Nevalor Studio — User Guide
❮ Studio Home • 📆 Updated: 2026•10•26 | v4.2
Nevalor Studio User Guide
A complete guide to writing novels, plays, short stories and essays in Nevalor Studio, from the first page to submission.
A Free Writing Space for Writers
Nevalor Studio is a free writing and development environment provided by Nevalor Publishers for writers who want a quiet place to develop their literary work. It is built for four literary forms — the novel, the play, the short story and the essay — and gives each of them its own editor, its own options and its own book layout.
You can create projects, organise chapters, stories, essays or scenes, write and revise, keep earlier revisions, prepare a book-standard PDF, and submit your finished manuscript to Nevalor Publishers — all within your browser, with no login and nothing to install.
1. The Studio Home
On your first visit, the Studio Home introduces the four forms. Choose one of the form cards, or Begin a new project, to start writing. You can also Import a backup made earlier, or open this guide.
When you return, the Studio Home welcomes you back to your desk. The Continue writing card takes you straight to the chapter, story, essay or scene you were last working on, and Your projects shows every project in this browser, the most recently edited first.
Each project card shows the form, the number of words, when it was last edited and, if you have set one, a bar showing progress towards your word target. Its buttons are:
- Open — enter the project where you left it
- Export — prepare the PDF or plain-text manuscript
- Submit — send the manuscript to Nevalor Publishers
- More — Download backup, Statistics, Settings and Delete project
The Author Profile
At the top right of the Studio, beside the Nevalor Studio name, is Author Profile. Open it to enter your name, email address and contact number, and to add a photograph if you wish. The profile is kept in this browser and saves you typing them again: your name is offered as the author in the Export window, your name and email are filled in when you submit, and a play’s manuscript title page carries your contact details.
A photograph may be a JPG or PNG of up to 2 MB. It is checked, cropped to a square and made small before it is kept, and it appears in the round beside your name. Remove takes it away again.
2. Starting a Project
A new project is created in two steps. First, choose what you will write:
A novel, novella or novelette, with chapters, parts and numbered sections.
One, three or five acts, with scenes, a cast of characters and stage directions.
One story, or a collection of stories gathered into a book under its own title.
One essay or a collection, with premise, subheadings, notes and references.
Then give the project its title and choose the options for that form. Only the options that belong to the form you chose are shown, and the Studio suggests the usual choice for each.
| Form | Options |
|---|---|
| Novel | Form: Novel (usually 40,000 words or more), Novella (17,500 to 40,000) or Novelette (7,500 to 17,500) · Chapter headings: “Chapter 1: Title”, “Chapter 1” or the title as written · Numbered sections: I, II, III or 1, 2, 3 or One, Two, Three · Word target |
| Play | Form: One-Act, Three-Act or Five-Act Play · Act headings: Act One, Act I or Act 1 · Scene headings: Scene 1, Scene One or Scene I · Character names in dialogue: CAPITALS or small capitals · Word target |
| Short Story | Form: Single story or Collection of stories · Story headings (collections): the title as written, or “1. Title” · Numbered sections · Word target |
| Essay | Form: Single essay or Collection of essays · Essay headings (collections): the title as written, or “1. Title” · Notes: endnotes after each essay, or footnotes at the foot of the page · Word target |
Project Settings
Every choice can be changed later. Choose Settings in the workspace, or More › Settings on the project card, to change the title, the form or any option. Your text is never altered by a change of settings; only the way it is headed and laid out. When a play changes to fewer acts, the acts that would be removed must first be empty, so that no scene is ever lost.
3. The Writing Workspace
Opening a project brings you to its workspace. At its head are the title of the work, the editor for its form (Novel Editor, Play Editor and so on), ‹ All projects to return to the Studio Home, and ✓ Saved. On the left is the manuscript panel, which lists the chapters, stories, essays or scenes in order. Choose one to begin writing.
The panel shows three items at a time. When there are more, ‹ Previous and Next › beneath them turn to the next three, with the count between them — 2 of 3, say. The item you are writing is always on the page shown. In Focus Mode, a play shows two at a time, since its act headings take room of their own.
