Novel Outline Template
Two layers: a seven-row skeleton that fixes where the story turns, and a chapter planner underneath it with main events, cast, foreshadowing, and word targets — so the ending is decided before chapter one is written.
Use this template onlineA novel outline template is a single table with one row per chapter, laying out each chapter's main events, cast, foreshadowing, and word-count target. "I'll write when inspiration strikes" is the number-one cause of a botched ending — inspiration carries you through the first ten chapters, but without structure the middle loses its pacing. This template helps you spot which chapters aren't moving the plot before you start writing, and when you use it online you can wire the outline straight into your chapters.
Template preview
Example columns in the novel outline template
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| Chapter | Chapter 12 · A Night Raid on the Library Pavilion |
| Main Events | Su Wan slips into the library pavilion and finds a clue to the truth behind her clan's slaughter |
| Cast | Su Wan, the old keeper of the library pavilion, a black-clad figure tailing her from the shadows |
| Foreshadowing | Plant "the jade pendant reveals writing when held to fire"; hint that the old keeper knows more than he says |
| Word-Count Target | 3,000 words |
Field guide
The preview table is the chapter planner. Below it are the two things most outline templates leave out: what each column is for, with the example story filled in, and the seven-row three-act skeleton to fill before you list a single chapter. The skeleton comes with percentages, so it converts to word counts for any length of book.
Chapter planner — the six columns
| Field | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter | Number and a working title. The title is a note to you about what the chapter is for; it can change at publication. | Chapter 12 · A Night Raid on the Library Pavilion |
| Main events | Two or three sentences: what happens, and what is different at the end of the chapter from the start. A chapter where nothing is different is a chapter to cut or merge. | Su Wan breaks into the pavilion for the purge records, finds her family's name struck out in Ren's hand, and is seen leaving. |
| Cast | Everyone on the page in this chapter. Reading down this column shows who has disappeared for ten chapters. | Su Wan, the old keeper, a black-clad figure (Ren's man). |
| Foreshadowing | Two halves: planted (a detail set up here for later) and paid off (a detail from an earlier chapter that lands here). Write the chapter number of the other half. | Plant: the jade pendant shows writing when held to fire (pays off ch. 27). Pay off: the cistern from ch. 2. |
| Word-count target | The length this chapter should be, taken from the skeleton below. Compare with the actual count as you draft; a chapter running at twice its target is usually two chapters. | 3,000 words (actual: 3,400) |
| Status | Planned, drafting, drafted, revised. A serial adds a publish date. This column is what makes the outline a progress tracker instead of a wish list. | Drafted · publishes Fri 14 Oct |
Three-act skeleton — seven rows to fill before the chapter list
| Field | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Hook (0–5%) | The first image or scene: the protagonist in their normal world, doing the thing that shows who they are. The question the book will answer should be visible here, even if unstated. | Su Wan runs a courier job through the fog in total darkness and gets paid less than the boy who did it in daylight. |
| Inciting incident (~10%) | The event that breaks the normal world and cannot be undone. It happens to the protagonist; they do not choose it yet. | A purge record with her real name surfaces in a cargo she was hired to carry. |
| First plot point (~25%) | The end of Act One: the protagonist chooses to engage. From here on there is no going back to the normal world. | She keeps the record instead of delivering it, and goes looking for the rest. |
| Midpoint (~50%) | The centre of the book: a reversal or a revelation that changes what the protagonist wants or what they know. It turns Act Two from reacting into acting. | The old beggar who raised her turns out to have been a guild informer during the purge. |
| Second plot point (~75%) | The end of Act Two: the lowest point, or the last piece of information the protagonist needs. Everything they have been avoiding becomes unavoidable. | Ren identifies her. The guild masters vote to hand her over. |
| Climax (~90%) | The confrontation the whole book has been pointed at. The protagonist's choice here should be the one they could not have made in chapter one. | She goes into the cistern under the guard house — the one small dark space she has refused since childhood — to get Ren's original purge order out. |
| Resolution (95–100%) | The new normal. Show the same kind of scene as the hook so the reader can measure the change. | A courier job through the fog, at full pay, with Lu Chen waiting at the other end. |
Plain-text version (copy & paste)
The skeleton and the planner header as plain text, ready to paste into Notes, Google Docs, Notion, or Scrivener. The percentages convert to word counts on the row for your book length.
