Novel Writer English — Open-Source AI Novel Writing Assistant

A free, open-source AI novel writing system that helps authors plan, draft, review, and complete novels using a structured seven-step workflow.

Works with Claude Code, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Codex CLI, ChatGPT, and any AI chat assistant.

What is Novel Writer English?

Novel Writer English is an AI-powered novel writing assistant for authors who want more structure than a single prompt can provide. Instead of asking AI to generate an entire book at once, it guides you through a complete fiction-writing workflow: creative principles, story specification, clarification, chapter planning, task management, drafting, and review.

This project is designed for writers using AI tools such as Claude Code, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Codex CLI, ChatGPT, or any copy-paste AI assistant. It helps maintain story consistency, character depth, pacing, worldbuilding, and prose quality across long-form fiction projects.

Novel Writer English is completely free, open-source, platform-agnostic, and based on a seven-step methodology adapted from the original novel-writer-skills project by wordflowlab.

Key Features

• Seven-step AI novel writing workflow from concept to completed manuscript
• AI-assisted chapter drafting with a 12-item pre-write checklist
• Built-in reviewer workflow for consistency, pacing, prose quality, and constitution compliance
• Character, plot, timeline, and relationship tracking
• Genre-specific writing knowledge for fantasy, horror, mystery, romance, sci-fi, and thriller
• Works with Claude Code, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Codex CLI, ChatGPT, and any AI chat tool
• Free, open-source, and platform-agnostic

Quick Install

Run this in your novel project root:

npx novel-writer-english

The interactive installer will ask which AI tools you use and set up commands, skills, and templates automatically.

AI Novel Writing Workflow

flowchart TD
    subgraph GUIDE["/guide-me — Main Orchestrator"]
        direction LR
        GLEFT[" "] ~~~ GTEXT["Detects project state, guides you through every step"] ~~~ GRIGHT[" "]
    end

    B["/constitution"] --> C["/specify"]
    C --> D["/clarify"]
    D --> E["/planner"]
    E --> F["/task-manager"]
    F --> WC

    subgraph WC["Writing Cycle"]
        direction TB
        W1["/writer"] --> W2["/writer"]
        W2 --> R1{"/reviewer"}
        R1 -->|"revise"| W2
        R1 -->|"approved"| W3["/writer"]
        W3 --> R2{"/reviewer"}
        R2 -->|"revise"| W3
    end

    R2 -->|"approved"| DONE(("🎉 Done!"))

    WC -.->|"add new chapters?"| E

    GUIDE ~~~ B

    linkStyle 8 stroke:transparent,fill:none

    style GUIDE fill:#4f46e5,color:#fff,stroke-width:2px
    style GLEFT fill:#4f46e5,stroke:#4f46e5,color:#4f46e5
    style GRIGHT fill:#4f46e5,stroke:#4f46e5,color:#4f46e5
    style GTEXT fill:#4f46e5,stroke:#4f46e5,color:#fff

    style B fill:#6366f1,color:#fff
    style C fill:#6366f1,color:#fff
    style D fill:#6366f1,color:#fff
    style E fill:#6366f1,color:#fff
    style F fill:#6366f1,color:#fff
    style WC fill:#1e1b4b,color:#fff,stroke:#818cf8
    style DONE fill:#22c55e,color:#fff

Step-by-Step Workflow

| # | Command | Purpose | |---|---------|---------| | 0 | /guide-me | Main orchestrator — start here. Detects your project state and guides you through every step. | | 1 | /constitution | Define core creative principles, pacing strategy, and character depth approach. | | 2 | /specify | Build the story specification from logline to full spec. | | 3 | /clarify | Resolve ambiguities in the spec with targeted questions. | | 4 | /planner | Create chapter structure, pacing, foreshadowing plan, and character arc mapping. | | 5 | /task-manager | Break the plan into prioritized, dependency-tracked writing tasks. | | 6 | /writer | Write chapters with a 12-item pre-write checklist to maintain consistency. | | 7 | /reviewer | Analyze quality, consistency, constitution compliance, and prose strength. |

The writing cycle, steps 6–7, repeats for each chapter. You can loop back to /planner or /task-manager at any time to add new chapters or restructure your novel.