The panel folds away to the left as soon as you begin typing, leaving the page at the centre of the screen. A slim Manuscript rail remains; click it, or the arrow at the top of the panel, to open the panel again. A single story or a single essay has no panel, since it is one page.
Beside each item in the panel are its controls: Rename (Name for a scene) to give it a title, ↑ and ↓ to move it, and Delete to remove it.
The controls stand in two rows and stay in view as you scroll through a long manuscript. In the first row are Format, which holds the formatting for your form; the arrows to undo and redo; the Focus button (four corner marks), which opens Focus Mode; I for italics; and, at the end, Save and HELP. The second row holds the tools: Settings, Revision History, Statistics, Find & Replace, Spelling, Writing Tools and Export PDF. On a phone the controls are set as in Nevalor Screenplay: the Format list (or a play’s line types) with undo and redo, then I and Tools, which opens every tool — Save, Find & Replace, Spelling, Writing Tools, Statistics, Revision History, Export PDF, Settings and Help — in a sheet that rises from the foot of the screen. Windows rise the same way, and the controls stay in view as you scroll.
Your work is saved automatically as you write, and ✓ Saved at the head of the workspace confirms it; while a save is under way, a small dot pulses in its place. Use Save, or Ctrl/Cmd + S, whenever you want to keep a deliberate revision. At the foot of the page are the word and character counts, Back to top once you have scrolled down, and ‹ Previous and Next › to move between chapters, stories, essays or scenes. The line along the bottom of the Studio is a reminder that everything is saved in this browser.
The Nevalor House Style
The editor shows your manuscript as the Library Reader will show it: Lora type, justified and hyphenated, with indented paragraphs. A play is the exception, and is written in Courier Prime at 12 point, the typeface of the stage. The first paragraph, and the first after a break, begin flush. Italics are part of the house style; bold and underline are not, and are left out on purpose.
Proper typographical marks are set as you write. Straight quotation marks become curly ones — “ ” and ‘ ’, with ’ as the apostrophe in don’t or Omar’s — two hyphens become an em dash (—) and three full stops an ellipsis (…). This works on the page and in the fields around it, such as titles, the essay details, notes and the Cast of Characters, on a computer and on a phone alike; the Find, Spelling and Help boxes keep exactly what you type.
Text pasted from Word, Google Docs or a web page keeps its paragraphs, italics and scene breaks, and nothing else — no foreign fonts, colours, sizes, images or links — so the manuscript stays clean.
4. Writing a Novel
Chapters
Use + Add Chapter in the panel to add a chapter, and Rename to give it a title. Chapters are numbered automatically, and their headings follow the style chosen in Settings: “Chapter 1: Title”, “Chapter 1”, or the title exactly as you write it — useful for named chapters or for headings such as [ 1 ].
Parts
Longer novels are often divided into parts. Use + Add Part, give the part its heading (for example, Part One or — I —) and choose the chapter it Begins with. The part keeps its place when chapters are moved. Use Edit or Remove beside the part in the panel to change it. In the PDF, each part has a page of its own.
Scene Breaks, Numbered Sections and Transitions
The Format menu offers Plain paragraph, Italic, Scene break and Numbered section.
A change of scene, set as three asterisks at the centre.
A centred numeral, counted for you, with no space after.
A paragraph opening with an ellipsis, after a line of space.
A scene break is a dedicated marker, not a row of empty lines, so the PDF and the Library recognise it every time. Numbered sections are numbered automatically, in the style chosen in Settings: I, II, III, or 1, 2, 3, or One, Two, Three.
The ellipsis transition needs no menu at all: begin a paragraph with an ellipsis — for example, … She is six years old, and it is 1909. — and the Studio sets a quiet line of space before it, a lighter break for a flashback or a change of time. If you paste in a manuscript that numbers its sections with lone Roman numerals (I, II, III …, in order), they become real numbered sections.
5. Writing Short Stories
A Single story is one page: there is no panel and no chapter list, and the story’s title stands at its head, as it would in an anthology.
