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Everything a long piece of writing needs.

Attente has the structure of the long-form apps writers know, a calm page, and readers in the margin at every stage of the work. Here is all of it.

The ideas behind it

Five things that make Attente different, each with a page of its own.

Plan

Find the shape of the thing before, during and after you write it. Every view is the same manuscript, seen another way.

The same chapter seen as the page, then as index cards on the corkboard, then as an outline, then on a timeline.
One manuscript, seen as a page, cards, an outline or a timeline.

  • The binder

    Chapters, scenes, notes and research in one tree, in your order.

  • Corkboard and outline

    Index cards with synopses, or a table with point of view, status and words.

  • Story bible

    Characters, places and things, kept up to date as you write, each new fact waiting for your yes.

  • Timeline

    Story order against book order, so flashbacks and parallel threads stay straight.

  • Plot threads

    Every thread braided scene by scene, with a quiet flag where one goes missing.

  • Characters

    Who they are, how they speak, and every scene they're in.

  • World rules, maps and glossary

    The rules of your world, places pinned on your maps, and the words only your world uses.

  • Research

    Clippings, PDFs and web pages kept in the project, readable offline.

  • Structure coach and tension

    Your book against the beat sheet you choose, and its tension scene by scene.

  • Scene goals

    Goal, conflict and outcome for every scene, or reaction, dilemma and decision.

Write

A page, and nothing else, until you ask. Nothing on the screen moves unless you make it.

The writer types a new sentence at the end of the chapter. The notes in the margin stay exactly where they are.
Write, and nothing on the screen moves but your words.

  • Attention mode

    Only the page and the paragraph you're in. Everything else waits.

  • Typing sounds

    A typewriter, a soft mechanical keyboard or felt, quiet and never in the way. Off until you choose one.

  • Spelling and grammar on the device

    Checked on your computer, in English and French. Nothing is sent.

  • Focus and typewriter scrolling

    Everything but the sentence or paragraph you're in softens, and typewriter scrolling keeps your line still.

  • Sprints and goals

    A still timer, word targets and deadlines that don't nag.

  • Style lens

    Adverbs, passive voice, repeated words and long sentences, when you want to see them.

  • Selection actions

    Reword, shorten or find another word, offered as tracked changes you accept.

  • Split editor

    Your research and notes open beside the chapter, in tabs, while you write.

  • Placeholders

    Type TK for anything to come; every one is listed, and export reminds you.

  • Dictation on the device

    Speak a draft. The audio never leaves your computer.

Revise

The readers in the margin do their best work here: they notice, they explain, and you decide.

Two notes in the margin about point of view and tense: a slip in tense shown as a tracked change, and a sentence that slips into another character's head.

  • Continuity

    Names, eye colours, dates and ages that contradict each other, with both places shown.

  • Line edit

    Tightening and rhythm, as tracked changes with a reason for each.

  • Beta readers

    A literary reader, a genre fan and a sceptical editor react to finished chapters.

  • Point of view, tense and voice

    Slips in viewpoint and tense, and lines that don't sound like the character.

  • Setups and payoffs

    A ledger of the promises your book makes, and the ones it hasn't kept yet.

  • Story so far

    A synopsis per chapter kept current, and a quiet recap when you come back.

  • Ask your manuscript

    Questions about your own book, answered with the passages that answer them.

  • Editor's letters and passes

    Notes from an editor turned into tasks, and revision passes as checklists.

  • Drafts and history

    Scrub back through a chapter's history, keep snapshots, compare whole drafts.

  • Listen to your book

    Hear a chapter read aloud by voices that run on your computer, with a cast for your characters.

Publish

From the last full stop to the submission inbox, with your words in files you own.

A typeset paperback preview, turning pages of the finished book.

  • Typeset paperback and EPUB

    A book you can turn the pages of, and an ebook checked for the stores.

  • Submission manuscript

    Standard manuscript format, checked, with the fixes you choose.

  • Plain text, always

    Every project out as plain text or Markdown, with no account and no plan.

  • Reader preview and Send to Kindle

    Read your draft as a reader will, on screen or on your e-reader.

  • Pitch kit

    Synopsis, blurb and query letter helpers, each in a document you edit.

  • Submission tracker

    Agents and publishers queried, what you sent, and what came back.

  • Fountain and Ink

    Screenplays out as Fountain, and game scripts as Ink, for the tools that read them.

Try Attente free for 7 days.

Download it for macOS, Windows or Linux, or open it in your browser. When it's earned its place, one licence covers every computer you write on.

Download the betaBuy Attente · $79