Story Builder documentation

The manuscript view

The manuscript view shows your whole book as one continuous document, in chapter order, so you can read your novel the way a reader will and export the manuscript to Word, EPUB or Markdown.

How do I read my whole book in one place? #

Open Lens and choose Manuscript. The whole book appears as continuous prose, with its word count and reading time. When the Books module is on, pick the book in the book selector first.

Reading the chapters back to back shows what the chapter-by-chapter view hides:

  • Pace. Chapter lengths and the rhythm between them show only when the chapters sit next to each other.
  • Repetition. A phrase you love is easy to miss when it appears in chapter four and chapter nineteen.
  • Continuity. A character's eyes changing colour is something you notice while reading, not while editing.

Finding your way around #

  • Contents follows your reading down the side of the page and jumps to any chapter. On a narrower screen, Jump to a chapter does the same.
  • Reading progress shows how far through the book you are.
  • Find in the book searches the whole manuscript and highlights every match; the arrows step between them.
  • Text size switches between small, medium and large text.
  • Open in the editor on a chapter's heading takes you to that chapter to change it. An empty chapter offers Start writing.

Other Lens reports open the manuscript at the right place: a word picked in Prose arrives already found.

Can I find words I repeat too often? #

Yes. Turn on Show echoes: words repeated within a few sentences, and every word you used again within a few sentences is underlined. Names and everyday words are left alone.

Listening to your book #

Read aloud from here reads the book from the paragraph at the top of the screen and marks the paragraph it is on. Pause, Resume and Stop reading sit beside it. Hearing a sentence is the quickest way to find the one that trips.

Noting a passage to revise #

Select a passage and choose Note this. Add what needs another look and press Save note. The passage goes into your quick notes, quoted, with the chapter named and a revise tag.

How do I export my manuscript to Word or EPUB? #

Press Export manuscript in the manuscript view, or the export button above the chapter list (also Export manuscript), and choose a format:

  • Word document (.docx) — what agents and editors usually ask for.
  • EPUB e-book (.epub) — to read it on an e-reader or phone the way a reader would. The book's credited creators and first language from its publication settings go into the file.
  • Markdown, single file (.md) — when the next tool works with plain text.
  • Markdown, one file per chapter (.zip) — one file for each chapter, in a single download.

An export always takes the current text, including edits a co-writer is making in a shared chapter at that moment. To export one chapter, use Export chapter in that chapter's Details panel: it offers the same formats except the one-file-per-chapter bundle.

Pictures in your chapters go into the file with their alt text and captions. Markdown puts them in an images/ folder beside the text, so a single-file manuscript with pictures downloads as a .zip. A picture that could not be fetched is replaced by its alt text.

Does the export include my notes? #

No. The manuscript is the book: its title, then the chapters in order with their titles. Notes, character sheets and timeline entries stay in the project. For a copy of everything, use a backup.

Tips #

  • Read a finished draft in the manuscript view before you revise chapter by chapter; problems of pace show up here first.
  • Keep echoes on for a revision pass and off for a first read.
  • Use Note this as you read instead of stopping to fix things, then work through the revise notes.
  • Listen to dialogue-heavy chapters with Read aloud from here; stilted lines are easier to hear than to see.
  • Export to EPUB and read the book on your phone for a fresh view of it.
  • Lens — check the book for contradictions, pacing and prose habits.
  • Chapters — write and edit the text the manuscript shows.
  • Quick notes — work through the passages you noted.
  • Backup and export — keep a full copy of the project.
  • Importing — bring an existing manuscript in.