Frequently asked questions
Short answers about Scribsy, your work and the November beta.
Does Scribsy use AI to write for me?
No. There's no generate button. Scribsy reads what you write so it can keep your world straight. The sentences are always yours.
Is Scribsy for me?
If you're writing a novel, very likely. A few kinds of writers:
- Plotters. Brainstorm and the outline hold the plan, and each scene's notes wait beside the page when you open it.
- Discovery writers. Skip the outline and start on the page. Scribsy keeps up, filing who and what you invent as you go.
- Worldbuilders and series writers. Every name gets a card built from your own pages. The world map shows who knows whom, who owns what and who lives where, and continuity checks catch the eye colour that changed in chapter 14.
- First-time novelists. Start with one line in Brainstorm, the image you can't shake. Scribsy sorts it and asks about what your story leaves open.
- November sprinters. Scribsy was built for a 50,000-word November. Write fast now and let Scribsy keep track. More on November.
What's a good NaNoWriMo alternative this November?
Scribsy opens as a free beta on November 1, 2026, built for writing a novel in November. Plan in Brainstorm, draft your chapters, and Scribsy keeps your world straight as the words pile up. Since NaNoWriMo closed, writers have kept the month going in their own ways, including the community-led NaNo 2.0 and ProWritingAid's Novel November challenge. Scribsy works alongside any of them: join the event you like, and write your book in Scribsy.
NaNoWriMo and Novel November are trademarks of their respective owners. Scribsy is not affiliated with them.
Can I use Scribsy for November Writing Month?
Yes. Scribsy was built for a 50,000-word November, and the free beta opens on November 1, 2026, in time for day one.
- Plan if you like. Drop loose ideas into Brainstorm, or skip it and start on page one.
- Write fast. Every character, place and thing you invent gets a card built from your own pages. There's nothing to tag.
- Catch slips. In Full story bible, close a chapter and Scribsy points to lines that disagree.
- Keep every sentence yours. There's no generate button.
How long is the beta, and is it free?
Scribsy opens as a free beta on November 1, 2026. It stays free until at least December 1. We'll tell you well before anything changes.
When can I start writing in Scribsy?
Scribsy's free beta opens on November 1, 2026. Join the waitlist, then confirm your email address: you're on the list once you confirm. From November 1, invitations go out by email in waves, in sign-up order, as capacity allows. Each one has a link to sign in.
Will Scribsy sell or steal my work?
No. We believe your work is your own.
Full zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption and automated private backups are coming soon. We're working through the hard trade-offs now: using Scribsy on several devices, writing with collaborators, and sending text to cloud AI when you ask for help, all without giving up control of your words, and while keeping your work portable and useful alongside the other tools you use now. We believe all of these can be solved if they're done right. When they are, the economy around your work could look very different from today's, and better in every way for you, the person who made it.
Can my writing be used to train AI?
No. Your words never train a model, whether ours or anyone else's. The pledge explains the one exception: an invitation you'd have to accept yourself, for a single project.
How do you protect my writing?
- Your choice, book by book. Nothing goes to cloud AI unless you chose Full story bible for that book. There's no default and no "decide later".
- No training. No AI company we use trains on your words.
- Turning cloud off stops sending, and deletes nothing. You never have to choose between privacy and keeping your work.
- Saving you can trust. Every keystroke is saved locally first, then synced. We test this on every change.
- You can always leave with it. Export is available for as long as Scribsy exists.
Our full commitments are in The Writer's Data Pledge.
What's the difference between Private and Full story bible?
You choose for each book, when you create it.
- Full story bible. Scribsy reads your draft with cloud AI and maps your whole world: who's who, how they're connected, what happened when, and where the story contradicts itself. No AI company we use trains on your words.
- Private. Your words never leave Scribsy. The AI that reads them runs in your browser. You still get your characters, places and things, plus your outline and notes. The world map stays thin, and Brainstorm isn't available.
What happens to my writing if the beta ends, or pricing changes?
You can export your work, and that stays true for as long as Scribsy exists.
What does "beta" mean here?
We've tested the part that matters most harder than anything else: you never lose a single character you write, online or offline. We ran simulated writers through dropped connections, closed tabs and offline stretches, and checked that every character came through.
Here's what beta does mean:
- Brainstorm is in preview. We're still working out what it costs to run, how fast it is and how much it actually helps. It may change, or pause.
- There will be bugs. When you find one, tell us. It helps more than you'd think.
- Things will move fast. We ship often, so screens and workflows may change from week to week.
- What's included may shift. Cloud AI is expensive and its accuracy keeps changing. As costs settle, which features come with which plan may change, and so may the pricing model. We'll tell you before it affects you.
How does it work?
You write, and Scribsy keeps track of your world: it files every character, place and thing, and connects them as the story grows. How Scribsy works.
Which AI companies see my words, and do they keep them?
Only books on Full story bible are sent to AI companies, and only the passages being read. None of them trains on your words. Some keep requests for a short time to watch for abuse.
What actually runs on my device, and what goes to the cloud?
Where each job runs, in Private and in Full story bible Job Private Full story bible Writing, saving, offline writing In your browser, synced to Scribsy Same Syncing across your devices Yes Yes Spotting characters, places and things In your browser In your browser while you type, then confirmed by cloud AI Searching your book by meaning In your browser Cloud Relationships, timeline and world map Thin (names only) Full, by cloud AI Continuity checks (where the story contradicts itself) Not available Cloud, when you close a chapter Brainstorm (sorting your notes into cards) Not available Cloud, in preview The short version: in Private, your words go to Scribsy's servers so you can sync them, and no AI anywhere else ever sees them. In Full, the passages Scribsy is reading are sent to the AI companies that do the reading, and only for that job.
What should I expect day to day in each mode?
In Private, you get a fast, quiet editor that knows your cast. Names light up as you write, and your outline and notes sit beside the page. It won't map relationships, track your timeline or catch contradictions.
In Full story bible, Scribsy keeps your whole world filed as you write. Character cards fill themselves in, the world map grows chapter by chapter, Brainstorm sorts your loose ideas, and Scribsy points out lines that don't agree. Some of this takes a moment, because it runs in the cloud.
I write offline. Is there anything I should know?
Yes, one thing. When you write offline, your words are kept safely in your browser until you're back online. Before you clear your browser's cache or site data, open Scribsy online and wait until the save indicator says Saved, not Offline, kept on this device. If you clear the browser before that sync finishes, the offline work is gone.
Who's behind Scribsy?
Scribsy is built by Steven, a lifelong reader with a head full of worlds. Meet the founder.
Why did you build Scribsy?
Writing a novel means keeping a whole world in your head, and we wanted a tool that holds it for you. Why we're building Scribsy.
What technology does it use?
Scribsy saves a book, not just a file, and uses on-device and cloud AI to understand it. Under the page.
What about analytics?
We count things like how many words you wrote in a session, or which buttons get used, so we know what to fix. We never collect the words themselves.
How do I report a bug or send feedback?
Email hello@scribsy.ai. Tell us what you were doing and what you expected to happen. A screenshot helps. Never paste your manuscript in. We don't need your words to fix a bug.
Is NaNoWriMo happening in 2026?
The NaNoWriMo nonprofit closed in 2025, but the 50,000-word November sprint carries on independently, most visibly through the community-led NaNo 2.0. Many writers now call it November Writing Month.
NaNoWriMo and Novel November are trademarks of their respective owners. Scribsy is not affiliated with them.