A novel is hundreds of decisions across months. Canvas treats chapters and scenes as blocks with save points for daily work, draft lines for “what if Act 2 went darker”, and AI skills that propose block-level diffs — not whole-chapter rewrites in a chat window. Markdown round-trips losslessly when you need git or another editor.
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Block types for long-form
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Lossless markdown export
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Months of forks on draft lines
On working with constraints
Constraints don't fight a draft — they give it edges. The hardest part of any long document is deciding what it isn't.
Working hypothesis: the more open the canvas, the longer the first paragraph takes.
Outline section 2 · Confirm three quotes · Draft conclusion
const audience = readers.filter(r => r.cares_about(topic))Source · Year · Quoted on page
Twenty-four plus block types: chapter headings, callouts, tables, citations, research sidebars. Structure-check skills flag when your outline and your draft diverge — before your editor does.
Major plot forks should not mean duplicate Scrivener projects or terrifying undo chains. Save point before the rewrite; draft line for the alternate beat sheet; diff against main before you commit the structural change your agent will ask about.
# On working with constraints
Constraints don't fight a draft — they
give it **edges**. The hardest part of
any long document is deciding what
it _isn't_.
> Working hypothesis: the more open
> the canvas, the longer the first
> paragraph takes.
- [ ] Outline section 2
- [ ] Confirm three quotes
- [x] Draft conclusionOn working with constraints
Constraints don't fight a draft — they give it edges. The hardest part of any long document is deciding what it isn't.
Working hypothesis: the more open the canvas, the longer the first paragraph takes.
Write for months in Canvas; export standard markdown when you need git, a collaborator on another tool, or a backup you control. Import existing markdown without losing heading structure — the same save-point history applies from day one.
Canvas — a novel is hundreds of structural decisions — Canvas keeps each fork diffable before you commit the rewrite your agent will ask about.
The three primitives that do the heavy lifting in this workflow.
Outline → draft, structure check, and tone pass propose edits at block granularity — you see what changed and accept piecemeal. No whole-chapter regeneration you cannot trust.
Citation and research blocks live in the document tree next to the chapters they inform — not a separate folder of PDFs you manually reconcile.
Save point before workshop submission; diff after critique for your revision letter — exact structural change, not “I changed a lot.”
Skills and diffs run on your draft — nothing lands until you accept it. Every accepted change can become a save point.
The fork every novelist hits — explored safely, merged deliberately.
“Pre–Act 2 rewrite” freezes the manuscript you might need to return to.
Write the darker beat sheet on a parallel line; main stays untouched.
Block-level changes show which chapters move, which scenes change voice or plot.
Pull winning scenes to main; keep the branch if your editor wants to see what you tried.
Migration, granularity, pricing, and feature status — the concrete questions buyers raise before they switch.
Canvas is in development. Pro and Team subscribers receive early access first. It shares save points, draft lines, and the AI skill engine with Plot — extended for long-form block documents rather than screenplay element types.
Import via markdown or structured paste where headings map to blocks. Complex Scrivener binder metadata may need manual cleanup once — after that, chapters and research blocks live in one Canvas document with version history.
Skills propose diffs at block granularity — a paragraph, a scene break, a callout — not a full-document replace. You accept or reject each suggestion; the manuscript does not change until you confirm.
Standard markdown export with heading structure preserved. Save-point history is Inkwell-specific — export snapshots you need as markdown files before canceling if you want offline archives of milestones.
Canvas brings save points, draft lines, and reviewable AI to long-form documents — join the waitlist and we'll bring you in as early access opens.
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