For plotters, pantsers and first novels
Novel Outline Template: 3-Act Book Outline
Outline your novel in 20 chapters across three acts: your premise and ending first, then one job per chapter, with the big turns already placed.
Genre by genre
What each key turn looks like in your genre
This outline sets five turns at fixed chapters: the three big ones, plus the inciting incident and the climax. Each does the same job in any novel; only the event changes with the genre. These are common shapes, not rules.
| Turn | Its job | Romance | Mystery | Literary fiction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inciting incident (chapter 3) | Break the routine and raise the central question. | The leads meet, or meet again. | A body, a disappearance or a client with a problem. | A death, a letter or a return disturbs a settled life. |
| Point of no return (chapter 5, 25%) | They commit, or are pushed, and the door closes. | Something ties them together: a job, a deal, a shared roof. | The sleuth commits to the case, often against advice. | A decision that can't be undone: leaving, staying or confessing. |
| Midpoint (chapter 10, 50%) | A revelation or reversal. They stop reacting and start acting. | A first admission of feelings. | A clue that reframes the case. | They see themselves clearly for the first time. |
| Lowest point (chapter 15, 75%) | It looks lost, and the inner change is forced. | The breakup. | The main theory collapses, or the wrong person is charged. | The old way of living fails them for good. |
| Climax (chapter 19) | The choice that proves they've changed. | A grand gesture: one risks everything for the other. | The sleuth names the culprit and faces them. | They act on what they finally understand. |
Chapter numbers are this outline's. The quarter marks follow K.M. Weiland's four-act structure1; the genre examples are River's own.
How it works
What is a novel outline template?
A novel outline template is a chapter-by-chapter plan of your book, filled in before you draft or after a first draft to test its shape. This one has 20 chapters in three acts, with the big turns at chapters 5, 10 and 15. Those match the 25%, 50% and 75% marks that K.M. Weiland's four-act structure guide1 gives for a story's three most important plot points. Each chapter has one plain job, such as "Raise the cost of saying yes" in chapter 4, so you know why it's there.
Start with your book in one line: who wants what, what stands in the way, and what failure would cost. Then guess the ending, even if it changes, so every act has somewhere to head. In a romance, part of the ending is already set: Romance Writers of America defines the genre by a central love story and an optimistic ending2. Place the three big turns next, and fill in the chapters between them last.
Under each chapter, write one to three sentences of what happens, then one line on what has changed by its end. That line is the test: a chapter where nothing changes should be merged or cut. Between turns, Weiland suggests asking what has just changed, how the characters are responding, and what new pressure will force the next turn. Leave worldbuilding out of the outline; it belongs in a story bible.
How it works
From blank page to chapter map
Download it or open it in River
Get the outline free as a Word document, no account needed, or click Edit with AI to work on it in River.
Tell River about your book
Optional. Type a premise in the box at the top, or paste your notes and chapter ideas. Leave it empty for a blank outline.
Read your first pass
River fills each chapter with what happens and what changes, using your names and ideas. Questions your notes can't answer go in comments.
Make it yours
Rewrite, move or merge chapters as the book grows. When you're ready, ask River to draft chapter 1 from the plan.
The Salt Archive
20 chapters · turns at chapters 5, 10 and 15
- 1OpeningInes catalogs flood-damaged records and turns down a job upstairs.
- 3Inciting incidentShe finds her own death certificate, dated next April.
- 5Point of no return · 25%She steals the original and is fired.
- 10Midpoint · 50%It was filed from inside the archive. She starts hunting.
- 15Lowest point · 75%The archive is sealed and her only copy is ruined.
What you'll get
A 20-chapter, three-act map with one job per chapter
- 20 chapters in three acts, turns at 5, 10 and 15
- One plain job per chapter, in words for any genre
- Your premise, best-guess ending and main cast up top
Before and after
Your notes in. Twenty chapters, each with a job.
A junior archivist finds her own death certificate, dated next spring, and has until then to learn who filed it. Ines Halasz, 31, works nights at the city archive. Her brother Tamas is a police clerk who wants her to let it go. Her boss, Dr. Kollar, is kind and hiding something. Midpoint idea: the stamp on the certificate matches one used in 1956. I want it to end with Ines filing a certificate of her own.
Your book in one line: Ines wants to keep her quiet night job at the city archive, but a certificate says she dies in April. If she can't learn who filed it, she believes it will come true. 3. Inciting incident. Re-shelving flood records, Ines finds her own death certificate, signed and stamped. 5. Point of no return (about 25%). She steals the original rather than report it, and Dr. Kollar lets her go. 10. Midpoint (about 50%). The stamp matches one last used in 1956. She stops hiding and starts hunting. Open question for you: what is Dr. Kollar hiding?
Every job stays in place. Your names, ideas and ending fill the rows around it.
What lands in your doc
What's in the novel outline template
- Novel Outline
One Word document that holds every section below, in this order. - The basics
Working title, genre, target length in words and point of view. - Your book in one line
A fill-in line: who wants what, what stands in the way, and what failure would cost. - The ending (best guess)
How the book ends and what your protagonist understands by then, written now even if it changes. - Main characters
Your protagonist's want, need and flaw, what the opposition wants, and a key ally or love interest. - Chapter map
20 chapters in three acts, each with one job plus lines for what happens and what changes. - What goes in an outline, and what stays out
A short table that keeps prose, backstory, worldbuilding and scene detail out of your outline. - Need more or fewer chapters?
How to add or merge chapters while the big turns stay near a quarter, half and three quarters.
Questions authors ask
Common questions
How do I outline a novel?
Start with your book in one line and a best-guess ending. Then place the big turns near a quarter, half and three quarters of the way in, and give each chapter between them one job. Novelist and former literary agent Nathan Bransford calls an outline "a living document"3 to keep tweaking as you write. He says it's worth making one even after a draft.
How does the three-act structure work?
The three-act structure splits a story into setup, complications and resolution. Act One ends at about 25%, when the protagonist commits and can't go back. Act Two turns at a midpoint near 50% and ends near 75%, at the lowest point. Act Three holds the climax and the ending. The Save the Cat beat sheet splits the same arc into 15 beats.
What should be in a book outline?
A book outline should hold what happens in each chapter and why, what has changed by its end, where setups pay off, and the ending. In a plotting guide for Jericho Writers4, which sells writing courses, novelist Harry Bingham advises sketching each stage of the story in one to three sentences. Leave prose and dialogue for the draft, and scene detail for scene cards.
How many chapters should a novel have?
There's no set number, so plan around the turns, not a count. For a debut, Writer's Digest calls 80,000 to 89,999 words a safe range in most adult genres5; at that length, 20 chapters run 4,000 to 4,500 words each. To resize, add or merge chapters within each act so the turns stay near the quarter marks, or try the denser 24-chapter novel outline.
Is this also a book outline template for nonfiction?
Not quite. Its three acts and turns are built for stories. For nonfiction, the nonfiction book outline template gives you a promise, a reader and one takeaway per chapter instead. For a life story, the memoir outline orders your moments by meaning rather than by date.
Is this novel outline template free?
Yes. Download it as a Word document with no account needed. Edit with AI opens the same outline in a free River workspace, where you can fill it in yourself or describe your book for a first pass. Paid plans add more AI use and access to the most advanced models.
What does Edit with AI do?
It opens the outline in your own River workspace. If you typed nothing, it stays blank, and River offers to fill it in with you. Add a premise or notes and River writes a first pass: what happens and what changes in every chapter. Your names, ideas and ending stay, and open questions go in comments instead of invented twists.
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