Pick up where you left off, without rereading
Every story in Inkling opens with a short “Previously…” recap written from your own pages: who did what, what changed, and the thread you left hanging. Come back after a week or three months and you are writing again in a minute, not an evening of rereading.
The guild lanterns came down the far bank two by two. Wren shipped the oars and let the ferry drift, the deed a cold square against her ribs. “Row,” said the woman in the grey coat. “Or tell me why you won't.”
After the flood, Wren took over her father's ferry and learned the river guild had sold the crossing to the Aldmoor family. She hid the deed, turned down Corin's offer to buy her out, and was halfway across with the last passengers when the guild's lanterns appeared on the far bank.
An example story. Your recap is written from your own pages, and appears at the top of the story every time you open it.
Like the recap before a new episode
Think of the “previously on” before a TV episode. Inkling reads what you have written and hands back two to four sentences, in third person and past tense, using your characters' and places' real names, and ending on the unresolved thread the story is paused on. It sits at the top of the story, so the first thing you see when you open it is where you are. It is written in your story's own language.
It keeps itself fresh
You never have to ask for it. Once a story has a few lines in it, the recap is written the next time you pause for about five minutes or close the story, and it refreshes the same way whenever you have written more. Your shelf shows each story's recap on its card, with a refresh button if you want a new one now. A novel's card shows the recap from the chapter you worked on most recently.
Bring in the draft you already have
Paste a chapter or a whole manuscript from Google Docs, Word, Scrivener, anywhere, or choose a .txt or .md file. Headings like “Chapter 7”, “Prologue” or “Part Two” split it into chapters, and nothing is dropped. Within seconds you get a recap written from the book's opening and the part nearest where you stopped, waiting on the last chapter. Paste at least a paragraph or so (about 40 words) for a recap to be written.
Tuned to how you like it
Choose Brief, Balanced or Detailed recaps in Setup, and US or British spelling. Under each recap a small “Sound like you?” row lets you tap More like this, Shorter, Warmer, Plainer or Not me. Shorter, Warmer and Plainer rewrite the recap that way on the spot. Keep tapping the same way and Inkling offers to make it a standing rule, only if you say yes.
What the recap is not
Not a co-writer
It recounts what already happened. It never continues the story, suggests the next scene, or rewrites your sentences. Nothing in Inkling writes your story for you. If you want a tool that drafts with you, Inkling is the wrong pick, and our page on a writing app that doesn't write for you explains why.
Not a whole-series memory
Each story or chapter keeps a recap of what is written in it. It does not read across books, track continuity, or catch a character's eye color changing in chapter twenty. On a very long draft (over 12,000 characters, roughly 2,000 words) it reads the opening and the last stretch before where you stopped, so a subplot buried in the middle may not appear. For the details it can't hold, keep a character list or a story reference sheet.
Not infallible
It is told never to invent people, events or details, and to stick to what is on the page. It is still a machine summary and it can misread a scene. Your pages are the truth; the recap is the door back in. If it gets something wrong, tap Not me and refresh it.
Not offline, and not for everyone
Recaps need a connection, and Inkling is not an offline app. The generator that writes recaps can be switched off in Setup, which also turns off recaps; Inkling then works as a private organizer. If you would rather use a tool with no generator in it at all, Ellipsus promises never to add generative AI, and NovelPad says no AI reads, trains on, or writes your words (both checked October 2026). We compare them in our Ellipsus and NovelPad pages.
Your words stay yours
Read once, then let go
To write a recap, about 12,000 characters of that story (its opening and the part nearest where you stopped) are sent to the generator. It runs on OpenAI's business API, which does not train on what we send. Requests are kept for up to 30 days for abuse monitoring, then deleted. The full account is in your words stay yours.
Try it on your own draft
Start free, choose “Bring in what I've written”, and paste a chapter. You get 14 days of the full desk, up to 3 stories, and no card to start. If the trouble is less where you were and more why you stopped, read how to get back into your novel after months away, or set up a 20-minute writing plan so the next gap is shorter.
Writing on the go
The recap matters most when sessions are short and scattered. If you write in stolen minutes, see how to write a novel on your phone and how to write a novel on a Chromebook, or the honest roundup of the best novel-writing apps.
Common questions
Is there an app that reminds me where I left off in my novel?
Yes. Inkling opens every story and chapter with a “Previously…” recap: two to four sentences, written from your own pages, that say what has already happened and end on the thread you paused on. It refreshes on its own after you pause or close the story, so it is ready the next time you sit down.
Can it summarize my novel so far if I wrote it somewhere else?
Yes. Paste a chapter or the whole manuscript from Docs, Word, Scrivener or anywhere else, or choose a .txt or .md file, or pick a Google Doc. Chapter headings like Chapter 1, Prologue or Part Two split it into chapters, and the recap is written from the book's opening and the stretch nearest where you stopped. Word files are not read directly yet: open the file, copy it, and paste.
Does the recap train AI on my book?
No. Nothing you write in Inkling is used to train any model. The recap runs on OpenAI's business API, which does not train on what we send, and we have not opted in to change that. The request is held for up to 30 days for abuse monitoring, then deleted. Switch the generator off in Setup and nothing you write is sent at all.
Will the recap invent things or write my story for me?
It is told to summarize only: never continue the story, never add a next beat, never invent people or events, and never rewrite your prose. It is still a machine summary, so if it misreads a scene, refresh it, and trust your pages over the recap.
Does it work offline or in other languages?
It needs an internet connection, like the rest of Inkling. It writes the recap in the language your story is written in, so a story in Spanish gets a Spanish recap.
All of it. In one place.
This isn't five apps stitched together. Your storyboard, your cast, your maps, your covers, and the story itself all live on one desk, right beside the words. Nothing to sync between tools. No five separate subscriptions. Just everything a writer needs, finally in the same place.
Your whole writing desk, in one place
Start free today. Bring one story in, and see how much lighter it feels with everything beside it.