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The writing software for thriller and crime authors

Thriller, crime, suspense — the workshop that holds the investigation to the last page.

Three-act suspense architecture, detective board for clues and suspects, parallel timeline (actual vs reader-perceived), AI that keeps the killer consistent across 400 pages, publisher-spec DOCX export. The thriller writing software serious authors deserved.

Structure

Narrative plan in three acts with turning point, fuse, ticking clock, false ending.

A thriller stands on its suspense architecture — not on the prose.

Thrillers turn on a few pivots: the opening hook (a body, a disappearance, a threat), the midpoint turn (your detective realises she chased the wrong lead), the false ending, the final reveal. Place these pivots before you draft — Extypis walks you through them step by step.

All features, free50 AI credits offeredNo credit card
01The journey

From the first body to the final reveal.

Catch the idea, build the victim and suspects, place the pivots, hold the timeline, plant the clues, get a second read — without losing the killer along the way.

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Step 01

Catch the crime

It always starts with one obsessive mental scene: a body in a nursing home, a train that never leaves, a disappearance in the Nordic snow. The opening image is your hook — the one that gets the book opened in a shop. Note it precisely, keep it, it's the promise you make on the back cover.

Notes & quick storyboard
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Step 02

Build victim, suspects, detective

A thriller is three human axes held at once. The victim (who she really was, who wanted her dead, and why), the suspects (each with motive, alibi, opportunity), the detective (with the personal flaw that colours the case). One sheet per character, one direct link from the text via @mention.

Character sheets + suspects
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Step 03

Place the suspense pivots

The classic mistake: writing crime « by feel ». James N. Frey (How to Write a Damn Good Thriller) reminds us: suspense rests on four pivots — the hook, the midpoint turn, the false ending, the reveal. Place them before you draft. Without pivots, chapter 18 stalls and tension collapses.

Structured narrative plan
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Step 04

Hold the parallel timeline

Crime fiction stands on two chronologies. The real one (who did what, when) and the one the reader rebuilds. If the second moves too fast, the killer is obvious by chapter 8. Too slow, the reader leaves. The craft is holding the gap just right — Extypis makes it visible.

Storyboard + non-linear writing
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Step 05

Read before they read you

By chapter 32, you no longer see the contradictions. Suspect 2's alibi has shifted, the weapon's description has changed, a witness forgotten 14 chapters ago resurfaces with another version. Extypis's AI does the first pass: factual contradictions, dropped clues, vanished characters, timeline cracks.

AI narrative consistency check
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Step 06

Submit where you want

Mulholland, Soho Crime, Penguin Crime, Mysterious Press, Bitter Lemon. Every house has its specs. Extypis exports publisher DOCX (12pt, double-spaced, title page, contact) or EPUB for contests and beta readers. Book-quality PDF if you self-publish while waiting for the editor's reply.

Multi-format export
02Real friction

Thriller manuscripts don't die for lack of an idea.

The crime fits in three lines. The killer, though, has to hold 400 pages — and that's where the author burns out plugging coherence leaks.

« My killer doesn't hold up on re-read. Beta readers spot it by chapter 10. »

You planted your killer too early, or too visibly. On re-read, everything points at them — even though you thought you'd hidden the trail.

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The Extypis answer

Parallel timeline: compare the real chronology and the one the reader rebuilds. At key chapters, check that the reader has just enough to suspect without guessing. The AI can flag clues stacked too heavily on the right killer.

« Too many red herrings — the reader gives up before the reveal. »

Too many badly distributed false leads = reader fatigue. Each red herring must be plausible, briefly credible, then defused without frustration.

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The Extypis answer

Dedicated suspect sheets with motive, alibi, opportunity. Overview of false leads: when each one is introduced, when it's defused, where it's still alive in the reader's perception. You balance the load before the manuscript becomes a maze.

« My investigation drifts at chapter 12. I re-read, I no longer know where I was going. »

Without placed pivots, the soft middle hits fast: the case stalls, the detective circles, the reader feels the manuscript dragging.

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The Extypis answer

Structured narrative plan with hook, midpoint turn, false ending, reveal. At every chapter you know where you stand on the global arc. If the midpoint hasn't landed by halfway through, the narrative health analysis flags it immediately.

« My forensic notes, my procedural research, my location plans — all scattered across Notion, Docs, and three paper notebooks. »

Modern crime demands dense documentation: ballistics, forensics, criminal procedure, geography. Four tools open in parallel, you lose details by chapter 20.

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The Extypis answer

Everything in the project: Location sheets (with maps, photos, plans), Event sheets (investigation chronology), Object sheets (weapons, evidence), Conflict sheets (leads), Theme sheets (corruption, trauma, revenge). @mention in the text to recall anything without leaving the editor.

