Before you begin#
Install ChapterOne, then connect one writing provider. You can complete this guide with images and narration turned off. AI writing still uses your provider's quota or API billing.
The example below is intentionally small. Generation time varies by provider, model, book length, network conditions, and optional editor or illustration passes.
1. Give the book a clear brief#
Open New Book. Try this original brief, or replace it with your own:
A cozy mystery for adult readers set in a small railway town. A retired stationmaster finds a letter that was never delivered. Keep the cast to five people, use a warm and observant voice, avoid graphic violence, and resolve the mystery in the final chapter.
Choose Fiction, a Small book, and your author name. For your first run, leave illustrations off and enable Review the chapter plan before writing begins. Keep the editor pass enabled if you want an additional AI revision step and accept the extra provider usage.
For nonfiction, state the intended reader and what they should be able to do after reading. Give the book boundaries: the topics it must cover, what it should leave out, and any tone or format requirements.
Choose Continue → when the brief is ready. This asks the writing provider whether any clarification would help; the request can use provider quota.
2. Answer useful clarification questions#
The app may ask a few questions before planning. Give concise answers that affect the manuscript: the reader's background, the ending, the setting, or the desired depth. Choose Write the book after answering. If no clarification is needed, the app continues directly into planning.
You do not need a perfect brief. The outline is your next opportunity to change direction.
3. Review the chapter plan#
When the outline appears, check three things:
- Promise: does the book deliver what your brief asked for?
- Progression: does each chapter add something new and lead into the next?
- Scope: are there too many chapters, repeated ideas, or missing steps?
Edit chapter titles and summaries or remove chapters you do not need. Then choose Approve & start writing. The research and planning steps may already have used provider quota; the approval gate pauses before chapter drafting.
4. Follow the draft#
The progress screen shows the current phase, saved chapters, and provider activity. Once the first chapter is saved, you can open the reader while later chapters continue in the background. Use Load new when the reader tells you additional chapters are ready.
Completed chapters are saved as checkpoints. If you need to stop, use the writing pause/cancel control. Later, choose Continue for the paused book in your library. An unfinished response may have to be generated again. See pause and recovery.
5. Make one deliberate revision#
Open a chapter in the reader and read it all the way through. Fix a sentence with Edit, or use Rewrite with a concrete direction:
Keep the same clues and ending. Shorten the opening description, give the stationmaster a more distinctive voice, and add one exchange of dialogue that reveals the neighbor's motive.
Manual edits use no writing provider. A rewrite sends chapter context to a provider and can use quota or incur charges. Review the result before making further changes.
6. Export a copy you can keep#
Use Export in the reader. Choose Word for an editor, EPUB for reflowable e-reader text, or Markdown for a simple editable copy. Save the file outside the app's own data folder and open it in the program your reader will use.
You have now completed the core workflow: brief → outline → draft → revision → export. Add illustrations, narration, or a sequel only when they serve your book.