The Ultimate Novel Planner (Book Review)

By Teri O.

The Ultimate Novel Planner: High Fantasy by Paige Cody was designed to gently guide you through every stage of your writing journey–from brainstorming your title to releasing your story into the wild–while making the process fun and engaging!

Planning a novel can feel overwhelming, but this planner breaks it down into clear, digestible steps and creative exercises. You can use this planner chronologically or bounce between sections based on your workflow. By the end, you’ll have a well-developed world, characters, and strong plot foundation to build on.

Inside you’ll find creative prompts, structured worksheets, helpful checklists, outlines, and writing tips to spark inspiration and keep you organized. It is a workbook, so it’s up to you to fill in the pages with your ideas. By the end, you’ll have a solid roadmap and a lovely keepsake of your creative journey. It’s even available in your choice of paperback or hardcover!

What’s Included

Fundamentals: Title Brainstorm, Genre, Themes, Cover Ideas, Ideal Reader Profile, and More
Dry Plotting: Loose Plot Structure, Scene Ideas, Fantasy Tropes, 3 Acts: Setup, Confrontation, Resolution, Subplot Arcs
Character Profiles: Character Traits, 6 Primary Characters Profiles, 8 Secondary Character Profiles, Character Building Prompts
Villain Profiles: Primary and Secondary Villain Profiles
Magic System: Types of Magic, Source, Rules, Limitations
World Building: Origin Prompts, Map, Significant Locations, Deities, Lore & Legends, Creatures
Chapter Outlines: Fits up to 42 chapters (1 page each) with Rough Chapter Outlines, Key Scenes, Plot Points, Romance Timeline
Drafting: Tips to Fuel Your Creativity, First Line Prompts, First Page, Word-Count Goal Tracker
Editing: Commonly Overused Words, Checklist For Copy & Structure, Story Trends
Beta Testing: Tips & Management, Beta Questions, Fix-It Checklist
Literary Agents & Querying: Query Checklist, Query Builder, Query Tracker
Release: Release Plan, Arc Readers, Budget Tracking, Arc Readers
Bonus Features: Online Resources and much more!

I like how each section starts with a couple of paragraphs with tips explaining what is important to accomplish at this point in your novel planning. I love the section that has you list comparable movies and music that would be suitable for your novel, as these will help set the atmosphere you’re going for.

I especially like that the list of ideas to help you get into a writing mindset or trigger your imagination includes “Watch Studio Ghibli Movies.” Studio Ghibli made many of my favorite movies, so I can certainly identify with that. 🙂 The other ideas not so much, but the page has space to write down your own creative rituals, of which I definitely have some peculiar ones of my own.

The character sheets include a space for “Pronouns & Gender,” which suggests the author has a leftist bent, but I can overlook that minor point because the rest of the book is so immensely helpful.

I’d certainly recommend The Ultimate Novel Planner: High Fantasy if you plan on writing a high fantasy novel. (Think of works by J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Terry Brooks.) If that’s not your specialty, no worries! Paige Cody also designed novel writing planners for Light Fantasy, Fantasy Romance, Urban Fantasy, Fiction, Spooky Fiction, Romance, Dystopian, Historical, Crime & Mystery. So whatever your chosen genre, she’s got you covered!

About the Author

Paige Cody is a Canadian writer and the founder of Storyfolk–a small business that creates products and guides designed to bring joy to the novel development process. These products range from physical structured novel planners for a variety of genres, the Storyfolk Novel Planner App for iOS & Google Play, a writing website, and a large online community where writers can connect with beta readers, critique partners, and writing groups for free. The cost of this planner helps support these endeavors.

Paige lives in a small town with her husband, three kids, and an array of quirky farm animals. After struggling with ADHD, she embarked on a mission to study various novel planning techniques and storytelling theory, which led her to develop methods that make the process organized, creative, engaging, and most importantly, fun! She loves helping fellow writers grow their stories and release them into the wild, and hopes writers new to Storyfolk find joy and ease in their experience.

The Ultimate Novel Planner books by Paige Cody make great gifts for the aspiring writers in your life! See all of her books here.