« The clue and alibi timeline cracks. Suspect 3 has an alibi at 6pm chapter 7, but I have him crossing the victim at 5:45pm chapter 14. »

The more you write, the less you see the contradictions. An alibi that slips by an hour, a weapon that changes calibre, a witness whose first name shifts — leaks the attentive reader will catch.

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The Extypis answer

AI-powered narrative consistency check: factual contradictions, broken alibis, dropped clues, vanished characters. Before beta reading, the AI does a first pass — what a human editor would take hours to do by hand.

« To submit to Mulholland or Soho Crime, the DOCX has to be flawless, and mine comes out ugly. »

Publishers require 12pt font, double spacing, title page, precise margins. Contests have their own formats. Doing it all by hand wastes time and risks errors.

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The Extypis answer

DOCX export publisher-spec in one click: title page with contact, 12pt, double-spaced, standard margins. EPUB for contests and beta readers. Book-quality PDF if you self-publish while waiting on the editor's reply.

03What Extypis actually carries

Three promises, atop a stack of features.

Hold the suspense architecture, keep the killer coherent from chapter 1 to chapter 80, ship a manuscript ready to go to a serious crime publisher.

Suspense architecture

The project holds as the case thickens.

Narrative plan with suspense pivots, non-linear writing to reorder chapters, dedicated suspect sheets, parallel timeline. You write, the project follows.

Structured narrative plan

Three reputable frameworks — Simple structure (3 acts), Save the Cat (15 beats) and The hero's circle — with automatic narrative health and chapter mapping.

Storyboard

Story overview with summaries, labels, quick preview and scene reordering.

Non-linear writing

Write scenes in any order, then reorganize them freely.

Narrative-elements radar

A constant radar that picks up your characters, locations, objects and events anywhere in the text — even when you refer to them by an alias — and analyzes their presence across the whole story.

8 types of narrative element cards

Dedicated cards for characters, locations, conflicts, themes, objects and more.

Characters & motives

An AI that holds coherence — never writes for you.

The AI reads your suspect sheets, your timeline, your clues. It continues in your voice, flags contradictions, checks alibis. The pen stays yours.

Writing assistant

Conversational AI assistant in the sidebar, color-coded quotes highlighted in the text and one-click rewriting from any passage.

AI analysis pack (pitch dossier, continuity, roasting, show don't tell)

Four AI analysis tools for your manuscript, grouped under the « Other tools » tab in Fabula: pitch dossier, continuity check, editorial roasting, show don't tell.

Rewriting in your text

Select any passage and let AI suggest a rewording right inside the editor.

Stroke of the pen

Place your cursor and pick the intent: extend, ramp up tension, slip in inner monologue, add description, propose a twist or open a dialogue — the AI writes in **your** voice.

Narrative element generator

Characters, places, events, themes… generated by AI in full consistency with your project.

Output & publishing

From finished manuscript to publisher — no patch-up job.

Publisher-spec DOCX for Mulholland or Soho Crime, EPUB for beta readers and contests, book-quality PDF for self-publishing. Title page, ISBN, contact.

Multi-format export

Export to PDF, DOCX, EPUB, HTML, Markdown or full archive.

PDF export (LaTeX)

Generate polished PDFs with true typographic quality.

Front matter and back matter

Preface, afterword, dedication, epigraph, table of contents (at the start or the end?): publishing has conventions no author really learns. Extypis guides you through every editorial fixture — title page, cover auto-cropped to book format, ISBN, copyright, opening and closing sections — and lets you reorder or hide any of them at export.

Publication WordPress

Publiez directement sur votre blog WordPress depuis Extypis. Connectez votre site via un mot de passe d'application, puis publiez ou mettez à jour votre contenu en un clic. Les notes de bas de page, la bibliographie et les sections liminaires/annexes sont incluses automatiquement.

After the writing

Give your project a real reading address.

Once the text is ready, you don't have to leave Extypis to find your first readers. Publish in one click on the public catalog and give your book a clean, readable, shareable page.

Extypis catalog

Published directly on Extypis — no fees, no middleman.

Publishing opens a dedicated page for your project: cover, title page, chapters, table of contents. The content is frozen at publication, so your readers always see a stable version while you keep working. You decide when to push a new version.

A reading page for each project

Customizable URL, title page, cover, table of contents and chapter-by-chapter navigation.

A catalog that helps readers find your book

Your project can appear in the public catalog, categories, subcategories and trending page — or stay accessible only through the direct link.

