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Fiction writing app

Write it inCursyv.

Plan chapters, write scenes, keep your Encyclopedia nearby, and track every draft in one calm place. No project-management clutter. Just the work and the words.

14-day trial · no card requiredAuthorship from day oneProof from day one
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chapter-three.mem3,421 wds
Chapter Three
She reached the lower archive at dusk.
The door was already unlocked. Inside,
the smell of old paper — and something
she couldn't quite name.
NOVEL · ACT IIAUTO-SAVED
Draft History+534 today
Today, 2:14 pm3,421
Today, 10:08 am2,887
Yesterday2,201
Dec 41,842
Dec 31,204
42,891 words total● Synced
🌍
Encyclopedia · World
The City of Vethara
A fog-covered port city. The Archive
is the oldest building, predating
the founding records themselves.
PivotalPort CityHistorical
Daily Progress
53%
534
words today · goal: 1,000
42,891
total words
171
pages est.
chapter-three.mem3,421 wds
Chapter Three
She reached the lower archive at dusk.
The door was already unlocked. Inside,
the smell of old paper — and something
she couldn't quite name.
NOVEL · ACT IIAUTO-SAVED
Draft History+534 today
Today, 2:14 pm3,421
Today, 10:08 am2,887
Yesterday2,201
Dec 41,842
Dec 31,204
42,891 words total● Synced
🌍
Encyclopedia · World
The City of Vethara
A fog-covered port city. The Archive
is the oldest building, predating
the founding records themselves.
PivotalPort CityHistorical
Daily Progress
53%
534
words today · goal: 1,000
42,891
total words
171
pages est.
EV
Elara Voss
Protagonist · The Archivist
GoalFind what the letter promised
FearThe truth she discovers
Arc progress
GuardedOpen
Outline · Act I3 / 5 done
The Archive
What the Letter Promised
03Amadeo's Warning
04The Lower Level
05Into the Deep
Story Timeline
Day 1
Elara arrives in Vethara
Day 1
The letter is found
Day 2
Visit to the Archive
Day 2
Amadeo's warning
Day 3
The lower level
📖
Encyclopedia
Characters8
Locations5
Key Events12
Themes3
EV
Elara Voss
Protagonist · The Archivist
GoalFind what the letter promised
FearThe truth she discovers
Arc progress
GuardedOpen
Outline · Act I3 / 5 done
The Archive
What the Letter Promised
03Amadeo's Warning
04The Lower Level
05Into the Deep
Story Timeline
Day 1
Elara arrives in Vethara
Day 1
The letter is found
Day 2
Visit to the Archive
Day 2
Amadeo's warning
Day 3
The lower level
📖
Encyclopedia
Characters8
Locations5
Key Events12
Themes3
Focus● Active
Chapter Four
The archive door opened outward.
She had not expected that.
2,024 words · 8 minNo distractions
Edit · Ch. 13 notes
The city smelled of rain and old paper. She pressed her palm against the cold glass.
rain and old papermist and memory
cold glasscold window
Writing Session · Dec 6
1h 23m
Duration
534
Words
6.4 wpm
Pace
100%
Human
Proof · verified human
Character Arc · Elara
Closed
Wary
Curious
Open
Changed
“Learning to trust Amadeo”
Focus● Active
Chapter Four
The archive door opened outward.
She had not expected that.
2,024 words · 8 minNo distractions
Edit · Ch. 13 notes
The city smelled of rain and old paper. She pressed her palm against the cold glass.
rain and old papermist and memory
cold glasscold window
Writing Session · Dec 6
1h 23m
Duration
534
Words
6.4 wpm
Pace
100%
Human
Proof · verified human
Character Arc · Elara
Closed
Wary
Curious
Open
Changed
“Learning to trust Amadeo”
The clever sense of co-writing

Co-write with your editor.Human collaboration, in context.

Cursyv brings your editor's notes into the margin and your Encyclopedia to the page. The only co-writer here is a human you chose — read-only review without turning the desk into a content pipeline.

Interactive demo — sample manuscript, not a live session

cursyv.app/desk · the-witch-and-the-wraith
Chapter One0 keystrokes · saved

Your editor
Margin notes attached to the lines they refer to. Real-time, no Word docs.
Your story
Encyclopedia entries surface beside the prose when a character or location appears.
Your record
Every History entry is cryptographically signed. The Proof Record assembles quietly while you write.

