Scene One
Scene One is an online software for writing novels and books. It features a simple, intuitive text editor and manages all your writing scenes and projects. The ...
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What is Scene One?
Scene One is a cloud-based online book writing software designed for novelists, authors, and aspiring writers to create, organize, and manage their stories. The platform runs entirely in a web browser and automatically saves all work to the cloud, enabling writers to access their projects from any device including desktops, laptops, tablets, phones, and even TVs. Developed by Brad Dehnert, Scene One emphasizes writer autonomy and flexibility, refusing to dictate how users organize their work whether they prefer linear writing or working out-of-order.
Key features include a flexible text editor that supports organizing work in scenes, snippets, or chapters with automatic structure maintenance. The platform offers an AI Writing Assistant that generates new text by analyzing existing scenes and matching characters, locations, and actions to the writer's original material. Additional tools include a whiteboard planning tool with checklist functionality, color-coded characters and scenes, custom wikis for world-building, integrated writing statistics with graphs, the Save the Cat! beat sheet manager, and automatic wiki linking. The software also supports importing from Scrivener, Ulysses, and Novlr.
Scene One is ideal for first-time authors to experienced novelists, self-publishing writers, and anyone who wants to write across multiple devices without compatibility issues. The platform includes dark mode, focus mode, project and scene reminders, revision tracking, and collaboration features allowing full collaborative access or read-only manuscript sharing. Future updates will add relationship managers, throughline managers, version control with project versioning, and shared scene editing with commenting.
The cloud-based architecture ensures nightly backups of all progress, automatic saving after every keystroke, and immediate error feedback during writing. Writers can switch between devices seamlessly at no extra cost, and the platform works on Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhones, and Android phones and tablets through any modern browser.
Scene One pricing
Pricing model: Freemium
Scene One offers two pricing plans: a free plan allowing work on one project up to 100,000 words with all standard features included, and a standard plan supporting unlimited projects and unlimited words. Both plans include cloud saving, integrated statistics tracking, project and scene reminders, dark mode, and focus mode. The standard plan adds PDF and Word exports, custom wikis, and the Save the Cat! beat sheet manager. Users can also start a 2-week pro trial to test premium features before committing.
Scene One pros
- Automatic cloud saving after every keystroke
- Works on any device with a web browser
- No extra cost when switching between devices
- AI Writing Assistant generates matching text
- Flexible organization without rigid structure requirements
- Import from Scrivener, Ulysses, and Novlr
- Whiteboard planner with checklist functionality
- Color-coded characters and scenes
- Custom wikis for world-building
- Save the Cat! beat sheet manager included
- Integrated writing statistics with graphs
- Nightly backups of all progress
- Dark mode and focus mode available
- Full collaboration or read-only sharing options
- Immediate error feedback during writing
- Project and scene reminders built-in
- Revision tracking capabilities
- Works on Windows, Mac, and Linux systems
- Mobile access on iPhones and Android devices
- Automatic wiki linking feature
Scene One cons
- AI generation limited to public domain and internet content
- Free plan only allows one project
- Free plan capped at 100,000 words
- No desktop app required but optional
- Shared scene editing not yet available
- Commenting functionality still in development
- Version control features not yet launched
- No scheduled full exports currently available
- Limited to browser-based writing only
- AI words may require manual refinement
Frequently asked questions about Scene One
What is Scene One?
Scene One is a cloud-based online book writing software for novels featuring a text editor, project management, AI assistance, and tools for world-building, revision tracking, and analytics. It runs in any web browser and saves automatically to the cloud.
Is Scene One free to use?
Yes, Scene One offers a free plan that allows you to write one project up to 100,000 words with access to all standard version features. You can also start a 2-week pro trial to test premium features.
What devices does Scene One work on?
Scene One runs in your web browser on any device including desktop, laptop, tablet, phone, and TV. It works on Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhones, and Android phones and tablets through any modern browser.
How does the AI Writing Assistant work?
The AI assistant analyzes your existing scenes and generates new text by matching characters, locations, and actions to your original material. It uses a database of public domain works and internet content to offer several paragraphs you can choose from.
Can I import my work from other writing apps?
Yes, Scene One supports importing work from popular writing applications including Scrivener, Ulysses, and Novlr, making it easy to switch from other platforms.
How is my work saved and backed up?
Scene One automatically saves to the cloud after every keystroke. All character profiles, notes, and progress are backed up nightly to ensure you never lose your work.
Can multiple writers work on the same project?
Yes, Scene One offers collaboration features allowing you to share projects in full collaborative mode for editing or as read-only manuscripts. Future updates will add shared scene editing and commenting functionality.
What export formats does Scene One support?
The standard plan allows you to export your work as PDF documents or standard Word format. Future updates will add more advanced exporting capabilities including scheduled full exports.
Does Scene One have organization tools for planning?
Yes, Scene One includes a whiteboard planner with checklist functionality for visual outlining, plus the Save the Cat! beat sheet manager for story structure. You can organize work in scenes, snippets, or chapters with color-coding.
What features are coming in future updates?
Future updates will include a relationship manager for character interactions, a throughline manager to track narrative progress, development templates, version control with project versioning, categorized projects, archived old projects, and shared scene editing with commenting.