Clear ARC | Plan, plot, write your novel

Planning and writing your first book shouldn't feel like fighting your tools.

You have an idea for a book. Not a neat outline. Not a perfectly mapped plot. Just ideas. Scenes. Characters. Moments that arrive when they feel like it. And that's the problem...

Most tools expect you to plan everything first, or write everything first, or jump between documents, notes, apps, spreadsheets, and folders just to keep up. But thats not how most stories actually get written (most writers aren't that organised).

The Real Problem New Writers Face

• You try outlining, but it kills your momentum
• You start writing, then realise you need to plan
• Characters pop into your head mid-chapter with nowhere sensible to put them
• Notes end up scattered across Word files, spreadsheets, and apps
• You're never sure what to write next

It's friction - and friction leaves books unfinished. The irony is we DO want friction, but only the kind that readers demand - a great twisty plot, with revelations and obstacles along the way. Something readers can get their teeth into.

Why Traditional Tools Fall Short

Spreadsheets can list things. Word processors can format text. Databases can store information we might need. But none of them understands what a book actually is.

• how chapters relate to scenes
• how characters move through a story
• how their behaviour changes over time
• how places, events, and emotions connect

Meet Clear ARC

A book planning, plotting, and writing app built for how stories really happen.

How Clear ARC Works

• Simple hierarchy of parts: Series → Books → Chapters → Scenes → Events
• Add your characters, places, and notes anywhere, at anytime you need
• Reorder everything at any time - just drag and drop
• View progress, character, and story arcs in a visual timeline
• Export your entire manuscript with a single click including EPUB
• Copy and paste it directly into your publishing platform of choice

Creating your first book

Using keyboard shortcuts (we're writers after all), you can create a new book, add a chapter, write that chapter, add a character or two when you need, see your wordcount, then go do something else if you need to. Nothing to remember - and if there is, leave yourself a note. Either way, when you return (an hour or a year later) you will find yourself back in the exact place you left.

• Click Books - Add Book, fill in the title - Done
• Click View Chapters - Add Chapter, enter the title - Done
• Click Write your story - Start writing - Done
• Click Characters - add a character - Done
• Click Places - add a place - Done
• Click Items - add an item - Done

Watch it coming together

As your story grows, you can move anywhere to see how it looks. The timeline gives you an instant view of the whole thing (or you can choose to view the timeline for a single chapter). Hit the export button whenever you like to send your entire manuscript to your editor or fans for checking.

• Move anywhere you like in your book
• Shortcuts if you like the keyboard
• Add remove characters, places, items anywhere
• Watch character behavioural changes in 'real' time
• Add TODOs anywhere you like - call them what you like
• Search anywhere, return to previous pages' via a shortcut

Edit away

The last thing you want to do is have to remember to save every few minutes, so Clear ARC auto-saves your work (in the background) whenever you stop typing. If you're viewing the timeline and want to edit a reason for, say, adding a character, just click the text, do your edit, hit Return, and you'll be right back in the timeline again.

• Everything is editable as you'd expect
• Autosaving happens in real time
• Intuitive return after creating or editing
• Associate books with a new series
• Change the order of chapters, scenes, and events
• Undo and redo most edits including deletes

Associate assets with anything

• Associate assets with book elements anywhere anytime
• Add and track reasons for every association in the timeline
• Create a character with certain behaviours
• Change those behaviours and traits over time
• See your book come to life

Write away

• Open the writer and start writing your chapter
• See your meta data - chapter notes, scenes, and events
• Everything at hand you need
• Close meta data columns for full screen editing
• Autosaving all the time
• Jump in and out whenever you need to

Add front and back matter pages

All books have a title page. Some have a dedication page. Some have a 'Other books by...' page. There are no end to extra pages you can add to your books, and Clear ARC makes it easy. The same applies to pages at the end of your book.

• Add as many front and back matter pages as you need
• Name each page, eg. Title Page and add the content
• Any type of page can be created, info, legal, dedication etc.
• No limit to page length
• Autosaving all the time
• Export your entire book ready to copy/paste into your publishing platform
• Export in EPUB ready to load direct into Kindle and any other eBook reader

Pricing