What is Story Canvas?

Story Canvas is a feature that transforms your spark of a story idea into a detailed writing plan that carries you from concept to polished manuscript.

What do I need to use Story Canvas?

To run Story Canvas, you only need the initial idea for your story. It doesn’t matter if you have already started writing it, or are at the very beginning with a blank page.

How does Story Canvas work?

There are two steps to Story Canvas: answering questions and generating a writing plan.

Answer questions

Story Canvas starts by asking you a series of questions that focus on the key elements and foundations of your story.

It’s okay if you don’t have the answers to all the questions yet. You can still generate your personalized writing plan if you answer as many as you can at the moment.

Generate a writing plan

After you’ve answered the questions as best you can, it’s time to generate your personalized writing plan. Depending on the detail of the answers you gave, you may need to wait a while for the plan to generate. Your writing plan will cover 10 key phases.

How do I use the Story Canvas writing plan?

The Story Canvas writing plan is a comprehensive guide you can keep returning to as you write your story. Each of the 10 phases in the plan is a major milestone on the way to creating and crafting your manuscript.

The plan includes estimated durations for each phase to help you keep your time frames on track. You’ll understand how far you’ve reached in your story without losing sight of your overall progress.

Did you know… ProWritingAid has 25+ specialized writing reports to help you craft better stories, and you can run them in your favorite writing apps. Read more.