How to write a novel with Claude

Why long books go wrong in a chat

Claude only sees so much of a conversation at once. Around chapter 10 or 15 it starts to forget: a character’s eye colour changes, a place is described twice, a plot thread is dropped. Over a long book the voice also drifts back to its own default.

Most writers fix this by hand. They keep a story bible, paste it into every new chat, and copy each chapter out into a document.

Doing it in Claude on its own

• Plan first. Agree the plot and a short plan for each chapter before any drafting.
• Keep a story bible: characters, places, facts the reader knows, and a timeline.
• Write one chapter per request, and paste the relevant notes in each time.
• After each chapter, write a short summary and add any new facts to the bible.
• Give it rules for your voice, and list the phrases you never want to see.
• Use a Project for the book, so the notes sit in one place, and start a new chat when one gets long.

Or let Scriptava hold the book for Claude

Scriptava keeps the plan, the story bible and every chapter. Claude connects to it with one link, reads what it needs before each chapter and saves the chapter straight back. There’s nothing to paste.

Connect Claude to Scriptava

1. In Claude, open Customize, then Connectors.
2. Choose Add, then Add custom connector.
3. Name it Scriptava, paste the link above and choose Continue.
4. Sign in to Scriptava when asked, and choose Allow.
5. Start a chat and say: “Let’s start a new book.”

Claude’s menus change from time to time. If these steps do not match, see Anthropic’s guide to custom connectors.

Then write chapter by chapter

1. Tell it the idea. It helps you shape the plan and saves it.
2. Ask: “Plan chapter 1.” Approve the plan, or send it back with notes.
3. Ask: “Write chapter 1.” It reads the story bible, drafts the chapter and saves it.
4. Ten reviews check it for continuity slips, AI-sounding phrases and more, and fix what they find.
5. Read it in Scriptava, edit it, and move on to the next.

What it costs

You pay for Claude as you do now. Scriptava is free for 21 days, then from £5 a month. There are no AI credits to buy. See pricing.