For writers in the middle of a draft
AI Chapter Writer: Turn Beats Into Scenes
Paste the beats for a chapter or scene, and River writes it in your voice, then shows the line where each beat lands.
Free to start. No card needed.
How to write a chapter from your outline
A beat is one thing that happens, and a scene often holds a few: Nell confronts her brother, he lies, she finds a ferry ticket in his coat. Before you draft, group your beats into scenes, and decide whose point of view each is in and what it changes. Novelist Randy Ingermanson's summary of Dwight Swain's scene and sequel1 gives two shapes to aim for. A scene runs goal, conflict and a disaster that blocks the goal; a sequel runs reaction, dilemma and a decision that sets the next goal.
Start each scene close to the moment it turns. Screenwriter John August calls it the classic advice to come into a scene as late as you possibly can2, which means knowing how the last scene ended. Play the turns out in action and dialogue, and cover a drive or a wait between them in a line of summary. Elmore Leonard's tenth rule of writing3 is a good test: "Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip."
End the chapter on its last change, not a recap. Harry Bingham of Jericho Writers suggests closing on an image of that change or a hint of what's coming4, and calls classic cliffhangers "quite rare and usually quite crass." Then check the draft against your beat list, find the line where each beat happens, and rewrite any you can't point to. Add each new name and fact to your story bible, so chapter 20 agrees with chapter 3.
How it works
What the AI chapter writer does with your beats
Paste the beats for one scene or a whole chapter, from a numbered list to a single line of your outline. Add a page of your own prose, or attach your outline and earlier chapters, so River matches your voice and keeps your names and facts. It writes every beat in your order as its own moment, with dialogue, action and detail. Under the draft, a beat check quotes the line where each beat lands, and a short list names what River made up, so you decide what stays.
It's built for the middle of a book. Starting from nothing? The AI novel writer plans the whole novel and writes chapter one. Stopped mid-scene? Continue My Story picks up from your last line. This tool is for the chapter you've planned but not written, whose beats sit in your outline or on a scene card. If the chapter isn't planned yet, the book outline generator gives every chapter its beats first.
Nonfiction works too. Paste your notes for a chapter of a memoir, a how-to book or a history, and River builds it from your points, in your order. It doesn't make up facts, figures, quotes or studies. Where a claim needs support you haven't given, it leaves a Source needed mark for you to fill. In fiction, it writes at the heat level you ask for or your own pages set, and dark scenes stay as dark as the story needs.
How it works
From your beats to a first draft
Paste your beats
Paste the beats for a scene or chapter, and a page of your prose if you have one.
River writes it
It drafts each beat in your order as a full moment, in your tense, point of view and rhythm.
Check every beat
Your doc holds the chapter, a beat check quoting where each beat lands, and what River made up.
Revise and continue
Edit the doc, ask River to rewrite a beat, or get the next chapter, which follows your edits.
Chapter 14 · four beats · first person, present tense
Pickup
The bell goes at five to four. I know because I look, and then I make myself not look again until the first kids come out. It's a trick that works on clocks and nothing else.
Priya's class comes out in a clump. Priya doesn't.
Mrs. Okafor crosses the yard with her lanyard pressed flat to her chest. "Mr. Rao. She left at lunch. With her uncle."
Written for this page. The beat check and what River made up follow the chapter.
What you'll get
Any chapter or scene from your beats, in your voice
- Your scene or chapter, written from your beats in your voice
- A beat check quoting the line where each beat lands
- A short list of what River made up, to keep or cut
Before and after
Your beats in. The chapter out, in your voice.
Chapter 14 beats: 1. Dev waits at the school gates for his daughter, Priya. 2. Her teacher comes out instead: Priya left at lunch with her uncle. 3. Dev has no brother. He thanks her and keeps his voice level. 4. His phone buzzes: a photo of the gates, taken from across the road. A page of my writing: I'm good at waiting. Twelve years of night shifts teach you that the clock doesn't care how often you check it. Neither does anyone else.
The bell goes at five to four. I know because I look, and then I make myself not look again until the first kids come out. It's a trick that works on clocks and nothing else. Priya's class comes out in a clump. Priya doesn't. Mrs. Okafor crosses the yard with her lanyard pressed flat to her chest. "Mr. Rao. She left at lunch. With her uncle." I don't have a brother. Beat check (first 3 of 4) 1. At the gates: "The bell goes at five to four." 2. The teacher: "She left at lunch. With her uncle." 3. No brother: "I don't have a brother." What I made up The teacher's name, Mrs. Okafor, and Dev's surname, Rao.
His flat, watchful voice in the present tense, each beat placed, and anything new listed to keep or cut.
What lands in your doc
What lands in your chapter doc
- Your scene or full chapter, written from your beats in order, with none skipped, merged or reordered
- Your point of view, tense, sentence rhythm and UK or US spelling, matched from your own pages
- Each beat played out as a moment with dialogue, action and detail, never squeezed into summary
- A beat check table with a short, exact quote showing where each of your beats lands
- A list of the characters, places and history River made up, to keep or cut
- Nonfiction built only from your notes, with Source needed and Your example marks where support is missing
Questions authors ask
Common questions
What is an AI chapter writer?
An AI chapter writer drafts a chapter or scene of your book from the notes you already have, such as beats, an outline line or rough points. River's version keeps your beats in order and matches the voice of any pages you give it. It also shows its work: a beat check quoting where each beat lands, and a list of what it made up.
How do I write a chapter with River?
Paste your beats into the box at the top of this page, with a page of your prose if you have one. Choose a scene or a full chapter, or let River decide from the beats. Even one outline line works: River builds three or four beats from it and lists them in the beat check. The draft opens in your free River workspace.
Will it match my voice?
It matches what it can see. Paste a page of your own prose or attach earlier chapters. River follows your point of view, tense, sentence length, dialogue punctuation and spelling, quirks included, instead of polishing them away. A line under the draft names what it matched. With no sample, it writes close third person, past tense, and tells you so.
Can it write nonfiction chapters?
Yes. Paste your notes, and River turns them into a chapter that follows your points in order. It's told never to invent facts, figures, quotes or studies, and in a memoir it sticks to the events and people in your notes. It marks any point that needs a source or an example you haven't given, and lists those marks at the end. Check every claim before you publish.
How long should a chapter be?
There's no fixed rule, but novelist Harry Bingham, writing for Jericho Writers, puts the standard for adult novels at 2,000 to 4,000 words a chapter4. He also says chapter breaks belong at the story's natural breaks. River writes a scene at about 800 to 2,500 words and a full chapter at 2,500 to 4,000, or near your own chapters' length when it can see them.
Do I have to disclose AI on KDP?
Yes, if River drafted the text. Amazon's KDP content guidelines5 require you to tell Amazon about AI-generated text when you publish or republish a book, even if you edited it heavily afterward. Writing you created yourself and only refined with AI counts as AI-assisted and doesn't need disclosing. Note which chapters River drafted as you go, so the answer is easy at publishing time.
Is the AI chapter writer free?
Yes, it is free to start, and you don't need a card. Your chapter opens in a River workspace, where you can edit it, share it or ask River to rewrite a beat. Paid plans add more AI use and access to the most advanced models.
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