All AI Novel Writing Commands

Core Workflow

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | /guide-me | Main orchestrator. Walks you through the seven-step AI novel writing methodology from concept to completed manuscript. | | /constitution | Step 1 — Creates or updates the creative constitution, including core values, quality baseline, style principles, pacing, and character depth. | | /specify | Step 2 — Builds the story specification using a progressive four-level approach. | | /clarify | Step 3 — Reviews the spec, identifies up to five ambiguities, and asks targeted questions. | | /planner | Step 4 — Creates chapter structure, pacing, foreshadowing plan, and character arc mapping. | | /task-manager | Step 5 — Breaks the creative plan into prioritized, dependency-tracked writing tasks. | | /writer | Step 6 — Provides AI-assisted writing with Write Mode, Draft Detection, and a 12-item pre-write checklist. | | /reviewer | Step 7 — Performs quality analysis for framework consistency, content consistency, and constitution compliance. |

Utilities

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | /meta | Records novel metadata, including title, author, genre, tags, status, and publication dates, to meta.json. | | /checklist | Runs a quality checklist against the current context or chapter. | | /expert | Activates expert mode for deep, specialized analysis, such as editor, sensitivity reader, or logic checker. | | /track-init | Initializes the JSON tracking system for a new novel. | | /track | Updates or queries the comprehensive tracking system. | | /timeline | Manages the story timeline and verifies chronological consistency. | | /relations | Manages and analyzes character relationships. | | /authenticity-audit | Audits text for AI-generated stylistic patterns and clichés. | | /authentic-voice | Rewrites a passage to remove AI clichés and enforce authentic human voice. |

Auto-Activating AI Writing Skills

Skills are passive knowledge files that the AI loads automatically when your prompt matches their domain. No manual invocation is needed.

Writing Techniques

| Skill | Description | |-------|-------------| | character-depth | Ensures deep psychological backstory, Wound/Ghost, internal contradictions, defense mechanisms, and vulnerability triggers. | | dialogue-techniques | Makes dialogue subtext-heavy, distinctive, and character-driven. | | emotional-interiority | Ensures internal reactions, sensory-emotional responses, and prevents report-style narration. | | pacing-rhythm | Enforces chosen pacing archetypes, manages sentence-level rhythm, and detects fragment overuse. | | scene-structure | Ensures scenes follow strong structural principles: Goal, Conflict, Disaster, Reaction, Dilemma, and Decision. |

Quality Assurance

| Skill | Description | |-------|-------------| | consistency-checker | Checks for plot holes, character inconsistencies, timeline errors, and constitution violations. | | forgotten-elements | Identifies dropped plot threads and forgotten characters or items. | | getting-started | Helps overcome blank page syndrome by generating prompts and initial hooks. | | pre-write-checklist | Ensures the AI loads constitution, specification, plan, and context before drafting a chapter. | | requirement-detector | Detects and enforces specific plot or content requirements, such as fast-paced or high-emotion scenes. | | setting-detector | Detects the genre setting and loads the appropriate knowledge base. | | workflow-guide | Orchestrates the seven-step methodology and coordinates sub-skills. |

Genre Knowledge

| Skill | Description | |-------|-------------| | genre-knowledge/fantasy | Fantasy tropes, magic systems, worldbuilding, and narrative structures. | | genre-knowledge/horror | Dread, atmosphere, psychological tension, fear escalation, and horror pacing. | | genre-knowledge/mystery | Mystery plotting, clue dropping, red herrings, reveal timing, and tension escalation. | | genre-knowledge/romance | Romance arcs, emotional intimacy, romantic tension, and genre-standard tropes. | | genre-knowledge/scifi | Science fiction worldbuilding, technology, speculative themes, and future societies. | | genre-knowledge/thriller | High-stakes pacing, suspense, ticking clocks, escalation, and tension. |

Specialized Skills

| Skill | Description | |-------|-------------| | novel-cover-art-creation | Crafts detailed AI image generation prompts for novel cover art using ChatGPT Image, Midjourney, DALL-E, or similar tools. | | chapter-illustration-prompter | Generates chapter illustration prompt files with scene-specific prompts and technical notes. | | novel-uploader-guidelines-r2 | Provides guidelines for formatting novel content for Cloudflare R2 upload and web novel viewer apps. |

Knowledge and Tracking Files

These files are created automatically from templates during the workflow and updated as you write.

