Write Your Book in Author's Forge
Learn the free app by writing something real: plan, draft, refine, and export a finished piece.
Finish a short story this weekend, or set your novel up properly. Either way, you leave with an exported, real file.
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What do you leave the course with?
You leave with a finished, exported piece of writing — not notes about writing. Every module moves your own book forward:
A real, exported file
EPUB, PDF, or DOCX — a publish-ready file you could hand to a reader, exported from your own manuscript.
A working story bible
Characters, world notes, and an outline built with the same free templates you can download from our resources.
A finishing habit
Word goals, momentum tricks, and a self-edit pass — the routine that gets the next book done too.
What does the free course cover?
The 14 lessons walk one arc: plan your story, build its story bible, write, refine, turn it into a real book file, and decide what happens next. Here is the full curriculum:
Module 0 Welcome to the Forge
- Meet Author's Forge
- The lay of the land
Module 1 Plan Your Story
- Capture the idea
- Shape it
Module 2 Build Your Story Bible
- Characters
- World & setting
Module 3 Write
- The editor
- Keep momentum
Module 4 Refine
- Self-edit
- Hear it
Module 5 Make It a Real Book
- Format & themes
- Export publish-ready
Module 6 Now What?
- Where books go
- Your next step
Lessons open inside Author's Forge once you're signed in, so you learn each step by doing it in your own book.
Which writing templates does the course use?
The planning modules are built around our free writing templates. You can download each one right now, no course required:
Frequently asked questions
Is the course really free?
Yes. The course is free, and so is the Author's Forge writing app it teaches — the core app is free forever, with no payment details required. You create a free account so the course can track your lesson progress.
Do I need Author's Forge to take the course?
Yes — the course is hands-on and every lesson is done inside the app. Author's Forge is a free download for Mac, Windows, and Linux, and it works offline with your writing stored locally on your computer.
How long does the course take?
It is 14 short lessons across 7 modules. The short-story path is designed so you can plan, draft, and export a finished story in a weekend. Novelists work through the same lessons to set their book up properly and leave with an exported file of what they have.
Do I need writing experience?
No. The course is built for first-time authors: the opening lesson has you choose between a short story and a novel, and recommends the short-story path if this is your first book, because finishing is a skill worth practicing.
What will I have at the end?
A real, exported, publish-ready file — EPUB for e-readers, PDF for print, or DOCX — plus a story bible with your characters and world, and a writing routine you can carry into your next project.
How do I start the free course?
Create a free Author's Forge account, then open Courses in your dashboard. The first lesson has you writing the same day.
Ready to write your book?
Start the free course today. When you're ready to draft a full book with AI at your side, the Draft to Published pro course picks up where this one ends.
Start the free course