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27-chapter outline template

The 27-chapter outline gives a novel twenty-seven named chapters, nine to an act, each with three scenes. Every chapter has a job, from the introduction to the resolution, so you plan the book as a list of chapters rather than a list of beats.

Three planning folios divide twenty-seven chapter cards into nine chapters per act.

When to use it

  • You think in chapters, not beats, and want each one named before you start.
  • You like fixed blocks: nine per act, three scenes each, no arithmetic.
  • You want a draft plan you can hand to a writing group chapter by chapter.

The author and video creator Kat O'Keeffe popularized it as a way to break a three-act plot into chapters.

The 3 acts

  • Act One. Nine chapters from the ordinary world to the commitment.
  • Act Two. Nine chapters in the new world, turning at the midpoint.
  • Act Three. Nine chapters from the trials to the resolution.

The 27 chapters at 81,000 words

The marks assume 81,000 words, because twenty-seven chapters of about 3,000 words. Each chapter starts at an even share of the whole; yours will run longer or shorter. The story structure calculator works them out for any length.

  1. Introduction 0% · word 0 The world and the person, drawn well enough to be missed.
  2. Inciting Incident 4% · word 3,000 The event that starts it. It happens to them.
  3. Immediate Reaction 7% · word 6,000 The first thing they do, unthought. Usually wrong.
  4. Considered Reaction 11% · word 9,000 The second thing, after they have had time to think.
  5. First Action 15% · word 12,000 They try to fix it their own way.
  6. Consequence 19% · word 15,000 It does not work, and something is now worse.
  7. Pressure 22% · word 18,000 The situation tightens. Doing nothing stops being an option.
  8. First Squeeze 26% · word 21,000 A hard moment that forces the choice.
  9. Commitment 30% · word 24,000 They step into the new world. Act One ends here.
  10. The New World 33% · word 27,000 Different rules, and they do not know them yet.
  11. Learning Its Rules 37% · word 30,000 They find out how this place works by getting it wrong.
  12. Looking Back 41% · word 33,000 A reminder of the old life, and how far they have come from it.
  13. Building Up 44% · word 36,000 Small wins. Confidence, earned or false.
  14. Midpoint 48% · word 39,000 The turn. They stop reacting and start deciding.
  15. Reversal 52% · word 42,000 What they believed is overturned.
  16. Reaction 56% · word 45,000 The cost of the reversal lands.
  17. Second Action 59% · word 48,000 A new plan, made from what they now know.
  18. Dedication 63% · word 51,000 They commit fully. Act Two ends here.
  19. Trials 67% · word 54,000 Everything in the way, all at once.
  20. Second Squeeze 70% · word 57,000 The hardest pressure yet.
  21. Darkest Moment 74% · word 60,000 They lose. Let it be a real loss.
  22. Renewed Resolve 78% · word 63,000 They find the thing inside them the story has been building toward.
  23. Third Action 81% · word 66,000 They move, with nothing held back.
  24. Converging 85% · word 69,000 Every thread arrives at the same place.
  25. The Confrontation 89% · word 72,000 The fight, the argument, the reckoning.
  26. Climax 93% · word 75,000 It is decided.
  27. Resolution 96% · word 78,000 The world after. Answer the opening.

A worked example

Ada, a retired art forger, is pulled back to fake one painting for the museum that caught her.

  1. Introduction. Ada restores church frescoes for cash and flinches at every auction catalog.
  2. Inciting Incident. The museum's director arrives with a stolen painting's photograph.
  3. Immediate Reaction. She throws him out.
  4. Considered Reaction. She reads the photograph again and sees her own work in it.
  5. First Action. She visits the collector who owns it to prove it is a copy.
  6. Consequence. The collector recognizes her and threatens to call the police.
  7. Pressure. The director offers her immunity if she paints a replacement.
  8. First Squeeze. Her old partner turns up with the same offer from the other side.
  9. Commitment. She takes the director's deal and her old studio key.
  10. The New World. Museum basements, guards, and paperwork she never needed as a criminal.
  11. Learning Its Rules. She learns how the museum tests a painting by failing one test.
  12. Looking Back. She finds a letter she forged forty years ago in the archive.
  13. Building Up. The copy comes together; she is better than she was.
  14. Midpoint. She realizes the director does not want a replacement. He wants to sell the original.
  15. Reversal. The immunity paper is worthless.
  16. Reaction. She spends a night deciding whether to run.
  17. Second Action. She stays and paints two copies instead of one.
  18. Dedication. She calls her old partner and asks for help.
  19. Trials. The switch night: guards, a broken lift, a fire alarm.
  20. Second Squeeze. Her partner takes the wrong painting.
  21. Darkest Moment. Ada is caught holding the original.
  22. Renewed Resolve. She remembers the flaw she put in every forgery she ever made.
  23. Third Action. She demands the paintings be tested in front of the board.
  24. Converging. The director, the partner, and the collector all arrive for the test.
  25. The Confrontation. Ada points to the flaw in the painting the director sold.
  26. Climax. The director's sale is exposed as a forgery; the real one never left.
  27. Resolution. Ada signs her name to the copy, which the museum hangs as her own.

Open this template in Tabularia

Tabularia opens a new Book on the Twenty-Seven Chapter shape: its acts and a chapter for each section, named for it, with each note pinned beside the chapter it belongs to. The book's word goal is set to 81,000 words. You name the Book before anything is created.

Open in Tabularia

Or take it away

The Word file has every chapter with its note and mark, a line under each for your own plan, and the example above. It opens in Word, Google Docs, Pages, and LibreOffice.

Download for Word