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Creating Your Novel

Updated: February 2026

The outline is the skeleton of your novel. In fic.chat, outlines have three levels: the Summary describes the overall story, Volumes divide the story into stages, and Chapters detail the plot of each chapter. This guide explains how to build a complete outline from a single idea.

Step 1: Enter Your Inspiration

When creating a new story, you start by entering an inspiration description. This is the foundation for the AI to understand your story's direction. The more specific your description, the better the results. You can include:

  • Who the protagonist is and their special abilities or background
  • The world setting (cultivation, modern, sci-fi, fantasy, etc.)
  • The core conflict or goal
  • The tone you're aiming for (action, mystery, romance, etc.)
💡 Example: 'A detective investigating a series of disappearances discovers the suspect is their former partner, and all missing people are connected to a mysterious organization'

Step 2: Understand the Outline Structure

fic.chat outlines have three levels:

  • Summary: An overview of the entire novel, including world background, main conflict, and overall direction
  • Volume: Divides the story into several volumes, each with its own stage goal (ideal for long novels)
  • Chapter: The specific plot of each chapter, including key events, characters involved, and mood

Step 3: AI Generate Outline

Select a Summary or Volume node in the outline tree, and the AI Assistant will show the 'AI Generate Outline' panel. You can configure:

  • Outline structure: 'Chapter' (generate chapter outlines directly, good for shorter stories) or 'Volume' (generate volumes first, then chapters — better for long novels)
  • Chapter count: Set the target number of chapters or chapters per volume
  • Need ending: Whether the story should have a definitive conclusion
  • Extra requirements: Add special instructions for the outline — AI will prioritize these
💡 Start with a 10-20 chapter preview. Once you're happy with the structure, continue expanding

Step 4: Edit and Refine

After the AI generates the outline, you can:

  • Click any chapter node to view and edit its details in the center content area
  • Modify the chapter title, plot description, key events, mood, and other fields
  • Add or delete chapters using the action buttons
  • Re-generate any section you're not happy with (select a chapter node and the AI Assistant will show regeneration options)