A Writing Application That Understands Your Story
Most writing software gives you a blank page and a folder tree. Palimpsest gives you a structure that matches how you think, a glossary woven into your text, an outline that builds your project for you, and a continuity engine that catches your mistakes before your readers do.
Every Writer Outgrows Their Tools
Your characters live in a spreadsheet. Your glossary is a sticky note. Your outline is a separate app. You spend more time managing your project than writing it.
Most writing software assumes your book has chapters and your chapters have scenes — and that's it. None of it knows what your story is about.
Your Structure, Your Rules
Most writing apps give you Book → Chapter → Scene. If that doesn't fit, you're stuck. Palimpsest gives you Content Types — building blocks you define yourself.
Anthology? Volume → Story.
Academic? Part → Section → Subsection.
Serial? Season → Episode → Chapter.
- Placement rules — what can go where
- Singletons — Prologue appears at most once per book
- Numbering — numeric, alpha, or Roman, overridable per section
- Formatting — fonts, spacing, margins, defined per type
- Templates — prompts that greet you every time you create a new item
- 📚 The Ashblood Chronicles Series
- 📖 Book I — The Burning Year Book
- 📄 Prologue Singleton
- 📁 Chapter 1 — Thornwall Chapter
- ✏️ Scene 1 — The Market Scene
- ✏️ Scene 2 — The Warning
- 📁 Chapter 2 — Departure
- ✏️ Scene 1 — Packing
- ✏️ Scene 2 — The Gate
- 📄 Epilogue Singleton
- 📖 Book II — The Long Silence Book
- 📁 Chapter I Roman
The Codex — Your Story's Memory
Your world lives inside your writing software — woven directly into the text. Define a term, and Palimpsest recognizes it everywhere you type it. Hover to see the definition. Click to jump to the full entry. No manual linking. No tagging.
- Term relationships — broader, narrower, synonyms, antonyms. The Codex understands the web of connections in your world.
- Scoped visibility — a secret name only highlights after its reveal scene.
- Usage tracking — where each term appears, how often, in which chapters.
Other apps leave worldbuilding to you — a notes panel, a spreadsheet, your memory. Palimpsest puts it inside the writing experience. For a series spanning multiple books, it's essential.
Mara pulled her cloak tighter as they passed through the gates of Thornwall. The air tasted of ash and copper, the familiar signs of ashbloodAshblood/ˈæʃ.blʌd/
A wasting disease caused by prolonged exposure to volcanic ash. Symptoms include grey-tinged skin and bleeding gums.
↗ Broader: Plague 📄 12 occurrences season.
The healer had warned her to avoid the lower quarters, where the Red Harbor district still smoldered from the previous winter's fires.
Outline — Plan Before You Write, Write From Your Plan
Your outline is a first-class part of the project — a planning layer that understands your Content Types and stays connected to your manuscript.
Each node knows what Content Type it will become. When you're ready, promote outline nodes into real content — Palimpsest creates the item, applies formatting and templates, and opens the editor with your outline notes as a reference panel.
In other tools, the outline describes your project. In Palimpsest, the outline builds it. Plotter or pantser — the connection is never lost.
- The Market — Mara arrives, sees the plague Scene
- The Warning — Healer confronts Mara Scene
- Chapter 2 — Departure Chapter
- Packing — Mara gathers supplies Scene
- The Gate — Leaving Thornwall Scene
- Chapter 3 — The Road Chapter
- Night camp — First sign of pursuit Scene
- River crossing — meets Daryn Scene
Continuity — Your Manuscript's Fact-Checker
Blue eyes in Chapter 3, green eyes in Chapter 18. A destroyed sword reappears three scenes later. Your readers will notice. Palimpsest notices first.
The Continuity engine checks your Codex data against what your scenes actually say and flags anything that doesn't add up.
- Contradicted traits — changes without explanation
- Dead characters reappearing
- Impossible travel — faster than your world's rules allow
- Forgotten injuries — vanishing without recovery
- Object conflicts — same item, two places
- Timeline errors — contradicting dates
Not AI — your facts in, deterministic checks out. Intentional contradictions are welcome. No other writing software does this.
A Complete Writing Environment
Content Types, the Codex, the Outline, and the Continuity engine are the foundation — but Palimpsest is a full writing tool, not a four-trick demo.
Rich Text Editor
A full-featured editor built for long-form writing. Understands your Content Types, your Codex terms, and your project structure.
Project Navigation
Your entire project in a tree you can see, reorganize, and navigate instantly. Drag chapters between books. Reorder scenes.
Full-Text Search
Search across your entire project. Filter by content type — only scenes, only notes, only a specific book.
Print & Export
Generate publication-ready PDFs directly from your manuscript. Content Type formatting carries through to export.
Themes & Typography
A fully customizable visual environment. Dark mode, light mode, custom fonts, custom colors. Every element adjustable.
Annotations
Leave notes for yourself directly in the text. Visible when writing, invisible when exporting. Resolve as you go.
Spellcheck & Thesaurus
Built-in spellchecking that works offline. A thesaurus for the right word. Real-time word counts at every level.
Your Data, Your Machine
Runs entirely on your computer. No account required. No subscription. No internet needed. Your files are yours.
Always Free for Authors
The core writing tools are free. Not a trial. Not a limited version. The complete author experience, forever.
What's Coming
Outline System
The full outline-to-content pipeline. Plan your project, promote nodes into real content, track progress from plan to manuscript.
Content Type Formatting & Templates
Pre-defined formatting rules and fill-in-the-blank templates attached to content types.
Characters, Locations & Events
The Codex expands beyond terms — full character profiles, location descriptions, and story events with the same deep editor integration.
Continuity Engine
Scene-level annotations, state tracking, world rules, timeline validation, and a review workflow for managing flags.
Timeline
Visual timeline of your story's events. Track when things happen, validate chronology, and catch ordering conflicts.
Cloud Sync
Connect your projects to the cloud when you want to. Work from the desktop app or a web browser. Your choice, per project.
Collaboration
Share projects with editors, beta readers, or co-authors. Comments, suggestions, and tracked changes.
Plugin System
Extend Palimpsest with community-built tools. Custom export formats, integrations, and specialized writing aids.
What is a Palimpsest?
Ancient Layers of Meaning
A palimpsest is an ancient manuscript where the original text was carefully scraped away, allowing a new text to be written on the same parchment. Rather than erasing the past, the older writing remained as a subtle layer beneath.
This practice reveals something profound about writing itself: our best work comes from iterating, layering ideas, and building upon what came before. It's about revision as creation.
Palimpsest the tool honors this tradition — a space where your writing can evolve, layer, and transform without losing the authenticity of your voice.