The writing surface

A page that feels like paper

The city smelled of rain and old paper. Elara pressed her palm against the cold glass and watched the street below dissolve into amber and fog.

She had three hours before the archive closed. Three hours to find what the letter had promised — and to decide whether she actually wanted to.

Chapter 4 · The Archive1,842 words
Mira · co-writing

What we stand for

Five commitments this product ships with.

Not marketing claims — these are the product decisions baked into Cursyv from the first line of code. They shape every feature we build and every feature we don't.

Inside the app

Tools for long-form fiction —
not another busy work dashboard.

chapter-three.mem · 3,421 wds
She reached the lower archive at dusk.
The door was already unlocked. Inside, the smell of
old paper — and something she couldn't quite name.
Draft Editor
One full page, built for long fiction sessions. Open a chapter and stay with the scene until you are ready to switch.
The Archive
What the Letter Promised
03Amadeo's Warning
04The Lower Level
05Into the Deep
Chapter Map
Chapters stay visible in the margin. Navigate your manuscript and reorder — the shape of the book stays beside the prose.
After editor notes — Act II rewrite61,240
Before the Act II cut74,830
First full draft89,412
Original opening12,300
History
Cursyv saves named History entries while you write. Restore any entry to the editor without losing your current draft.
Planned
Reading Themes
Two workspace palettes — warm daytime paper and a comfortable low-contrast night mode — planned as a post-launch update.
Your manuscriptYour filesYour data
Private Workspace
Your manuscript is not used to train models or scanned for ads. Your work stays between you and the people you invite.

History

Old drafts do not vanish
when you change your mind.

Cursyv saves dated snapshots while you work. Open any earlier version, read it, or restore it in one step — without overwriting what you have now.

Every version stays reachable
HistoryThe Witch & The Wraith

History

Named snapshots with Proof Record fingerprints.

Name your drafts like chapters
"Before the big rewrite." "Draft I sent to my agent." "The version with the original ending." Name a draft anything. It's yours.
Restore any draft with one click
Changed your mind about cutting that subplot? Go back to the draft from before you touched it. Your current work stays safe — nothing is overwritten.
Read two drafts side by side
Open the version from three weeks ago next to today's. See exactly what changed, what you kept, what you lost. No technical knowledge needed.
Try a "what if" without losing the real draft
Branch off, write the wild version of Chapter 12, and keep both on the shelf until you pick a winner.

“I rewrote my entire second act, hated it three weeks later, and went back to the original in about ten seconds. I didn't lose a single sentence.”

— What we're building for
Cursyv
Story

Encyclopedia

Characters, places,
and props — kept beside the story.

One reference file for the facts you have already chosen: who people are, where scenes happen, which objects matter. Names in the text link straight to their card so you are not hunting through folders at midnight.

Links stay attached to the manuscript
Click any highlighted name
Names linked with [[ ]] open their Encyclopedia card inline
chapter-06.mem
Chapter Six
Mira Ashvane arrived at the The Meridian Library just after the morning tide. She had The Ashvane Compass tucked inside her coat — a habit so old she no longer thought of it as hiding.
The doors were open, which meant Calderon Veth was already inside. She took the side entrance.
Sable stepped out from between the stalls
[[ ]]Wrap any name to link it to your Encyclopedia

Tap a [[linked]] name above to open its card.

Encyclopedia
Browse your full Encyclopedia
Characters, Locations, and Objects — all in one place
Mira Ashvane
Protagonist
Calderon Veth
Antagonist
Sable
Ally
Character
Mira Ashvane
Protagonist
Daughter of the last Ashvane cartographer. Believes maps are a form of lying — they show only what someone decided to include. Terrible with people. Exceptional with silence.
Appears in
Ch. 1Ch. 3Ch. 5Ch. 7Ch. 9Ch. 12Ch. 14Ch. 17
Connected to
Calderon VethThe Ashvane Compass

What it does

Lore stays in one reference — linked to the manuscript, typed the way you already write.

Three kinds of entry. One Encyclopedia beside your draft.

Each sleeve holds one entity type — the same citation cards you open from the manuscript in Studio. Tap a sleeve to draw its card; tap again to shelve it.

