Walk into October with a plan, not a panic.
50,000 words in 31 days is 1,613 a day. That arithmetic is the easy part. Knowing what happens on day nineteen is the hard part — and that is what September is for.Spend four weeks on beats, tropes, book breakdowns and chapter cards. Start day one with a draft you already know how to finish.
Day one readiness
Logline
DoneBeat sheet
DoneTropes
3 chosenChapter cards
20 cardsDaily target
1,613Four weeks of prep, one week at a time.
Each week ends with one artefact in your project. You have 16 days left in September, so work them in order — the sequence matters more than the dates.
People
Sep 15 – 21Want, need, lie, realisation, stakes — for the protagonist first, then for whoever is pushing back.
A character core for your top three characters.
Fill the want / need / lie grid
Give the antagonist a reason, not a role
Tag five settings in Brainstorm
Decide your POV pattern
Three beat sheets, priced in words.
The same story spine, three traditions. Every beat carries the word count it lands on at 50,000, so a beat sheet becomes a schedule. Pick one and the planner budgets your chapters around it. Browse the full beat library.
Fifteen beats
15 beatsThe Save the Cat ladder — the most granular of the three.
Best for first-timers and anyone who freezes at 30%.
1%
Opening image
500
5%
Theme stated
2,500
8%
Setup
4,000
10%
Catalyst
5,000
15%
Debate
7,500
20%
Break into two
10,000
22%
B story
11,000
30%
Fun and games
15,000
50%
Midpoint
25,000
62%
Bad guys close in
31,000
75%
All is lost
37,500
77%
Dark night of the soul
38,500
80%
Break into three
40,000
90%
Finale
45,000
99%
Final image
49,500
Three acts
9 beatsNine load-bearing turns, nothing else prescribed.
Best for writers who want room between the signposts.
1%
Hook
500
10%
Inciting incident
5,000
25%
First plot point
12,500
37%
First pinch point
18,500
50%
Midpoint
25,000
62%
Second pinch point
31,000
75%
Second plot point
37,500
90%
Climax
45,000
97%
Resolution
48,500
Twelve stages
12 beatsThe hero's journey, mapped onto a one-month draft.
Best for fantasy, quest plots and portal stories.
2%
Ordinary world
1,000
10%
Call to adventure
5,000
15%
Refusal of the call
7,500
20%
Meeting the mentor
10,000
25%
Crossing the threshold
12,500
35%
Tests, allies, enemies
17,500
45%
Approach the inmost cave
22,500
55%
The ordeal
27,500
65%
The reward
32,500
75%
The road back
37,500
88%
Resurrection
44,000
97%
Return with the elixir
48,500
Pick your tropes, keep your promise.
A trope is a promise a reader can feel in chapter one. Choose three to six, and the planner tells you which beat has to pay each one off.
Your promise
The flip lands at the midpoint — before it, every scene is evidence.
25,000 words
Earned through Fun and games; tested when the group fractures.
15,000 words
Opens with the B story, then pays a little at every pinch point.
11,000 words
Book breakdowns you can steal from.
Every title in the library is taken apart the same way: logline, beats, tropes, and the want / need / lie the protagonist is carrying. Read three in your genre and your own outline stops guessing.
Mistborn: The Final Empire
Brandon Sanderson
Plot idea
Comparable
Ocean's Eleven against a god-emperor, with a magic system built to be reasoned about.
Character core
The story planner does the division for you.
Choose a structure, choose a chapter count, and every chapter arrives with a beat to carry and a word budget to hit. In October you open the next card and write it.
Save the Cat · 20 chapters
× 2,500 words
1
Opening image
Act I2,500
2
Theme stated
Act I5,000
3
Catalyst
Act I7,500
4
Debate
Act I10,000
5
B story
Act I12,500
6
B story · continued
Act II15,000
7
Fun and games
Act II17,500
8
Fun and games · continued
Act II20,000
9
Fun and games · continued
Act II22,500
10
Fun and games · continued
Act II25,000
11
Midpoint
Act II27,500
12
Midpoint · continued
Act II30,000
13
Bad guys close in
Act II32,500
14
Bad guys close in · continued
Act II35,000
15
Bad guys close in · continued
Act II37,500
16
Dark night of the soul
Act III40,000
17
Break into three
Act III42,500
18
Break into three · continued
Act III45,000
19
Finale
Act III47,500
20
Finale · continued
Act III50,000
A day in the draft
Example session against a 1,613-word daily goal0%
Chapter budgets are a starting shape, not a contract. Drag a card and the planner redistributes the remaining words for you. Prefer to see the whole outline first? Open the story planner.
Prep in September. Draft in October.
October 1 is 16 days away. Set up your project tonight and let the planner hold the outline while you write.