Before you begin

Go to Account and open Subscription to sign in or create your StuckWriter account. Paid analysis requires an active subscription.

Important: making the most of your allowances

Your monthly subscription includes 4 story-analysis credits, 30 development credits and 5,000 detailed-analysis words. Check your remaining allowances in Account → Subscription.

Analyse my story: each fresh whole-story or planning-context analysis uses 1 story-analysis credit. Analyse when you first add material, then again after substantial manuscript or planning changes. Read and reuse the saved analysis between revisions.

I’m Stuck, endings and Build My Journey: each fresh diagnosis, ending exploration or journey request uses 1 development credit. Read the result and consider your next question before requesting another.

Detailed analysis: each fresh pass uses the word count of the scenes or chapters you submit. Choose the passages you want feedback on; repeating a pass uses their word count again.

Reopening and reading saved feedback uses no allowance. Story-analysis and development credits renew monthly and do not roll over. Unused detailed-analysis words roll over while subscribed.

The basic working rule

Develop the story in StuckWriter; write the book in Word or your preferred writing software. Copy and paste useful passages into your manuscript or working notes. Where StuckWriter produces substantial output, use Download text to keep it together.

My Story Ideas

Fixed means you have decided something belongs in your story; Ideas are possibilities you are still considering. StuckWriter keeps Fixed ideas separate from what is already written. If a Fixed idea has not yet been established in the manuscript, StuckWriter can flag it as something that still needs to be incorporated when you revise your manuscript in Word or your preferred writing software.

The ⓘ symbol

Where you see ⓘ, it explains a control, distinction or consequence that may not be immediately obvious. Hover over it on desktop; tap it on a phone or tablet.

Where to start

You do not need an existing manuscript to use StuckWriter. You can start a new story from scratch and develop it as you go. Type your premise, characters, situations, plot possibilities or fragments of ideas directly into Story Setup and My Story Ideas, and add or develop your own material in the relevant fields throughout StuckWriter. Ideas can begin as possibilities and change as the story develops; when you decide something definitely belongs in the story, mark it Fixed.

If you already have material, use Import synopsis / outline for planning material and Import manuscript for written story text. StuckWriter can therefore be used with anything from the beginnings of an idea to a partially written or complete manuscript. Use Analyse my story when you have material you want StuckWriter to assess, and I’m stuck / Develop my story when you want help thinking through what comes next. Detailed scene analysis is optional.

Buttons and actions

Amber buttons with dark text show the main action or next step. Amber buttons with red text warn that an action can remove, replace, reset or discard existing work, so check before continuing. Dark outlined buttons are secondary or optional actions.

Jump in and explore

You don’t need to learn StuckWriter before you start. Jump in, try the different options and see where they take your thinking. You won’t damage your story simply by exploring. The ⓘ symbols are there whenever you want a little more guidance before choosing an option.

Saving your work

StuckWriter automatically saves your project as you work, including where you are in the development process, so you can resume from where you left off when you reopen it. Save & Exit provides an explicit save before returning you to the Project Library and is recommended before closing a project.

Working across devices

Cloud synchronisation can take a short time to reach another device. Before moving from one device to another, use Sync project now in Account and wait for the sync to finish. Then close StuckWriter on that device before opening or resuming the project on the other device. If the second device initially shows an older version of the project, do not make changes yet; allow time for synchronisation to complete, then reopen the project. Avoid working on the same project on two devices at the same time, as StuckWriter may create a conflict copy to protect your work.

Portable backup

When you are signed in, StuckWriter automatically synchronises project changes with StuckWriter after you edit. Sync now remains available when you want an immediate cloud copy. Periodically export your project as a JSON backup. This gives you an independent, portable copy that can be imported back into StuckWriter if required. Text downloads are for reading and working with in Word or your preferred software.

Technical reports

If StuckWriter encounters an unexpected technical error while you are signed in, it sends a limited diagnostic report to help us fix the problem. Automatic reports contain technical details such as the error, app version and browser/device information; they are designed not to include manuscript text, story ideas, passwords or access tokens. You can also send a description yourself from Account → Report a problem.

A reusable understanding of the story material you have supplied: manuscript evidence, planning context and Fixed story decisions remain distinct. StuckWriter can use that understanding to populate Story Setup, Characters, Story Threads and Story Map.

What needs attention

Turn your Fixed author decisions that are not yet established on the page into a practical development and revision route. StuckWriter identifies the narrative job and where it belongs; you remain the writer of the scenes.

Uses the saved manuscript analysis and Fixed My Story Ideas. The manuscript is not reread.

Use Analyse scenes in the left menu to run the deeper scene pass and review the saved result for every scene.

What would you like help with?

Once StuckWriter understands the draft, use that intelligence rather than asking the manuscript to explain itself again.

Use your development work

Copy and paste any useful material into Word or your working notes, where you can reshape it into outlines or scenes. To keep the substantial StuckWriter development output together, download it as a clean text file.