Checking your story's facts, events and threads in the Story workspace

What the Story workspace does

The Story workspace helps you keep your story straight. You write down events, facts and threads, and Pendrilo Studio checks them against each other.

Studio only checks what you have recorded. It doesn't read your chapters for meaning and it doesn't use AI. A problem gets flagged only if you have entered the details that reveal it.

To open the workspace, click Story in the top bar of Studio.

Recording events, facts and threads

Click + New and choose one of three kinds.

Events

An event is something that happens in the story. Fill in:

• What happens: a short description.
• When: a date such as 1987-06-14, June 1987 or 1987.
• Told in: the chapter where the event appears.
• Who and what is involved: the characters, places and things in it.

If an event has no date, use Happens before to name the events it comes before. This gives Studio an order to check.

Facts

A fact is one thing that is true of a character, place or thing. Fill in:

• About: the character, place or thing the fact describes.
• What: the attribute, such as Eyes.
• Value: the detail itself, such as Grey.
• When or where: add this only if the fact holds at one time or place, such as "As a child".
• The chapter that says so: choose the chapter.
• In the book's words: paste the sentence exactly as it reads in the chapter.

Pasting the sentence matters. It is how Studio can tell you later when the wording has changed.

Threads

A thread is something you set up that may need paying off later. Fill in what is set up, Set up in and Paid off in.

If you mean to leave a thread open, for a sequel or for the reader to decide, untick It needs paying off before the book ends.

What Studio flags

The Story checks look for these problems:

• Two facts about the same thing that disagree. Facts that each have their own "when or where" are not treated as a conflict.
• Events whose dates and "happens before" links don't agree.
• Links to chapters or entries that you have deleted.
• Threads that are never paid off.
• Facts whose quoted words are no longer in their chapter.

For the last kind, click Go to the Passage to open the chapter at those words. If the sentence has changed, check whether the fact still holds, then re-enter the sentence as it now reads.

Marking an intentional flag

Some flags are deliberate. A character may lie, or a detail may be wrong on purpose within the story.

Click This Is Meant… and say why. The flag stays in the list, but it no longer counts as a problem. To undo this, click Not Meant After All.

Using the timeline

The timeline shows the story's order above and the book's order below. A line runs from each event to its chapter.

A flashback's line crosses the others, which makes it easy to see where the telling jumps back in time.

Working across a universe

If your book belongs to a universe, choose All of your universe at the top of Story. Events from every book in the universe then appear together.

An event from another book shows as an open ring. Click Open to go to that book and change it there.

Where open findings appear

Open story findings are listed on the Publishing Desk's readiness list, so you see them before you publish. They also appear in the Story Bible, which you create from Book → Save Story Bible….