■ Three-act skeleton Hook (0–5%): Inciting incident (~10%): First plot point (~25%): Midpoint (~50%): Second plot point (~75%): Climax (~90%): Resolution (95–100%): ■ Word counts by book length 60,000 words → Act 1 ends ~15,000 · midpoint ~30,000 · Act 2 ends ~45,000 80,000 words → Act 1 ends ~20,000 · midpoint ~40,000 · Act 2 ends ~60,000 100,000 words → Act 1 ends ~25,000 · midpoint ~50,000 · Act 2 ends ~75,000 120,000 words → Act 1 ends ~30,000 · midpoint ~60,000 · Act 2 ends ~90,000 ■ Chapter planner (one row per chapter) Chapter | Main events | Cast | Foreshadowing (planted → ch. / paid off ← ch.) | Word target | Status Ch. 1 | | | | | Planned Ch. 2 | | | | | Planned Ch. 3 | | | | | Planned
Filling the two layers in order
- Fill the seven skeleton rows first. Five of them (hook, inciting incident, first plot point, midpoint, climax) are enough to start; the other two can wait.
- Convert the percentages to word counts using the row for your target length, then decide the average chapter length. 80,000 words at 3,000 a chapter is 26–27 chapters.
- Put the skeleton rows into the chapter planner as the chapters they land in: with 27 chapters, the first plot point is chapter 6 or 7, the midpoint chapter 13 or 14, the second plot point chapter 20.
- Fill the chapters between them last, and only as far ahead as you are writing. An outline planned to chapter 27 in detail is usually wrong from chapter 15, because the draft teaches you things the plan could not know.
What the chapter column has to track, by genre
- Romance: add a column for the relationship beat — where the two leads stand at the end of each chapter. Readers of the genre feel a missing beat before they can name it.
- Mystery and thriller: split Foreshadowing into clue and red herring, and record which suspect each chapter points at. The outline is where you check that the reader had a fair chance.
- Fantasy and science fiction: add a column for the setting introduced. If three chapters in a row introduce nothing, the world has stopped expanding; if every chapter does, the reader is being taught, not told a story.
- Serials and web novels: add the publish date and end each row with the chapter's last line. A serial chapter is judged by whether the reader comes back for the next one, and the outline is the only place to see the hooks in a column.
Novel outline, story outline, book outline, plot outline
Four names for the same document, used by different communities: screenwriters and short-story writers say story outline, publishers and non-fiction writers say book outline, craft books say plot outline. This template is built for a novel — one row per chapter, tens of rows — and the skeleton on top of it is the same three-act structure the other names refer to. For a story told in scenes rather than chapters, use the beat sheet template alongside it.
How to fill in this template
"I can just write when inspiration hits — why bother with an outline?" That right there is the number-one cause of a botched ending. Inspiration can carry you through the first ten chapters, but a long work runs on structure. Without an outline, you hit the middle and find the plot won't move, the pacing lurches between fast and slow, and the holes you dug can't be filled back in — until you either abandon the project or slap together a rushed ending.
A workable outline doesn't need to spell out every detail, but each chapter should answer at least three questions: what happens in it (main events), who's there (cast), and how it connects to your foreshadowing (which threads it plants, which it pays off). Fill in those three columns and you can see, before you write a word, which chapters aren't actually advancing the plot, where a character suddenly vanishes, and which setup you planted and then left dangling.
The "Foreshadowing" column is the biggest thing that sets an outline apart from an ordinary chapter list. By marking what each chapter plants and pays off right at the planning stage, you gain control over pacing — you avoid planting so densely up front that readers tire out, or cramming so many payoffs into the end that it turns into one big info-dump. This column effectively brings the logic of a foreshadowing tracker forward into your planning phase.
The "Word-Count Target" column is a progress anchor for serial authors. Once you note each chapter's projected length, you know roughly how long the whole work will be, where you are now, and how many chapters you owe this month. Assign the big events to chapters first, then circle back to fill in the cast and foreshadowing, and an outline you can follow all the way to the end takes shape. It's completely normal for an outline to change — adjust it as you write — but always keep one.
Fill the template in four steps
Break it into chapters
Split the whole story into chapters, and give each one a title or theme that sums up what happens.
Fill in main events and characters
For each chapter, write down the core events and the cast, then check whether any chapter isn't actually moving the plot forward.
Mark where foreshadowing is planted and paid off
Note which threads of foreshadowing each chapter plants and which it pays off, so you control pacing and tension from the planning stage.
Set a word-count target
Estimate a word-count target for each chapter as an anchor for your serialization progress, so you keep a handle on total length and writing pace.
Better together
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Frequently asked questions
How detailed does an outline need to be before I start writing?
I've drifted from the outline. Do I change the outline or the draft?
How do I set a word-count target per chapter?
Is outlining different for a serial versus writing the whole thing first?
Is this a three-act outline template?
How many chapters should a novel outline have?
Can I download the outline template?
No download — use it online right away
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