Templates

We have a growing catalog of story templates. Each is unique for the structure it uses and/or the content it prompts you to fill out. They're intended to help you craft stories for a specific audience, purpose or medium. We add new templates and change existing ones as needed.

The Templates Page

Click Templates in the main navigation. The templates are grouped into sections:

Film, TV and Streaming, in two rows: Classic Screenplay Structures and Modern Methods;
Business Stories;
Other, such as podcasts, YouTube and short stories.

The Templates page, with the Film, TV and Streaming section's Classic Screenplay Structures and Modern Methods rows

When you're signed in, the page's header has Request a template. It opens an email to us, so you can tell us about a template you'd like, or a change you'd rather we hadn't made.

The same templates are in the New Story dialog in My Stories, under Create from template.

Start a Story From a Template

Click a template's cover. A dialog asks What is the title of your story?. Type a title and click Start Writing. Prewrite makes your story from the template, with its scenes and characters, and opens it.

The create dialog for a template, with Learn more, the title question and field, Cancel and Start Writing

If you're signed out, the dialog asks you to Sign In or Create Account first, and brings you back afterwards.
A free account can keep one story. If you already have one, you're offered upgrade options instead (see Plans and Billing).

For the steps in short, see Create a Story From a Template.

A Template's Page

To read about a template before you use it, point at its cover and click Learn more under its name (on smaller screens, it's always there). The create dialog has the same link.

The Three Act Screenplay template's page, with Start Writing in its header, the cover and author on the left, and the Overview and Structure on the right

A template's page can have:

Overview: what the template is for and how it works.
Structure: its acts, with what happens in each.
Examples: stories from the Library built with it. Click one to open it.
Author and Links: who made the template, and where to learn more.

Click Start Writing at the top to start a story from it. Signed out, the button reads Sign in to start writing.

When a Template Changes

A story you start from a template is a copy of it. When we update a template, stories made from an earlier version don't change.

💡 Note

If you prefer an earlier version of a template, copy a story that was built from it, and leave out its scenes and characters so the copy starts blank (see Copy a Story). And please tell us, with Request a template.