Write about it.

Joseph Campbell, a mythologist, professor, and writer of the seminal "The Hero with a Thousand Faces."

The StoryShaper

an idea development tool for storytellers

With the power of the Hero's Journey model, combined with the simplicity of a mind-mapping interface, The StoryShaper gives you a wealth of narrative tools within a simple and organised workspace, so you can focus on your storytelling rather than your workflow.

placeholder for App Store link (Optimised for iPad)

The StoryShaper's User Interface

In this image, the Ordinary World stage is selected in the canvas, which syncs to the note section's Ordinary World stage. All stages have their own note section for your story, along with expandable tips and tricks for each stage. You can slide the dividing bar up and down to almost full-screen for a clean writing space. You can export and share your Note Sections as .pdf, .txt, or .md files.

Streamline it.

Christopher Vogler, a story consultant, educator, and author of the hugely influential "The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers."

Get a backbone, or narrative spine.

Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey" (or monomyth), as explained in "The Hero with a Thousand Faces," is a model of narrative structure. Campbell developed this model based on exhaustive research of narratives from different cultures all over the world, spanning from antiquity to present times. In brief, he discovered that all stories share a universal structure that highlights a common, repeating narrative pattern of a hero (protagonist) who departs their ordinary world, is initiated into the special world, then returns home with new found knowledge/reward to share with their community.

Christopher Vogler streamlined Campbell's complex 17-stage Hero's Journey to a 12-stage model in his book "The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers." Vogler's Hero's Journey model has 12-stages for the external journey (plot), and a corresponding 12-stage internal journey (character arc). The StoryShaper uses Vogler's model as its theoretical base.

Use the built-in beat sheets from classic narratives as guidance. The beat sheets have been broken-down according to the Hero's Journey. In this image, four External Journey beat sheets from four classic narratives have been loaded. Now, when an External Journey story node is selected in the canvas, in this case the Ordinary World stage, the corresponding Ordinary World beat sheets from the classic narratives appear, so when you work on specific stages of your story, you can consider how the author chose how to handle that particular stage of their story.

Beat Sheets View

Single-View Interface

The StoryShaper's single view interface has two sections: the Note Section at the top, and the Canvas at the bottom. Slide the divider-line up or down to reveal more or less of either section. No menu diving or floating windows. Less mental clutter, more creative freedom.

Randomisation

Master Guide or Customise

Use the Master Guide or customise your own story map. The Master Guide project file is a great starting point for your projects since the story map is complete-- all the Story Nodes are loaded and connected in the Canvas, exactly matching the Hero's Journey. Or, you can start fresh with an empty Canvas, and build a customised story map to match the exact needs of your story.

Tap the randomisation button to shake-up linearity. You have the option randomise only External Journey Nodes, only Internal Journey Nodes, only Blank Nodes, only selection of Nodes, or all Nodes.

Who is The StoryShaper for?

From seasoned professionals to aspiring storytellers (to plain old story nerds) who write Fiction, Nonfiction, Screenplays, Stageplays, TV Scripts, Journalism, Graphic Novels, Comic Books, Game Narratives, Speech Writing, Trail Law (opening/closing arguments), Songwriting, TV Ad Writing, and any other narrative discipline that you can imagine.

Beat Sheet Disciplines

The list of built-in beat sheets come from the following disciplines and subdisciplines or genres:

Fiction-- Novel, Novella, Epic Poetry, Short Fiction

Nonfiction-- Memoir, Travel Writing, Essay, Historical, Biography

Screenplay-- Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Horror, Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi, Coming of Age, Western

Stageplay-- Drama, Comedy, Tragedy, Satire, Musical

Writer's Promotion

Not only is The StoryShaper a great tool for writers to build their narrative, it's also a great way for users who are editors, producers or development folks to break them down to gauge their interest. If you've written a narrative that has placed in the top-three of a respectable competition, or have received other prestigious accolades, yet it still hasn't been published or produced, and you'd like some free promo, feel free to send along your story's completed The StoryShaper project file for consideration to be included in app. Please send your project file and proof of competition placement or accolades to our email below.

contact@thestoryshaper.com

© 2026. Lethonomia Limited. All rights reserved.

Sign-Up for Newsletters & Updates

Support:

Privacy

Terms