OpenNovel Quick Start: Write Your First Chapter in 5 Minutes

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This guide takes you from zero to your novel's first chapter in 5 minutes. No writing background needed.

Step 1: Sign up and claim free credits

Open /sign-in and register with email. New users automatically get 200 credits — enough for every step in this guide.

Credits are billed by character count of generated content. A skeleton costs ~10–20 credits, a chapter body ~30–60, so 200 credits cover a full skeleton plus the first few chapters.

Step 2: Create a project

After signing in, go to the workspace and click "New Project." Enter:

  • Project name: e.g. "Tavern Sword Cultivator"
  • One-line logline: be specific — e.g. "An amnesiac sword cultivator works as a tavern busboy and discovers his bonded sword was borrowed thirty years ago."

The logline is the starting point for every generation. Two extra minutes here saves rework later.

Step 3: Generate the skeleton (A/B/C variants)

Inside the project, click "Generate Skeleton." AI returns three variants at once:

  • Variant A may lean hot-blooded revenge
  • Variant B may lean mystery
  • Variant C may lean slice-of-life ensemble

Read each, pick the closest to your intent, or combine A's characters, B's turns, and C's foreshadowing. Save the chosen one as the "official skeleton" — it becomes the context baseline for chapter generation.

Step 4: Generate the first chapter's body

With the skeleton set, open the chapter area and click "Generate Chapter Body." AI's context at this point is:

  1. Your skeleton (setting, characters, turns)
  2. This chapter's goal (taken from the skeleton's first-chapter beat)
  3. Word count (default ~3,000 words)

Within ~30 seconds you'll see the body stream in, with a live preview.

Step 5: Refine

A first draft is rarely perfect. Two ways to fix it:

  • Whole rewrite: click "Regenerate."
  • Local tweak: drag-select an unsatisfying passage in the body; releasing the mouse locks it into a box below. Write a one-line instruction (e.g. "make the tone colder") and AI rewrites only that selection.

Refining is cheaper than full rewrites and more precise.

Step 6: Keep going

Once chapter 1 is finalized, generate chapter 2. OpenNovel automatically brings "chapter 1 summary + skeleton" into chapter 2's context, so characters don't suddenly change and foreshadowing isn't lost.

Repeat and your serial takes shape.

FAQ

Q: What if credits run out? A: Click "Top up" in the workspace and buy as needed; subscriptions may come later.

Q: Can I publish AI output directly? A: We recommend at least one human polish pass (cut clichés, adjust voice). Publishing unedited output reads as AI to readers.

Q: Can I write non-Chinese web fiction? A: Yes — skeleton and chapter generation support zh/en/ja/fr/es. Switch in project settings.

Next

You can already write a first chapter after this guide. To write better, continue with Serial Continuity: Keeping Characters and Foreshadowing Consistent.

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