Plot Board workflows

A few common ways writers set up their columns, depending on whether they plan by act, by chapter, or by theme.

There’s no single right way to set up a Plot Board. It’s flexible enough to match however you already think about structure. A few patterns that work well:

By act

One column per act (Act One, Act Two, Act Three, or however many acts your structure uses), with beats representing the major turning points inside each. Good for a classic three- or four-act shape, or any structure defined at that level.

By chapter

One column per chapter, with beats representing scenes or story moments inside it. This mirrors your manuscript tree closely, which makes it easy to check the board against the actual chapter you’re drafting.

By theme or subplot

One column per thread (a subplot, a point-of-view character, a theme you’re tracking across the whole book), with beats showing where that thread surfaces. Color-coding beats by which column they’d also belong to under an act- or chapter-based view is a common way to combine two of these approaches on one board.

Switching approaches

Nothing locks you into one structure. Columns and beats are just cards you can drag, rename, and recolor at any point, so it’s normal to start with one approach and reshape the board as your outline solidifies.