  • Characters
  • Locations
  • Objects
  • Link names as you write

    Wrap any name in [[ ]] while writing and Cursyv creates a Encyclopedia entry for it automatically. Click any name to open its card without leaving the page.

  • Characters remember everything you've decided

    Eye colour from Chapter 2. The thing she said to her father. The lie she hasn't told yet. Keep it all in one card. Never contradict yourself again.

  • Locations that stay consistent

    Which side is the door on? What does it smell like? Is it always cold or only in winter? Note it once. Reference it every time you return.

  • Objects with their own history

    The compass, the letter, the knife. Track where it came from, who's had it, and what it means. Objects carry weight — give them the space to hold it.

  • See what connects to what

    Every character, place, and object shows what it's connected to. Pull on a thread and see the whole web it belongs to.

  • Appears in — at a glance

    Every entry shows you exactly which chapters it appears in. Checking where you last mentioned the letter takes one second, not a ctrl-F hunt.

The problem we kept hearing: lore scattered across spreadsheets, notebooks, and side files — then contradicted three chapters later.

Cursyv keeps characters, locations, and decisions beside the draft. Type a name in the manuscript and the Encyclopedia answers — no tab-hopping, no second notebook for the first notebook.

Product intent — not a user testimonial

Focus

A blank page has
never felt this good.

One keystroke strips the interface bare. No sidebar, no word targets, no chrome. Just the scene — and whatever your character does next.

Try Focus
Cursyv — The Witch & The Wraith
OFFLINE
Project
chapter-01.mem3,241
chapter-02.mem2,887
outline.mem612
Local storage
No connection
Chapter 1
The library was silent except for the turning
of pages and the distant sound of rain.
.
Seraphina had not moved in three hours.
NOVEL3,241 wordsSAVED LOCALLY
Desktop app
Fully offline

The internet
is optional.

Cursyv for desktop is built on Electron — a native app for macOS and Windows that works entirely offline. Your manuscript never needs a connection. Sync to the cloud when you want to. Write when you don't.

Fully offline
Write anywhere. A cabin, a plane, a blackout. Your work lives on your machine, not a server.
Local-first storage
Every keystroke is saved instantly to your disk. No subscriptions required to access your own files.
Native performance
No browser overhead. Opens in under a second and handles 500,000-word manuscripts without breaking a sweat.
One-time purchase
Buy once, own forever. No recurring fee for the desktop app. Web sync is optional.
Coming soon — join the waitlist

macOS & Windows · $49 one-time at launch · No spam, ever.

Sessions

For the kind of mind
that opens the doc
and forgets why.

A lightweight companion that sits alongside your manuscript. Not a task manager, not a sprint tracker. Just a quiet place to hold what you're working on — and catch the thought that surfaced mid-paragraph before it disappears.

Sessions
25%
Working on right now
Ch. 14 — confrontation scene
Finish the confrontation scene — Ch. 14
Now
Mira's dialogue in the stairwell feels off
Fix
Check: did she still have the compass here?
Check
The lock metaphor — too heavy-handed?
Later

Press Enter to capture. Don't lose the thought.

1 of 4 this session
⌘Kto capture anywhere
One thing at a time
Set a single focus for your session — one scene, one fix, one chapter. It stays visible while you write. You always know why you opened the document.
Capture without leaving the page
A thought surfaces mid-scene. Don't lose it, don't chase it. Hit your capture shortcut, type it in two seconds, and keep writing. It'll be there when you're done.
Nothing is overdue
Sessions has no deadlines, no due dates, and no red badges. Each item is either open or done. That is the whole system.
Session-scoped by design
When you close Cursyv, your session resets. Carry-overs move to a quiet 'still open' pile. You start each writing session clean.
Progress you can actually see
A small progress ring fills as you tick things off. Not a number, not a streak, not a score. Just a quiet signal that you moved the story forward today.
Entirely optional
Close the panel and it disappears completely. Cursyv is still Cursyv without it. For writers who want it, it's there. For those who don't, it never gets in the way.
"

Sessions is designed for writers who keep 47 tabs open and a running list of things to fix three chapters ago — a lightweight anchor for a writing block, without turning fiction into project management.

On the roadmap — planned post-launch
One focus
per session
Instant
capture
No
deadlines
Cursyv

Keystroke sounds

Writing that sounds
as good as it feels.

