New features & a short story template ⭐

An all-off switch for AI features, the ability to print your outline, and a short story collection template

One of my favourite things to do is build features that writers (like you!) ask to have in First Draft Pro. I love learning more about everyone else’s processes and preferences, and finding ways to make your writing practice a little easier.

So, I’m super excited about the features we’re releasing this week, because they are all things that FDP writers have asked for.

If you’re feeling iffy about AI, or you really love the tactile feel of paper when you’re working on a story outline, this release is for you!

Latest release v1.0.63

All-off switch for AI features

When it comes to including AI-powered features in First Draft Pro, these are the principles we follow:

• Your work is yours, and belongs only to you.

• If you use AI-features in FDP, your work will be processed by the Open AI API (in order to perform the action), but it will never be used to train an AI.

• FDP will never include features that generate words for you, and AI will never perform any creative function in the app.

• We’ll only ever use AI-powered features to perform tasks that take you away from the act of actually writing (ie: they will always be assistive).

• We take care to use AI models that are appropriate for the task, and think carefully about the environmental impact of using more powerful models.

However, I’ve heard from a ton of other writers who are uncomfortable with any sort of AI-powered software, and want to avoid these completely. I totally understand and respect that choice.

To give you peace of mind if this is your stance, we’ve built an “All-off” switch for AI, that turns any AI features off in the app, and removes them from your interface completely (so you don’t have to worry about using them accidentally).

For more info on how AI is used in First Draft Pro, check out our AI philosophy and privacy policy.

Printing your outline

If you like the tactile feel of paper, or just want to pin your outline up, you can now print out your chapter outline or plot outline using your built in browser tools.

This article covers the settings we recommend adjusting to get the best quality visual output.

New template: Short Stories

If you’re a fan of the short story format, we’ve added a new project template for short story collections. It’s based on Lester Dent’s master plot format for short fiction, and is especially good for pulp fiction short stories.