Frequently asked questions

Forme is a modern writing platform built specifically for screenwriters and novelists who want high-quality feedback, faster revisions, and industry-ready pitch materials without navigating a maze of tools. Whether you’re developing your very first draft or refining a polished manuscript for agents and producers, Forme combines professional creative insights with a clean and intuitive workspace. You can import existing stories or begin something completely new — and from there, Forme helps you analyze structure, strengthen character arcs, refine clarity and pacing, and visually communicate your project’s potential. Our goal is simple: help storytellers elevate their work and move closer to getting published, optioned, or greenlit.

Forme supports both screenplays and novels, including standard formatting conventions for each medium. You can import a draft you’ve written in Final Draft, Fountain, Word, or any other common writing tool and Forme preserves your formatting and structure when processing the file. This flexibility makes it easy to bring in works-in-progress at any stage — from early act outlines to complete manuscripts. If you ever revise your source document outside of Forme, you can simply re-upload a new draft and continue analyzing and pitching without losing progress.

StoryNotes™ give you professional-style development feedback tailored to your specific story. Instead of generic writing tips, StoryNotes™ look closely at the narrative you’ve written — analyzing character motivations, stakes, structure, tone, theme, scene dynamics, pacing, dialogue function, audience clarity, and more. The notes are written in a clear and actionable format so you understand not just what could be improved, but why it matters for your story’s vision and marketplace appeal. Each submission is evaluated independently, meaning that as you revise and upload new drafts, you receive new insights that evolve your story with you — the way an ongoing collaboration with a development executive or book editor would.

For screenwriters, StoryNotes™ include professional script coverage, a budget top sheet, and a technical proofread — giving you both creative evaluation and a high-level production and presentation analysis. For novelists, StoryNotes™ include a professional manuscript assessment, a movie adaptability assessment, and a proofread — helping you understand your book’s editorial strength as well as its cinematic potential. Together, these components ensure your work is evaluated not just as writing, but as a serious piece of intellectual property positioned for the marketplace.

StoryDecks™ transform your story into a compelling visual pitch — similar to a film lookbook or investor deck — helping industry professionals quickly understand what makes your project valuable. Each deck includes slide-based storytelling that highlights your concept, world, protagonist, conflict engine, themes, mood, and market positioning. The clarity of the narrative paired with visuals helps you pitch with confidence to agents, managers, producers, and publishers who evaluate dozens (or hundreds) of projects each month. You retain complete control over the creative direction of your deck, and as your manuscript evolves, you can generate updated versions that reflect your latest thinking.

StoryShots™ are custom-generated images designed to visually express the mood, setting, and tone of your story. They help bring your world to life inside StoryDecks™, so the visual language supports the concept you’re trying to sell. StoryShots™ are purchased as needed, giving you the flexibility to experiment with different creative approaches and update images if your story changes direction. They are created based on your narrative, meaning that the visuals you generate are uniquely tied to your project — giving your pitch materials a cohesive, professional feel that stands apart from generic stock art.

No — Forme never alters or rewrites your story. You are in complete creative control at every step. Our AI is designed to evaluate what you’ve written, not change the writing itself. StoryNotes™ highlight opportunities for stronger clarity, pace, character intention, or theme — but any revision is entirely in your hands. We do not generate new scenes, dialogue, or pages of writing inside your manuscript. We never overwrite your voice, erase your choices, or modify the narrative you’ve crafted.

This boundary is intentional and permanent: the artistry of writing belongs to humans. Forme’s role is to help you see your story more clearly, accelerate revision cycles, and provide the kind of professional development perspective most writers wait weeks or months for. You get faster progress, deeper insight, and total protection of your voice — with every creative decision still rooted in your imagination, not an algorithm.

Forme uses models from Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI that are highly capable of long-form narrative evaluation, creative reasoning, and pitch development. These models go beyond simple grammar checks — they understand story structure, character motivation, and genre dynamics in a way that supports professional development workflows. We continually evaluate and update the models we use to ensure the highest possible insight quality, so writers always benefit from the most current advancements in this space. These updates happen behind the scenes, so you don’t need to worry about versioning — you simply get the strongest performance available.