A Collection of stories becomes a book under its own title. Use + Add Story to add each story and Rename to give it its title, which becomes its heading — short stories carry titles, not chapter numbers. If you prefer, Settings can head each story “1. Title”. The PDF lists every story in its Contents.
Stories use the same Format menu as novels, including scene breaks, numbered sections and the ellipsis transition.
6. Writing Essays
An essay is written with the parts a reader of non-fiction expects. Above the text are the essay details:
An optional line beneath the title.
The blurb, in up to 350 characters.
An optional quotation at the opening.
The author and work it comes from.
The Format menu for essays adds Subheading and Minor subheading (two levels), Block quotation for a longer quoted passage, and Note.
Notes and References
To add a note, place the cursor in the text and choose Format › Note, or press Ctrl/Cmd + Alt + N. A numbered reference appears in the text, and the note itself is written in the Notes list beneath the essay. Notes are renumbered automatically when you add, move or remove them.
Below the notes is References: one work per line, in Chicago style, typed like this:
Burdi, Mujeeb. _The Quiet River_. Larkana: Nevalor Publishers, 2026.
Underscores around a title set it in italics, so the book shows: Burdi, Mujeeb. The Quiet River. Larkana: Nevalor Publishers, 2026. The references are listed alphabetically, and a repeated author is shown with ———.
In Settings, choose whether the PDF prints notes as endnotes after each essay or as footnotes at the foot of the page. The Library shows them after each essay.
A Single essay is one page. A Collection of essays uses + Add Essay, and each essay keeps its own details, notes and references.
7. Writing a Play
Cast of Characters
At the top of the panel is Cast of Characters. Use + Add Character to list each character with a short description (for example, a schoolteacher, thirty), and fill in Setting and Time. The names you list are offered beneath the line as you type a character line: press ↓ or ↑ to move to a name and Enter to choose it, press Tab to take the first, or simply carry on typing a new name.
Acts and Scenes
The panel shows the play’s acts with their scenes beneath them. A one-act play has scenes only. + Add Scene adds a scene to the end of the act you are writing, and scenes move up and down within their act. Act and scene headings are numbered automatically, in the styles chosen in Settings.
The Four Line Types
Action on stage, indented, in italics.
The speaker’s name, flush left: JOHN.
How it is spoken, indented, in italics.
The words spoken, indented beneath.
In the reading view and the reading edition, the character’s name stands flush left in capitals and takes its full stop by itself — type JOHN and it reads JOHN. — with the parenthetical and the dialogue beneath it, one indent in and aligned, and stage directions at the same indent.
Directions within a Speech
A short direction can stay inside the speech, as in printed plays: type it in brackets in the dialogue line, and the words inside are set in italics as you type the closing bracket — Nobody . . . (searching for the word) . . . at all. Or press Ctrl/Cmd + 5 (also in the line type list, as Direction within a speech) to insert the brackets with the cursor between them, ready to type in italics. In the theatre Manuscript format these directions stay upright, in brackets.
A longer action, or one involving another character, reads better on a line of its own: press Enter and Ctrl/Cmd + 1 for a stage direction, then Enter again — after a direction in the middle of a speech the speech goes on, under the same speaker, without repeating the name.
Parentheticals take their brackets by themselves and always read as (He looks down): brackets typed by hand and spaces at either end are left out when you move on.
Choose the line type from the list at the start of the first row, in place of Format (each type shows its keys beside it), or with the keys shown. As you write, Enter moves to the next line in the usual order — character, dialogue, character — so a conversation flows without reaching for the menu. Tab and Shift + Tab move to the next and previous line, and Enter on an empty line changes its type.
Manuscript view, beside the selector, switches the editor between the reading view and the manuscript format that theatres use, so you can see either while you write; Reading view switches back. Both are set in Courier Prime at 12 point, as the stage expects.
8. Revisions and Tools
Revision History
Studio records revisions when important writing actions occur, rather than for every keystroke, and keeps up to fifty for each chapter, story, essay or scene.
Before an older version is restored, your current text is kept as a revision of its own, so nothing on screen is ever simply lost.