Readers who can actually react

Readers can comment chapter by chapter, mention a specific paragraph, and you get notified for every feedback.

A stable version without breaking your work

The text is frozen at publication time. You keep writing on your side, then decide when to push an update.

Everything Extypis unlocks for you

Hold your story, from outline to final page.

Narrative tools you won't find elsewhere — turn a tangle of ideas into a structure that holds.

AI that suggests, never replaces

The AI permanently sees your whole project — outline, sheets, scenes already written. Every rewrite, every completion, every suggestion, every cover stays consistent with your entire work, and at no extra cost or setup. You approve every word.

Estimates if you only use this feature. Credits are shared across every AI tool.

Daily writing comfort

Everything that makes long-form writing sustainable: shortcuts, templates, anchored notes, versions, goals.

Ship a book, not a file.

From manuscript to finished book: professional exports, academic citations, direct publishing.

Analyse and refine your prose

Style tools that go beyond the spell-checker: readability, poetic meter, repetitions, connectors, passive voice.

Lifetime updates

Every future Extypis innovation included, no extra cost, no paywall.

Backing an indie project

Extypis is an independent, self-funded project — no ads, no venture capital.

Human support

Got a question? You talk directly to the creator, never a chatbot.

04Pricing

Free to begin, even to finish. Serious when you need to go deeper.

The investigation and the writing are entirely yours. The subscription gives you a rigorous co-pilot, an occasional co-author, and an objective reader who lets nothing slip.

05FAQ

Frequent questions, plain answers (still friendly).

Does Extypis support a parallel timeline (actual vs reader-perceived) for thriller writing ?

Yes — it's one of our strongest use cases. Hold two threads in parallel: the real chronology of facts (who did what, when) via Event sheets, and the chronology the reader rebuilds via the storyboard and ordered chapters. At key chapters, compare both to verify the reader has just enough to suspect — without guessing too soon. The AI can compare two scenes and flag when the reader's perception drifts too quickly toward the right killer.

How does Extypis handle red herrings without cheating the reader ?

Each suspect has a dedicated sheet with motive, alibi, opportunity, and presence chronology. You see at a glance when each false lead is introduced, when it's defused, and where it's still alive in the reader's perception. The golden rule of crime fiction — every red herring must be plausible and cleanly defused — becomes visible before beta reading, not after.

How do I check the consistency of clues and alibis across 400 pages ?

The AI narrative consistency check sweeps your whole project (chapters, suspect sheets, events, locations, objects) and flags factual contradictions — an alibi that slips an hour between chapter 7 and chapter 14, a weapon whose calibre changes, a witness forgotten 12 chapters ago who reappears with another version. What a human editor would take hours to do by hand: the AI does it in 30 seconds.

Can I keep my forensic, ballistic and procedural research inside Extypis ?

Yes — everything lives in the project. Location sheets (with photos, plans, geographic descriptions), Event sheets (investigation chronology, hour-by-hour breakdown), Object sheets (weapons, evidence, exhibits), Conflict sheets (leads, hypotheses), Theme sheets (corruption, trauma, revenge). You can also attach research PDFs (forensic reports, plans, location photos) directly. @mention in the text to recall anything without leaving the editor.

Is the AI going to write my thriller for me ?

No. Extypis's AI proposes, never replaces. It continues a sentence in your voice, rewrites a passage, flags an alibi contradiction, suggests three variants for an interrogation scene — the author validates each word, or refuses. And if you write entirely without AI, the app remains fully functional; AI tools are an option, not a requirement.

Can I export my manuscript to Mulholland, Soho Crime or Penguin Crime specs ?

Yes — the DOCX export follows industry-standard formatting: 12pt font, double-spaced, title page with contact, standard margins. Submit as-is to Mulholland Books, Soho Crime, Penguin Crime, Mysterious Press, Bitter Lemon Press. EPUB for beta readers and contests. Book-quality PDF if you self-publish while waiting on the editor's reply.

What does « Extypis » mean ?

« Ex typis » is a Latin formula that appeared on the frontispieces of printed books from the 16th to 18th centuries, right before the printer's name — literally « from the presses of… ». The word derives from the Greek τύπος (typos): imprint, model, mark left behind. That's exactly the lineage we claim: a digital workshop that prepares your manuscripts in the great European typographic tradition, until they're worthy of being printed.

I built the writing app I'd always wished for.

Having finished a novel after several attempts, and built up years of poetry — kept right here, on Extypis — I saw firsthand how many writing blocks are really method problems, easy to move past once you give yourself the right tools. Technique doesn't replace imagination — it carries it. If you write thrillers seriously, Extypis is for you too.

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