For visual development through StoryShots™, we integrate with Midjourney via a secure third-party API to generate images that reflect your story’s tone, world, and genre. Your StoryShots™ are never public on Midjourney, they are generated in Stealth mode, ensuring complete privacy and security for your image assets. Once created, those visuals are stored privately in your account and can be removed at any time.

In all cases, your creative work remains fully protected, never repurposed for other users, and will never used to train any AI models.

Forme enforces strict creative integrity standards. Your manuscripts are fully isolated and never fed into training datasets — meaning your personal creative work never becomes part of a model’s learning process. We also do not allow other users to access or generate content based on your files. Additionally, our systems are designed to prevent the reuse of story-specific content across accounts. The goal is simple: your ideas stay your own — protected, private, and never repurposed for someone else.

Yes. StoryNotes™ apply consistent industry-informed standards to each submission. The evaluation focuses on narrative clarity, character intention, emotional engagement, pacing, structural integrity, and whether the story's execution aligns with its genre and intended audience. That means every writer — regardless of career stage — is given a constructive, professional perspective rooted in storytelling fundamentals. This ensures that talented writers have a clear path to improving and positioning their work strategically in an increasingly competitive entertainment and publishing landscape.

Absolutely. Protecting your creative intellectual property is central to Forme’s mission. All of your stories and generated pitch materials are encrypted during upload, analysis, and storage — ensuring only you have access to your content. We also store real-time encrypted backups so your work is never at risk, even if your device crashes, your internet drops, or you close your browser unexpectedly. When you log back in, your writing is right where you left it — safe, synced, and fully preserved.

Your creative files are never visible to other users, never repurposed, and never used to train AI models. You are the sole owner of your work, and you remain in complete control of how long it is stored and when it is deleted. Forme exists to help you develop your story confidently — without ever compromising its safety or privacy.

You own everything — always. Forme retains zero rights to any of your creative content, including uploaded manuscripts, generated assets, pitch materials, and exports. You choose how your work is shared, who sees it, and where it goes next. Our platform is built on the belief that writers should maintain complete ownership and control of their intellectual property at every stage of development — from first draft to final pitch. We will never claim creative or commercial interest in the stories you build inside Forme.

No. Your screenplay or novel is never incorporated into training data for AI models. We operate with strict isolation so your story remains exclusively yours. AI processing is performed solely to deliver feedback and assets to you — and once it’s complete, your manuscript is stored privately in your account. This gives you clarity and peace of mind: your work doesn’t become part of anyone else’s writing experience or any model’s underlying behavior.

Never. The creative DNA of your story remains entirely confined to your workspace. Other users cannot view, duplicate, or generate anything based on your project’s narrative. Even broadly shared features — like writing guidance — are intentionally designed so they do not rely on content from other users’ stories. You can trust that your world, characters, and plot won’t accidentally appear in someone else’s StoryNotes™, StoryDeck™, or Query Letter.

Yes. You can permanently delete stories and generated assets in your account, and you can delete your entire account by contacting support@useforme.io. We don’t retain hidden backups of your creative materials after deletion — when you choose to remove something, it’s gone. This ensures you always have final authority over what remains stored in Forme and how long it stays there. If you ever return to Forme in the future, you can start fresh with full control of your new creative workspace.

Yes. You must create a free or paid account to upload stories and access your materials.

All plans include access to the full suite of Forme writing and pitching tools — with differences in how many StoryNotes™, StoryDecks™, and Query Letters you can generate each month based on your subscription level. This ensures writers can select the plan that best matches their workflow: occasional creators benefit from Free, while Pro and Premium are designed for active storytellers running multiple manuscripts or focusing on repeat revision. StoryShots™ are available à la carte regardless of plan, giving everyone the flexibility to control how many visuals they need during any given project stage. Every plan is structured to provide clear creative value without requiring users to think in technical token limits or usage math.

