Outline a story with a co-writer, on one board you both edit

What this board can't do for two writers

• It holds the outline, not the draft. There is no script format, no chapters, no word count and no manuscript editor. You write the pages in a drafting tool.
• No export to a writing app and no import from one. Selected cards and lists can be copied as an image.
• Cards are short. The example board's cards are eight words or fewer. A card can hold more, but a board of paragraphs is a document, and Google Docs or a drafting tool is better for that.
• 150 items on the free plan, across your account. Each card and each list is 1 of the 150. The example board is 32 cards and 6 lists, so 38. If each of you parks 30 ideas and you agree 40 beats, that is 100 cards and 6 lists (our arithmetic). Pro is $5 a month billed yearly ($59.99 a year) and removes the item limit.
• 5 boards and 3 images per board on the free plan. Keep one board per story. The example board has no images.
• You set the rules yourselves. Nothing on the board stops either of you moving a card into the agreed list. "Only when we both say yes" is a habit, not a setting.

How two writers outline on one board

Co-writers describe two shapes of the job. In r/Screenwriting (July 2017), one person who co-writes with several writers said they outline together first, passing the outline back and forth, and only then split the work: in parallel (each writes separate acts or scenes and then combine them) or in series (one writes for a period, then hands over). That is one person's view. A shared board covers the first step, the outline you have to agree before either method starts.

1. 1Give each writer a list. On the example board Ana's ideas are blue and Ben's are orange. A card's colour is its border and text; the list keeps its own colour. Each of you drops ideas in your own list without arguing about them yet.
2. 2Keep an agreed list. The green list is numbered, one beat per card. Move a card there only when you both say yes. Twelve numbered beats in the example are the story so far.
3. 3Mark contradictions with an arrow. An arrow can join a card in one list to a card in another, and carries a caption and its own colour. On the example board three red arrows labelled "contradicts" join Ana's ideas to Ben's: his survey inspector against her stranger who knew Marta's mother, and so on. The arrows stay attached when you reorder cards or move a list.
4. 4Park what you can't settle. The red list, "Decide by Friday", holds the four questions that block the outline (who the stranger is, how it ends, whether Marta leaves, whose point of view opens). The purple list holds questions that can wait.
5. 5Hand off to your drafting tool. When the agreed list is full, write the pages in the tool you draft in. The numbered cards are your scene list.

Writers also disagree about whether to brainstorm together or apart. In the same thread, one reply asked whether brainstorming separately and then discussing is more productive. The example board lets you do either: write in your own list at the same time, or take turns in one.

Set up the board with your co-writer

1. 1In the share menu, set "Anyone with the link can edit". New boards start view-only.
2. 2Send the link, or the 4-digit join code. The code expires after 2 hours of inactivity, so send the link to someone you'll need later.
3. 3Your co-writer signs in free (Google, Apple or email) to write. Someone who isn't signed in can open the link and read everything, but can't change anything. Once they're signed in, what they add shows up on your board within a few seconds, and you see what they add in the same way.
4. 4The board counts as one of their 5 free boards, and the cards they add count toward their own 150. If they're already at 5 boards, they can still open the link and write; the board just isn't added to their boards.

Free calls on the board run up to 60 minutes per call, with a warning 10 minutes before the end; everyone signs in free, calls aren't recorded, and Pro has no limit. So the two of you can talk through the red list on the board itself.

Where to write the pages

Each row is from the maker's own pages, read on November 10, 2026. Prices change, so check the page before you choose.

When another tool is the better choice

• You want to write the pages together, live. Reedsy Studio, Ellipsus, WriterDuet, Arc Studio and Google Docs are made for the draft. Instaboard holds no manuscript text.
• You write a screenplay and want the outline in the script. Arc Studio's Pro plan lists outlining tools and inviting collaborators, and its Free plan lists neither.
• Your outline is mostly paragraphs. A shared document is better for long notes than cards.
• You need to plot a whole series with a bible. Instaboard has no timeline, character database or series bible; see a free way to plot with a partner for what the plotting tools do.
• You have a lot of images. Instaboard allows 3 images per board on the free plan.

For the index-card method on its own, with four act lists and a subplot arrow, see outlining with index cards. If you came from Milanote and used up its 100 free items, see the Milanote section for writers.

Questions