Every key you press has a sound. Not a notification, not a ping — a click. A clack. The small, satisfying proof that a word just happened.

Sound profile
untitled.mem
Start typing here to hear your keys…
0 wordsClicky
Click the page above and start typing
Every keystroke sounds different
A spacebar has more weight than a letter key. Enter has a satisfying thunk. Backspace is softer — almost apologetic. The sounds map to what your fingers are doing.
Four hand-tuned profiles
Clicky mechanical, soft linear, vintage typewriter with a carriage bell on Enter, or completely silent. Switch any time. Your neighbours will have opinions.
Spatial and positional
Sound pans subtly left-to-right as you move across the keyboard. Left-hand keys sit slightly left in the stereo field. Right-hand keys, right. It sounds like a real keyboard.
UI sounds, too
Saving a draft has a sound. Opening the Encyclopedia has a sound. Ticking off a Session Goal has a sound. The whole app has a voice.

Typing sound is optional and instant-mutable — designed for writers who find a little ambient feedback keeps them in the sentence.

On the roadmap — planned post-launch
The studio

A calm home for serious fiction.

Cursyv is built for novelists who want the manuscript, its world, and its draft history in one literary workspace — not another dashboard pretending to be a book.

What the desk holds

Draft, story, rewrite, and authorship — beside the sentence.

Chapters open on a page tuned for long sits — focus when you want it, autosave either way.

The Encyclopedia keeps characters, places, and lore beside the sentence you are writing.

History holds named drafts you can restore — the arc of how the novel was written, not a folder of mystery files.

Proof travels with the manuscript when you need a record of authorship.

The work stays yours

Your voice carries the novel. Cursyv holds the desk.

Cursyv does not generate or rewrite your prose. That boundary is quiet — expressed through what the product is, and through Proof when you need a verifiable record. Your manuscript is not training data.

A workspace for writers who still believe the writing is the point.

Proof

Your manuscript is protected
from the first word.

Copyright is automatic. What most writers don't have is proof. Cursyv builds it quietly in the background — every draft saved is a timestamped, verifiable record of your work's entire creation.

180+
Countries where copyright attaches when you write (Berne Convention — general law)
0
Steps required to be protected — Cursyv records happen in the background
Life + 70
Years your copyright lasts — longer than any dispute will take
Your copyright begins the moment you write
Under international law, you own your work the instant it exists — no registration, no notice, no fee. Cursyv doesn't create your copyright. It creates your proof.
Every draft is a timestamped fingerprint
Each save generates a cryptographic hash of your manuscript — a unique digital fingerprint tied to that exact text at that exact moment. It cannot be faked retroactively.
The creative trail is the strongest evidence
Anyone can claim they wrote something. Almost nobody can produce 200 timestamped drafts showing it evolving from a blank page. Your draft history is your proof of authorship.
Export a creation certificate any time
Download a PDF record of your manuscript's full history — draft names, dates, word counts, and fingerprints. Readable by lawyers, courts, and publishers. Ready when you need it.

"My first manuscript spent two years in submission. Knowing I had a timestamped record of every draft meant I stopped losing sleep over someone stealing it."

A common worry — Proof is designed for this
ProofThe Witch & The Wraith

Proof

The Witch & The Wraith — creation record

Verified

Excerpt at this draft

She put the compass on the table between them. Neither of them reached for it…

SHA-256 fingerprint

1c90772b1c90772b1c90772b1c90772b1c90772b1c90772b1c90772b1c90772b
4 records · Protected from first keystroke · No registration required
Live proof activity
Cursyv
0
Extra logins for collaborators

Edit

Send chapters when they're ready.
Get margin notes back.

Mark chapters as ready, bundle the ones you want reviewed, and send your editor a clean link. They leave margin notes. You see them in Cursyv. Nobody touches a Word doc.

