The Novel Planner Review

A desk-sized command center for your novel.

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Bottom line: The Novel Planner is an undated, letter-sized planner that treats a novel like the multi-front campaign it actually is: drafting schedule, story bible, and marketing plan in one volume. The writer-specific sections are its best argument, with structured outline space for two novel projects plus brainstorming and marketing pages you won’t find in a general planner. The undated spreads mean it never expires, which matters for a product published in 2016. The compromises are physical: it’s too big to travel, and the print-on-demand production is serviceable rather than pleasurable. If you want one book that runs your whole novel year from a fixed desk, it delivers. If you want beautiful paper or a pocketable format, look elsewhere.

Scribbright rating: 3.5 out of 5

→ See all planners and calendars reviewed at Scribbright.

A planner that asks about your antagonist

Most planners are agnostic about what you’re planning. The Full Focus Planner doesn’t care whether your big goal is a marathon or a memoir; a LEUCHTTURM1917 will schedule your dentist appointment and your climax chapter with equal Germanic efficiency and calm. The Novel Planner is different. It opens by asking you to outline your novel: plot, characters, setting, theme, motifs. There’s room for two novel projects, which is generous for some of us.

Kieffer, a speculative fiction author who spent years producing craft resources for writers through her Well-Storied site, designed this as a single command center for the writing life. The logic: your novel isn’t just words on a schedule. It’s research, worldbuilding notes, a reading list, a marketing plan, and a year of small deadlines, and scattering those across four notebooks is how novels quietly die.

So the planner bundles it all. Monthly spreads for the long view, weekly spreads (five per month, so no orphaned days) for the daily grind, a brainstorming and research section for the magpie work, marketing strategy pages for the part novelists pretend isn’t coming, and a yearly achievements tracker for proof you did something besides worry.

Everything is undated and starts on Monday, so you can begin in March after abandoning your January system without the planner judging you. For a product published in 2016, undated isn’t a design choice so much as a survival strategy, and it works: this planner is as usable in 2026 as the day it was printed.

→ Grab The Novel Planner on Amazon

What you get inside

The calendar core is conventional and competent: monthly grids for deadlines and milestones, weekly spreads with room for daily tasks and word-count goals. The Monday start suits writers who structure weeks around output rather than weekends.

The writer-specific sections carry the price of admission. The two novel-project outlines are structured story bibles: plot, character, setting, theme, and motif prompts that force you to answer questions you’d rather defer. The marketing pages nudge you to plan promotion while you draft instead of panicking at launch. The brainstorming and research center is loose space for ideas, reading lists, and the sketches that don’t belong anywhere else. None of it is revolutionary. All of it is stuff you’d otherwise improvise across sticky notes.

The size question

At 8.5″ x 11″, this planner has the footprint of a legal pad and seems to view itself almost as a desktop. The full page gives weekly spreads room to breathe and makes the outline sections actually writable. It also means The Novel Planner lives where you left it. It doesn’t go to the coffee shop, it doesn’t ride in most bags with dignity, and it will never be the planner you whip out in a waiting room. Well, you could, but there’s the danger of injury to bystanders.

For desk-bound novelists, that’s fine and good; a planner too big to lose is a planner you’ll open. For writers who draft in three locations, it’s disqualifying, and you should know that before buying.

Where it shows its seams

This is a print-on-demand product, and it looks like one. The glossy softcover and interior paper are serviceable, closer to workbook than stationery. Fountain pen users should expect the usual print-on-demand paper lottery and keep a gel pen nearby. If part of a planner’s job is being an object you enjoy touching every day, this one clocks in, does the work, and clocks out.

The two-novel limit is also worth naming. If you’re a prolific drafter juggling a series, you’ll outgrow the outline sections before you outgrow the calendar. And Kieffer’s surrounding ecosystem of craft resources isn’t the active concern it was in the late 2010s, so the planner now stands alone; buy it for what’s between the covers, not for a community around it.

Who it’s for

The Novel Planner is for novelists who want scheduling and story management in one physical place: the writer with a drafting deadline, a revision pass, and a self-published launch all in the same twelve months. It’s especially suited to desk-based writers who like the ritual of one big book that holds the whole operation, and to anyone burned by dated planners bought in optimism and abandoned by February.

It’s not for the portable-everything writer, the stationery sensualist, or anyone whose planning needs are general; if your goals are broader than a manuscript, the Full Focus Planner does the goal-decomposition job with nicer materials. And poets, essayists, and nonfiction writers will find the novel-shaped sections politely irrelevant.

Pros

• Undated monthly and weekly spreads (five per month) mean no wasted pages and no expiration date
• Structured outline sections for two novels double as a compact story bible
• Marketing strategy and brainstorming sections cover the parts of the writing life other planners ignore
• Letter-size pages give real room to write, plan, and scrawl

Cons

• 8.5″ x 11″ footprint makes it desk furniture, not a travel companion
• Print-on-demand paper and glossy cover are functional, not a pleasure; fountain pens beware
• Outline space caps at two novel projects
• 2016 product with no active ecosystem behind it

The verdict

The Novel Planner earns its niche. It understands that a novel is a project with a schedule, a bible, and a launch, and it’s the rare planner built around that fact rather than around generic quarterly goals. The undated format has aged it gracefully; the production values and desk-bound size keep it from greatness. If your novel needs a command center and your desk has the real estate, it’s a smart, cheap piece of infrastructure. Just don’t expect it to feel like a LEUCHTTURM.

→ Pick up The Novel Planner on Amazon

Michael Semer is a professional writer and editor with 40 years of experience in advertising, B2B content marketing, and digital publishing. He owns enough abandoned planners to outline a trilogy about abandoning planners, which he plans to start in January.

FAQ

Is The Novel Planner dated or undated?

Undated. Monthly and weekly spreads are blank until you fill in the dates, and each month gets five weekly spreads so no days fall through the cracks. You can start any week of any year, which is why a 2016 product is still worth buying in 2026.

How many novels can I plan in it?

Two. The outline sections cover plot, character, setting, theme, and motif for up to two novel projects. If you’re juggling a series or drafting faster than that, you’ll need a separate story bible once the sections fill up; the calendar pages will still serve.

Is the paper fountain pen friendly?

Don’t count on it. This is a print-on-demand product with workbook-grade paper, and print-on-demand stock varies batch to batch. Ballpoints, gel pens, and pencils are the safe play. If premium paper is the priority, a LEUCHTTURM1917 planner is the better home for your ink.

Is it still available new?

Yes, because it’s printed on demand through Amazon, there’s no stock to run out of. There’s also a dark cover edition under a separate listing. Verify the listing is live before ordering, as print-on-demand titles occasionally lapse.

Novel Planner or Full Focus Planner?

Depends what you’re managing. The Full Focus Planner is the better general goal system with far nicer materials; The Novel Planner is the better novel tool, with story outlining and book marketing pages Full Focus doesn’t have. If the only project that matters this year is a manuscript, Kieffer’s planner speaks your language.

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