Find & Replace
Choose Find & Replace, or press Ctrl/Cmd + F, and a bar opens at the foot of the screen, leaving the page in view. Every match is highlighted as you type, and the current one is shown in red and brought into view above the bar. Text you have selected becomes the search.
- ‹ and ›, or Shift + Enter and Enter, step through the matches
- Match Case and Whole Word narrow the search; it covers the Entire Project or the Current Chapter
- Replace changes the current match and moves on; Skip leaves it; Replace All asks first, then changes every match
- Show all matches lists each one with its chapter and the words around it; choose one to go straight to it
Italics are always kept. A change in the open chapter can be undone with Ctrl/Cmd + Z; a chapter changed elsewhere in the project keeps its earlier text in Revision History. Press Escape to close the bar.
Spelling
Choose Spelling, or press F7, to check the open chapter against an English (UK) or English (US) dictionary. Each unknown word is underlined in red, and the bar shows it in its sentence with suggestions. Choose a suggestion or type the correct spelling, then use Change or Change All; or Ignore it once, Ignore All in this project, or Add to Dictionary so it is never marked again.
Words written in CAPITALS can be left alone, and the names in a play’s cast are always accepted. When a chapter is clear, Check the next chapter › moves on. The dictionary is loaded the first time Spelling opens; nothing you write is sent anywhere.
Writing Tools
Writing Tools gathers small helpers for everyday writing:
The Writing session target sets a number of words for the sitting in front of you: enter it, choose Start Session, and the Studio shows your progress until you Reset it. The project’s overall word target is set in Settings and shown on its card.
Focus Mode
The Focus button (four corner marks) in the first row opens a quiet writing room beneath the site’s header: a single white page on a soft grey desk, headed by the title of the work and the chapter you are writing. The two rows of controls stay above the page. On a wide screen the manuscript panel stands on the left, the tools on the right, and the counts — words in this chapter and in all, the chapters (stories, essays or scenes) so far, pages and reading time — run along the foot, with a slim marker on the right edge to show and move your place in a long chapter.
Switching between the regular view and Focus Mode keeps the cursor exactly where it was, on the same line and at the same height on the screen, so you carry on writing without looking for your place. Press Escape, or the button again, to return. Focus Mode is for desktops, laptops and tablets, and is not offered on a phone.
Help
The HELP button at the end of the first row, and Help & Guide in Focus Mode, open a Help window. Ask a question in your own words, or choose a suggested one, and the answer comes straight from the relevant section of this guide, with a link to read it in full.
Manuscript Statistics
Statistics in the workspace, or More › Statistics on the project card, gives a quick overview of the manuscript:
9. Exporting Your Work
Choose Export PDF in the workspace, or Export on the project card. The Export Manuscript window shows the form, takes the author’s name from your Author Profile (you may change it), lets you choose a book size and hyphenation, and previews the book exactly as it will print — one page at a time, or two facing pages as in a PDF reader. With Cover page separately ticked, the title page stands alone on the right, so every pair after it is a true spread of the printed book.
The Book PDF
The PDF is set to the standard of a printed trade book:
- EB Garamond at 12 point on 6 × 9 books and 11 point on the smaller sizes, on a line grid: every full page has the same number of lines (34 on a 6 × 9 page), so lines sit level across a spread
- book margins for every size, mirrored on facing pages: 0.75″ at the top and foot, 0.88″ on the inside (0.75″ with a 0.13″ gutter) and 0.5″ on the outside — within Amazon KDP’s requirements at any page count
- every page of text filled to its last line, so the text block is the same on every page: a paragraph runs on at whatever line the page ends, a scene break may stand on the last line of a page, and the space above a break or a section number is left out at the foot of a page when that keeps the page full
- a quiet footer on the inner side of each page of text, the number nearest the spine — on the left-hand page the title and the number (The Winds Remember Her — 12), on the right-hand page the number and the author (13 — Mujeeb Burdi); page numbers count every page of the book
- each chapter, story or essay opening on a new page, with its label in spaced capitals at the top right (CHAPTER 1) and its title, large and left-aligned, below — and no footer on that first page
- each part on a right-hand page of its own
- a single story or essay set as in an anthology, with its title and author at the head of the first page
- for essays, notes as footnotes or endnotes, and references with a hanging indent
With Hyphenation on, body text is hyphenated with English (UK) rules, so justified lines keep even word spacing; with it off, no word is ever broken. Titles, headings, quotations and breaks are never hyphenated. The preview and the downloaded PDF use the same pagination.
