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Characters & Locations

Characters

Accessing Characters

Navigate to Characters (Cmd/Ctrl+3) to see all characters in your project.

Creating a Character

  1. Click New Character or the + button
  2. Fill in character details:
    • Name - The character's name
    • Tagline - A brief description
    • Role - Main, Supporting, or Background
  3. Click Create

Character Properties

Property Description
Name Character's full name
Tagline Brief identifier (e.g., The reluctant hero)
Role Main, Supporting, or Background
Summary Short description
Profile Detailed notes (rich text)
Avatar Optional image

Character Roles

Organize characters by importance:
- Main - Primary characters (protagonists, antagonists)
- Supporting - Significant recurring characters
- Background - Minor characters, extras

Adding an Avatar

  1. Open the character
  2. Click the avatar area
  3. Select an image file, or drag and drop
  4. The image is cropped to a circle

Character Profile

The profile section supports rich text:
- Physical description
- Personality traits
- Background history
- Character arc notes
- Relationships

Character Scenes

View where a character appears:
- The Scenes panel shows all sections where this character is associated
- Click a scene to navigate to that section
- Scene count displays on character cards

Locations

Accessing Locations

Navigate to Locations (Cmd/Ctrl+4) to see all locations in your project.

Creating a Location

  1. Click New Location or the + button
  2. Fill in location details:
    • Name - The location's name
    • Tagline - A brief description
    • Type - Category of location
  3. Click Create

Location Properties

Property Description
Name Location name
Tagline Brief identifier
Type Category (City, Building, etc.)
Description Short description
Details Extended notes (rich text)
Avatar Optional image

Location Types

Categorize locations:
- City
- Town
- Village
- Building
- Landmark
- Region
- Country
- World
- Other

Location Scenes

View where a location appears:
- The Scenes panel shows all sections where this location is associated
- Click a scene to navigate to that section
- Scene count displays on location cards

Associating with Sections

Link characters and locations to sections to track appearances.

From the Section Details Panel

  1. Open a section in the editor
  2. Click the document icon in the inspector rail
  3. In Characters, click Add Character
  4. Select or search for a character
  5. Repeat for Locations

Creating While Associating

If the character/location doesn't exist:
1. Start typing a name
2. Select Create [name] from the dropdown
3. A new character/location is created and associated

Removing Associations

  1. Open Section Details
  2. Click the X next to the character/location
  3. The association is removed (character/location is not deleted)

POV Character

Assign a point-of-view character to sections:
1. Open Section Details
2. In the POV section, select a character
3. The POV displays in the editor footer

This helps track whose perspective each scene uses.

Version History

Characters and locations have version history:
1. Open the character/location
2. Click Snapshot to save current state
3. Access Version History to restore previous versions

Trashing Characters/Locations

  1. Right-click the character/location
  2. Select Trash
  3. Item moves to Archives

Restoring

  1. Go to Archives (Cmd/Ctrl+5)
  2. Find the trashed item
  3. Click Restore

Character Relationships

Track connections between characters with the relationship system.

Adding Relationships

  1. Open a character
  2. Click the Relationships tab
  3. Click Add Relationship
  4. Select the other character and define the relationship

Bidirectional Relationships

Relationships are stored from each character's perspective:

  • Sarah → Marcus: Mentor (she looks up to him)
  • Marcus → Sarah: Protégé (he's training her)

Relationship Grid

View all relationships at once:
1. Go to Characters page
2. Click Relationship Grid view

Colors indicate emotional tone (green = positive, red = negative).

@Mentions

Link characters to text by typing @ followed by their name.

Using Mentions

  1. Type @ in the editor
  2. Start typing a character name
  3. Select from the dropdown
  4. The character is linked and associated with the section

Example: @Sarah walked into the room, surprised to see @Marcus waiting.

Mentions automatically associate characters with sections, making it easy to track who appears where.

Best Practices

Characters

  1. Create early - Add characters as you introduce them
  2. Use taglines - Quick identifiers help when associating
  3. Track POV - Maintain perspective consistency
  4. Define relationships - Map connections in the Relationships tab
  5. Use @mentions - Link characters as you write

Locations

  1. Categorize consistently - Use location types systematically
  2. Add context - Include sensory details in descriptions
  3. Track appearances - Associate with relevant sections
  4. Avoid duplicates - Search before creating new locations

Associations

  1. Use @mentions - Fastest way to link characters
  2. Review scene lists - Check for missing associations
  3. Check the relationship grid - Spot missing connections