Forme is designed so you can focus on creative progress — not tokens or technical limits. Each plan includes a defined amount of StoryNotes™, StoryDecks™, and Query Letters you can generate, with Pro and Premium unlocking more frequent analysis and pitching potential.

Free users can bring one screenplay or novel into Forme for life. If they upload an existing draft, they receive one Library, one set of StoryNotes™ (2 follow-ups), one StoryDeck™, and one Query Letter (2 AI Rewrites) to fully evaluate and pitch that project. If they start a story inside Forme, they can generate one StoryNotes™, one StoryDeck™, and one Query Letter for that draft. They can revise and build that same project forever — without pressure to upgrade — until they’re ready to move into new stories or deeper pitching.

Pro users unlock active development across multiple projects. They can create unlimited stories and Libraries without using any AI usage, ideal for writers managing several manuscripts. Each month, they can generate 4 StoryNotes™ (10 follow-ups each) + Libraries (across 3 screenplays + 1 novel). Lifetime usage includes 3 StoryDecks™ and 3 Query Letters (10 AI Rewrites each).

Premium users get the most freedom for professional progress. They can create unlimited stories, Libraries, StoryDecks™, and Query Letters without consuming any AI usage. Each month, they can generate:

• 8 StoryNotes™ (10 follow-ups each) + Libraries (across 6 screenplays + 2 novels)
• 8 StoryDecks™
• 8 Query Letters (10 AI Rewrites each)

Monthly usage resets automatically on Pro and Premium plans, giving creators a steady flow of revision and pitching opportunities as their stories evolve. If momentum picks up and you want to move faster, you can upgrade anytime — new usage unlocks immediately.

Yes — you have complete flexibility over your subscription. You can upgrade anytime and immediately unlock additional AI usage for the current billing period. For example, if you're mid-way through a StoryDeck™ and want to keep generating without waiting for next month’s reset, upgrading ensures uninterrupted progress. You can also update your billing preference between monthly and annual options as needed. Our goal is to support your workflow, not restrict it — so we make sure you can adjust your plan as your writing pace changes.

Yes. Annual plans offer a lower effective monthly price compared to monthly billing — making them ideal for writers actively developing long-term projects. By choosing annual billing, you secure these savings for a full year of consistent access to StoryNotes™, StoryDecks™, and Query Letters — tools that help ensure your story reaches its best and most marketable version. Writers who expect to revise multiple drafts benefit the most from the reduced cost structure.

Forme supports common screenplay and novel file formats including PDF, FDX, DOCX, Markdown, and Fountain. This helps ensure your existing work transitions smoothly into the platform. We recognize that writers use many different tools while drafting — our import system is designed to bring your words in cleanly so you can focus on strengthening the narrative rather than fixing technical issues. If we detect formatting challenges during import, we’ll help you resolve them quickly.

You can export writing and pitch materials in standard industry formats so you can share them with collaborators, readers, or industry gatekeepers. Whether you're emailing a PDF lookbook to a producer or printing scenes for a table read, Forme ensures your work travels well outside the platform. Exports maintain design consistency and readability so your first impression remains professional, polished, and easy to review.

Not yet. Forme is currently a cloud-based platform requiring an internet connection to access projects, generate AI assets, and save progress. This ensures your work is always backed up, synced, and protected from unexpected data loss. We know many writers want availability while traveling or during offline writing retreats — offline support is already in our product roadmap, and we look forward to making that creative freedom available in the future.

There are a few common reasons file imports may struggle: the file may be password-protected, the formatting may be non-standard or corrupted, or the document type may not be fully compatible with our import pipeline. These issues are generally simple to fix, and our support team is always available to help troubleshoot. If a file fails to upload, try exporting a fresh version from your writing software and reattempting the import — that resolves most formatting conflicts quickly.

Forme's writing experience is optimized for Google Chrome and Apple Safari web browsers on all devices. While you can edit stories, libraries, and query letters on tablet and mobile devices, StoryDeck™ design capabilities are currently built for desktop-first workflows to support the unique needs of presentation design. StoryDeck design is only supported on Chrome, however StoryDeck Preview is supported on Chrome and Safari across all devices.