3,500
Summary: Ruth follows the harbourmaster onto the last ferry to see who he meets. He meets no one, but the deckhand recognizes her from the inquest, and by the time they dock the harbourmaster knows he has been followed.
Goal: Find out who the harbourmaster is working for.
Conflict: A half-empty boat with nowhere to hide, and a deckhand who knows her face.
Outcome: No, and… she learns nothing, and loses the advantage of being a stranger.
Before: Ruth is the one watching.
After: She is being watched.
Closing hook: On the dark pier her car is the only one left, and its driver's door is open.
Chapter 1: [Title]
POV | |
Setting | |
Place in the story | |
Target words |
Summary:
Goal, conflict, outcome
Goal | Conflict | Outcome |
Scenes
What changes
Before:
After:
Closing hook
Notes
After the draft: reverse outline
From the pages as written, one row per chapter.
Ch | What actually happens | What changes | Ends on | Verdict |
1 | ||||
2 | ||||
3 |