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How to Generate a Book With Robin (Surprise Me)

Surprise Me lets Robin build an entire book structure for you, with acts and chapters, from a starting idea. It's a fast way to get a fully organized manuscript scaffold before you begin writing.

Plan availability

Surprise Me is a Premium and Pro feature. On the Free plan you can still create and organize books manually; upgrade to a paid plan to have Robin generate a full structure. See Plans & billing.

What Surprise Me Creates​

When you use Surprise Me, Robin generates:

  • A writing voice for the book
  • Acts (typically 3) with clear narrative roles
  • Chapters distributed across each act, each with a brief outline of what it covers

The result is a complete structural skeleton you can start writing into right away.

How to Start a Surprise Me Session​

  1. From Home, click Start a new book.
  2. Choose Surprise Me from the create path list (alongside Guide me and I know what I'm doing).
  3. Fill in the required fields: Book Title, Author Name, Description (a short description of your idea), Language, Book Type, and Main Genre.
  4. Click Surprise Me! to start.

Robin begins building your book immediately and shows you a live progress view.

Watching the Generation in Real Time​

As Robin works, you see a progress screen with:

  • Labeled steps: Researching genre, Crafting writing voice, Analyzing concept, Designing act structure, Creating book record, and Building chapters.
  • Robin's notes: reasoning showing how Robin is approaching each decision.
  • Structure: as each act is finalized, it appears on screen so you can see the structure taking shape.
  • Research items: if Robin looks up relevant information to make the book feel grounded (e.g., genre conventions), those items are shown too.

The screen says it usually takes 8-10 minutes.

Canceling Mid-Generation​

If you change your mind while Robin is working, click Cancel. A Cancel generation? dialog asks you to confirm: Keep going returns to the progress screen, and Exit anyway stops the session and cleans up any partly created book.

Notify Me When Done​

You don't have to wait on the progress screen. Click Notify me when done, and you can close the page. Your book will be waiting in your library, and you'll get an in-app notification (and a push notification on the mobile app) when it's ready. If you simply leave the page without cancelling, generation keeps running in the same way.

After Generation Is Complete​

When Robin finishes:

  1. The progress screen shows Your Book is Ready! and Structure complete!, with the number of acts and chapters.
  2. Click Go to Book to open it, or Create Another to start a new book.
  3. You'll find all acts and chapters already created, ready to start writing into.

From there you can write, edit, rename, reorganize, or delete any part of the generated structure. It's your starting point, not a final product.

Tips for Better Results​

  • Be specific with your idea: "A mystery set in 1920s Paris with a female detective" generates more targeted structure than just "mystery."
  • Include genre and tone: Mentioning tone (e.g., "dark thriller", "lighthearted romance") shapes the chapter choices.
  • Iterate: If you don't love the result, delete the book and generate again with a refined prompt. Each run produces a different structure.

See also: Creating Your First Book | Book Settings