Plan a novel, from arc to scene.
Arcly is a planning workshop for novelists. Acts, plot lines, characters, places, and the sequence of scenes — cross-referenced in one view, with a scratch board for ideas you haven't committed to yet. Free, runs in your browser, no account required.
A workshop for novelists in the planning phase — everything that used to live on a corkboard before drafting.
Track the arc, the cast, the world, and the sequence in one cross-referenced view. Catch ideas that haven't earned a place yet in a separate scratch board.
Free, runs in your browser. Local-first by default; sign-in is optional, only for cloud backup.
Each thing Arcly tracks is reflected in the others. Define an act's intent once; every scene inside it inherits the context. Pin a character; their scenes and places appear on the character's page automatically.
- IdeasThe scratch board
A book-independent catch-all for scraps you haven't committed to a novel yet — moods, what-ifs, character seeds, half-lines — organised in folders or left unfiled.
Unfiled- Possible title: Pride and Prejudice
- Five sisters, not enough money
- A proud man who turns out to be kind
- Pride and prejudice as paired vices
Regency research- Entail laws — how the Bennet estate works
- Letters as a plot device — Austen’s rhythm
- ActsStructure with intent
Arc structure with stated intent: each act has a name, a description, and a setup-for-the-next-act field — so the hinge between sections is deliberate.
- Act one · Setup
- Act two · Confrontation
- Act three · Resolution
- ScenesThe core unit
Where and when the book happens — a POV, a status, a beat tag, and the characters and places present. Chapters group them; acts group chapters.
The Netherfield ballElizabeth and Darcy · Inciting Incident- POV
- Elizabeth
- Place
- Netherfield
- Status
- Draft
- Plot linesThe weave
Main, subplot, character arc, or theme — each coloured, ordered, and with its own track across the timeline, so the A-story and B-story read side by side.
- Elizabeth and DarcyMain plot
- Jane and BingleySubplot
- Elizabeth’s prejudiceCharacter arc
- CharactersThe cast
Tagged into a scene, they appear on the character's page automatically. Open a character, see every scene they're in.
- Elizabeth Bennet
- Protagonist
- Fitzwilliam Darcy
- Deuteragonist
- Jane Bennet
- Elizabeth’s elder sister
- Mr Bingley
- Jane’s love
- George Wickham
- Antagonist
- PlacesThe world
Named, described, nestable — a parsonage on the grounds of an estate, an estate in a county. Every scene points at a place, so you can trace a character through the book's geography.
- Longbourn
- Netherfield Park
- Rosings Park
- Hunsford Parsonageinside Rosings Park
- Pemberley
- NotesThe margin
Per-book long-form notes for themes, research, and reminders — kept beside the outline, not in another app.
Themes to hold on to What do first impressions cost — and what has to happen to revise one?
The whole book, at a glance.
The timeline is where the workshop meshes. Scenes sit at the intersection of chapter and plot line, each carrying a beat tag, a POV, a place, and a status badge that tracks how far the scene has moved from idea to finished prose. Read down a column to follow a single plot, across a row to see everything happening in a chapter, or over an act to see the arc's shape. Below: the first two acts of Pride and Prejudice.
If you like structural scaffolding, Arcly bundles five story frameworks that seed your beat tags. Each beat ships with a short editor's note and real examples — the Mirror of Erised, Elizabeth at Pemberley, Luke learning Vader is his father. If you don't want them, leave the beat track empty and tag scenes freely.
- Three-Act Structure9 beatsThe baseline, genre-agnostic 9-beat arc. Start here if unsure.
- Save the Cat15 beatsBlake Snyder's 15 beats. The most popular template in commercial fiction.
- Hero's Journey (Vogler)12 beatsVogler's 12-stage adaptation of the monomyth. Classic for fantasy, adventure, epic.
- Seven-Point (Dan Wells)7 beatsA lightweight 7-beat arc — easy to plan; works well for short novels or single POV.
- Story Circle (Dan Harmon)8 steps8-step cycle. Great for episodic or character-driven stories.
Open a blank book.
No sign-up, no onboarding, no email required. Start a new outline, or load the example book and take it apart. Export to JSON or Markdown at any time; your work lives on your device unless you choose to back it up.