Memory Files

| File | Purpose | |------|---------| | memory/constitution.md | Stores your creative principles, non-negotiables, and quality baseline. | | memory/personal-voice.md | Stores your unique writing voice preferences and stylistic patterns. |

Knowledge Files

| File | Purpose | |------|---------| | knowledge/character-profiles.md | Stores detailed character profiles with psychological depth. | | knowledge/character-voices.md | Tracks distinctive speech patterns, vocabulary, and mannerisms per character. | | knowledge/locations.md | Stores setting descriptions, sensory details, and spatial relationships. | | knowledge/world-setting.md | Tracks worldbuilding rules, magic systems, technology, and cultural details. |

Tracking Files

| File | Purpose | |------|---------| | tracking/character-state.json | Tracks character arcs, emotional states, and physical conditions per chapter. | | tracking/plot-tracker.json | Tracks plot threads, subplots, and resolution status. | | tracking/relationships.json | Tracks character relationship dynamics and how they evolve. | | tracking/timeline.json | Tracks chronological story events for consistency checking. | | tracking/validation-rules.json | Stores custom validation rules derived from your constitution. |

Project File Structure

After running npx novel-writer-english and starting your workflow, your project root looks like this:

my-novel/
├── .claude/                    # Claude Code commands and skills, if selected
│   ├── commands/
│   └── skills/
├── .gemini/                    # Gemini CLI commands and skills, if selected
│   ├── commands/novel/
│   └── skills/
├── .opencode/                  # OpenCode commands and skills, if selected
│   ├── commands/novel/
│   └── skills/
├── .agents/                    # Codex CLI skills, if selected
│   └── skills/
├── memory/                     # Created by /constitution
│   ├── constitution.md
│   └── personal-voice.md
├── knowledge/                  # Created by /specify
│   ├── character-profiles.md
│   ├── character-voices.md
│   ├── locations.md
│   └── world-setting.md
├── tracking/                   # Created by /track-init
│   ├── character-state.json
│   ├── plot-tracker.json
│   ├── relationships.json
│   ├── timeline.json
│   └── validation-rules.json
├── stories/                    # Created by /specify
│   └── [your-novel-name]/
│       ├── specification.md
│       ├── creative-plan.md
│       ├── tasks.md
│       └── content/
│           ├── chapter-01.md
│           ├── chapter-02.md
│           └── ...
└── meta.json                   # Created by /meta

Note: You only need to create the project folder and run the installer. Everything else, including memory/, knowledge/, tracking/, stories/, and all generated .md and .json files, is created automatically by the commands as you work through the seven-step workflow.

Supported AI Writing Platforms

| Platform | Commands | Skills | Installer Target | |----------|----------|--------|-----------------| | Claude Code | .claude/commands/*.md | .claude/skills/ | ./claude/ | | Gemini CLI | .gemini/commands/novel/*.toml | .gemini/skills/ | ./gemini/ | | OpenCode | .opencode/commands/novel/*.md | .opencode/skills/ | ./opencode/ | | Codex CLI | — skills only | .agents/skills/ | ./agents/ | | Any AI Assistant | Copy-paste from src/commands/ | — | Manual |

Who Is This For?

Novel Writer English is built for fiction writers, indie authors, web novel creators, and AI-assisted writing workflows. It is especially useful if you want to:

• Plan a novel before drafting
• Keep characters, plot threads, and timelines consistent
• Use AI without losing control of your creative direction
• Write long-form fiction with Claude Code, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Codex CLI, ChatGPT, or another AI assistant
• Build repeatable workflows for novels, series, or web fiction projects

Use Cases

Novel Writer English can help with:

• AI-assisted novel planning
• Chapter-by-chapter fiction drafting
• Long-form story consistency tracking
• Character arc management
• Worldbuilding organization
• Web novel production workflows
• AI-assisted editing and review
• Genre-aware fiction writing
• Maintaining author voice while using AI

SEO Keywords

AI novel writing assistant, open-source novel writing tool, AI fiction writing workflow, Claude Code novel writing, Gemini CLI writing assistant, OpenCode writing workflow, Codex CLI writing assistant, AI story planner, AI chapter writer, novel planning tool, fiction writing system, AI-assisted writing, web novel writing tool, long-form fiction AI workflow.

Attribution

This project is a translation and re-architecture of the original work by wordflowlab. The original novel-writer-skills repository provided the foundational methodology, skill architecture, and command templates that this project builds upon.

License

MIT