Book Pages: Title, Dedication and Copyright
In the Export window, Title, dedication & copyright · page breaks opens Book Pages, with four tabs:
- Title page — two designs, right-aligned or centred. Design 1: the title in spaced capitals, the line beneath it (A Novel, Stories, A Play in Three Acts …, which you may change or leave empty), and your name in spaced capitals — or your signature, uploaded as a JPG or PNG image, in its place. Design 2: your name in spaced capitals above, the title large beneath it, and the line below. Either may carry a logo at the foot of the page, such as the publisher’s or imprint’s mark
- Dedication — set on a right-hand page of its own after the copyright page, with a blank back; words between underscores are set in italics, as in _Every person worldwide_
- Copyright — a guided copyright page on the back of the title page: publisher, year and place, an optional publisher’s logo, the copyright holder, moral rights, other rights, the reproduction notice, an optional notice for a work of fiction, the edition, ISBNs for paperback, hardcover and eBook, credits, distribution and printing, and a website. Each filled line is centred, in that order, in a column narrower than the text, set at the foot of the page one point smaller than the text (11 point in a 6 × 9 book, 10 point in the smaller sizes), and a little smaller still if it is long
- Page breaks — whether chapters (stories, essays or acts) begin on the next page or always on a right-hand page, adding a blank page where needed; and, for any single chapter, Right-hand page or Blank page after
The front of the book then runs as in print: the title page on the right, the copyright page behind it, the dedication on the right with its blank back, Contents on the right where useful, and the text beginning on a right-hand page.
The Two Editions of a Play
For a play, the Edition list offers a choice. The Reading edition is a printed book, with the same footers and Book Pages as any other — title and copyright pages, the Cast of Characters with the Setting and Time, and each act opening on a new page — set in Courier Prime at 12 point, single-spaced, with half a line (6 point) between acts, scenes, stage directions and speeches. Its page is A4 with one-inch margins, or 6 × 9 with the book margins, chosen under Book size. The Manuscript format is the form theatres expect: US Letter, one-inch margins, Courier Prime at 12 point, character names centred in capitals, and page numbers at the top right in act–scene–page form, such as I-2-14.
Download PDF and Download TXT
Download PDF opens the print-ready book and your browser’s print window; choose Save as PDF as the destination. Download TXT saves the manuscript as a plain-text file in the Library format — the same file that is sent when you submit — which you can keep, share, or open in any other writing application.
10. Backups and Your Browser
Nevalor Studio stores your projects in your browser, not on Nevalor Publishers’ website. They are kept on your own device and browser profile.
Projects are saved on this device, in this browser profile.
A file that you keep yourself, in any place that you choose.
Receives only the manuscript that you choose to send to us.
For this reason:
- your projects do not appear on another computer, device or browser on their own
- clearing your browser’s data can remove the projects stored in it
- keeping your own backups of important work is strongly recommended
Use More › Download backup on a project card to save the whole project, with its revision history, as a single file. To bring it back — in this browser or in another — choose Import a backup on the Studio Home. For a readable copy of the text itself, use Download TXT in the Export window.
Good practice: download a backup of each important manuscript regularly, and always before clearing your browser’s data or changing device.
11. Submitting for Publishing
Have you written something in Nevalor Studio that you would like Nevalor Publishers to consider?
When your manuscript is complete, choose Submit on its project card. You will be asked for your name and email address — already filled in from your Author Profile, if you have one — and to choose the Book Type:
Nevalor Book — an original work submitted for consideration and possible publication by Nevalor Publishers, or a work for which you hold the necessary rights and authority to submit it.