See it fromTry clicking chapter statuses and generating a link
The Witch & The Wraith — Edit
Chapter One3,241 words
Ready for eyes
Chapter Two2,887 words
Ready for eyes
Chapter Three4,102 words
Draft
Chapter Four3,890 words
Ready for eyes
Chapter Five2,210 words
Draft
Chapter Six3,540 words
Sent
3 chapters selected · 10,018 words
Link expires:
The Witch & The Wraith
Chapters 1–4 · Shared by Bellemy Cursyv · Expires in 7 days
Read-only
Chapter One
The city smelled of rain and old paper. Elara pressed her palm against the cold glass and watched the street below dissolve into amber and fog.
She had three hours before the archive closed. Three hours to find what the letter had promised — and to decide whether she actually wanted to.
The compass moved in her pocket. A small thing, barely a tremor. She had learned not to look down when it did that.
She took the side entrance.
Margin notes
S. Marchetti
Love this opener — but consider whether 'archive' or 'library' is more specific to the world you've built. Archive implies bureaucracy, library implies culture.
S. Marchetti
This is doing a lot of quiet work. Good. Don't over-explain it — the restraint is exactly right here.
S. Marchetti
Does she always use the side entrance? Worth establishing as habit or making this the exception if it isn't.
3 margin notesNo account needed · Powered by Cursyv
Mark chapters as ready
Each chapter has a status — Draft, Ready for eyes, or Sent. Flip a chapter to 'ready' when you're happy with it. Nothing goes to your editor until you decide it does.
Bundle and send in seconds
Select the chapters you want reviewed. Set an expiry — 24 hours, a week, never. One click generates a shareable link. No attachment, no export, no email chain.
Margin notes, not track changes
Your editor leaves notes in the margin — tied to specific passages, never overwriting your words. You see them in Cursyv the moment they're added.
No account required for editors
Your editor opens the link and starts reading. No sign-up, no dashboard, no software to install. The link is the access.
Write
Mark chapters as ready when you're happy with them
Bundle
Select ready chapters and set an expiry
Send
Share one link — editor needs no account
Receive notes
Margin notes appear in Cursyv in real time
Revise
The History captures every change you make

Who it is for

NovelistsNNoovveelliissttss.
That's who this is built for.

Novelists

Chapter-scale drafting with subplot continuity, an Encyclopedia that stays beside the prose, and named History entries you can restore with one click. Everything a novel needs in one desk.

Free guide

The Writer's Starter Kit.
A practical system for finishing a novel.

Five small systems that hold a long manuscript together, a 7-day protocol for restarting a stalled draft, and a deep look at the re-entry problem — the real reason most novels are never finished.

Free · No email required

Pricing

Start free. Keep writing when you're ready.

14 days. Full access. No card required. Upgrade when you're sure.

Billing
Save 27%
Trial
$0

14 days · No card required

  • 14 days, full access — no card required
  • Proof Record fingerprinting starts day one
  • Draft editor with the History (named saved drafts)
  • Encyclopedia (characters, locations, entries)
  • Edit for sharing drafts with editors
Start free trial
Recommended
Cursyv
$79/ year

≈ $6.58/mo · save 27% vs. monthly

  • Everything in the trial, without the clock
  • Unlimited manuscripts and draft history
  • Encyclopedia with unlimited entries
  • Proof Record exports and Authorship Certificate (PDF)
  • Browser workspace today — desktop app on the roadmap
Start with Cursyv
Founding Member
$189once

One-time · 500 seats planned · checkout opens with Stripe

  • Full Cursyv access — no annual renewals
  • Proof fingerprinting (Log) from day one
  • Lock in before the price goes up
  • Founding Member badge on your account
  • Priority support during early access
  • Covers Cursyv core — future standalone products sold separately
Claim a founding seat

Studio

For MFA programs, literary agencies, and production companies.

Starting at $1,495/yr · 5-seat minimum · custom onboarding

Contact us

Plain-language billing

The 14-day trialis completely free — no card collected. After 14 days your drafts stay saved in read-only mode; upgrade whenever you're ready.

Founding Member is planned as a one-time payment for Cursyv core. Future standalone products (desktop apps, agency tools) would be sold separately. Founding Member is planned as a one-time payment for Cursyv core, limited to 500 seats. Seat tracking and checkout open when billing ships.

Subscriptions and one-time Founding Member purchases will be processed via Stripe when billing opens. Your manuscript is never used to train generative models. For cancellations and refunds, see our Terms of use.

Early access: plan changes use a simulated checkout for playtesting — no card is charged.

Where stories stay human

Write it in Cursyv.

For people who still want the words to be theirs.

A calm home for human storytelling. No generated prose. No autocomplete. No ghostwriting. Built for novels that take years.

Your manuscript deserves more than a document editor.