World Classic — a public-domain work prepared, edited, formatted or transcribed for inclusion in the Nevalor Studio Library. The submitter is responsible for ensuring that the particular text or edition may lawfully be submitted.
The Library Format Check
As soon as a Book Type is chosen, the Studio reads your manuscript exactly as the Library will read it. If everything is in order, the check reports ready. If something needs attention — a chapter without text, say, or a title the Library would read differently — it lists what to correct, and the manuscript can be submitted once it has been put right. This ensures that the work you submit is the work readers will see.
How it works
1. Write, revise and complete your manuscript in Nevalor Studio.
2. Choose Submit, enter your name and email address, and select Nevalor Book or World Classic.
3. Let the Library format check confirm the manuscript, correcting anything it lists.
4. Accept the submission declaration, complete the security verification, and choose Submit Manuscript.
5. Your manuscript enters the Nevalor Publishers submission process for editorial consideration.
6. If it is approved, it is assigned a permanent NV number and proceeds through the editorial, technical and publication stages to the Nevalor Studio Library.
Before you submit
Please read the Submissions Process and the Publishing Terms and Conditions carefully. By submitting your work to Nevalor Publishers, you acknowledge and agree to the terms governing its submission, consideration and, if approved, its subsequent publication. Submission does not mean that a manuscript has been accepted or published.
12. Shortcuts and Quick Reference
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Keys | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl/Cmd + F | Find & Replace |
| F7 | Spelling |
| Ctrl/Cmd + S | Save and keep a revision |
| Ctrl/Cmd + I | Italic |
| Ctrl/Cmd + Z · Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Z | Undo · Redo |
| - - · . . . | Em dash (—) · ellipsis (…); quotation marks and apostrophes turn curly as you type |
| Shift + Enter | A new paragraph, as Enter |
| Ctrl/Cmd + Alt + N | Insert a note (essays) |
| Ctrl/Cmd + 1 to 4 | Stage direction, Character, Parenthetical, Dialogue (plays) |
| Ctrl/Cmd + 5 | A direction within a speech, in brackets and italics (plays) |
| Enter · Tab · Shift + Tab | Next line in order · move to the next or previous line (plays) |
| Escape | Close the Find or Spelling bar; leave Focus Mode |
Quick Reference
| Feature | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Author Profile | Your name, email, contact number and photograph, used across the Studio |
| New Project | Choose a form, then its title and options |
| Continue writing | Return to where you last left off |
| Open | Enter a project’s workspace |
| Settings | Change the title, form, headings, notes or word target |
| + Add Chapter, Story, Essay or Scene | Add the next part of the manuscript |
| + Add Part | Divide a novel into parts |
| Cast of Characters | List a play’s characters, setting and time |
| Format | The house style for your form: italics, breaks, sections, subheadings, notes or play lines |
| Save | Save your work and keep a revision |
| Revision History | View and restore earlier versions |
| Find & Replace | Find and change text in a chapter or the whole project |
| Spelling | Check every word against an English dictionary |
| HELP | Ask a question; the answer comes from this guide |
| Writing Tools | Navigation, date and time, and a session target |
| Focus Mode | A writing room with the page, the panel, the tools and the counts |
| Statistics | See the figures of your manuscript |
| Book Pages | Title page, dedication, copyright page and page breaks of the PDF book |
| Export PDF | Preview and download the book PDF or the TXT manuscript |
| Download backup | Keep the whole project and its revisions as one file |
| Import a backup | Bring a backed-up project into this browser |
| Submit | Check the format and send the manuscript to Nevalor Publishers |
A Free Service for Writers
Nevalor Studio is provided as a free writing space by Nevalor Publishers. Its purpose is not to replace every writing application, but to give writers a practical, dignified place to develop literary work before publication — a first draft, a major revision, a novel in progress, a play, a collection of stories or a book of essays.
Write freely. Revise carefully. Keep your work organised.
Nevalor Studio gives writers a practical place to create, develop, revise and prepare their literary work.
Last Updated: 20 October 2026
