Maps and the timeline

DunneWrite can show your story in space and in time. These views are built from what your bible already holds, so they need data: on a new story, or one with few places and scenes, they will be mostly empty. That is expected.

In the left-hand menu, the space views are under Map (Globe, Frames, Terrain Import) and the time views are under Reading Order (Arrangements, Timeline).

Globe#

The Globe is the whole world of your story, with your places drawn on it and the characters who move between them.

The first time, press Derive map to have an AI work out where your places sit in relation to each other; later, Re-derive updates it. Both use your AI provider and ask before they send anything. Everything else on the Globe is free.

The panel on the right has seven tabs: Inspector, Audit, Scenes, Movers, Sources, Locations and Timeline. Select a place to see and edit it in Inspector, including connecting it to other places with the Connect to… box.

Places with no position#

The Globe can only draw a place that has a position. Places that don't have one yet wait in a box in the bottom-left corner of the Globe, where you can see them. Drag one onto the globe to give it a position.

Movers: characters the map could not place#

Most stories name settings the map cannot draw. A scene set on "the open deck of the transatlantic steamer, in deck-chairs" describes a place in a sentence, but there is no dot to put anyone on. The Movers tab lists every character whose scene puts them somewhere the map cannot draw, with the reason:

• no setting: the scene names no location at all. The fix is in the scene, not on the map.
• no matching place: no place on the map answers to the scene's setting. Use Connect these words to a place…, or drag the name onto a place.
• place not positioned: the place exists but has no position yet. Use Place on globe.

A number beside Globe in the left-hand menu counts this waiting work, on every page. Click it to go straight to the Movers tab.

To place someone, drag their name onto a place on the globe, or click the name and then click the place. Either way, you are asked what it should mean before anything is saved:

• Create a scene — … at … adds a new scene putting that character in that place.
• Teach it that these words mean … tells the app that the scene's own wording names that place. This repairs every scene that uses those words.
• Add … to the scene that is already there edits the existing scene.

Read the screen before choosing. Some choices warn that the change will be lost the next time the story is rebuilt from your manuscript; that warning is accurate. Dropping onto empty space does nothing, because empty space cannot hold anyone yet.

See the tutorial Place characters on the Globe.

Travelling together#

People often travel in groups, and often inside a vessel. The Travelling together section in the Globe's Audit tab proposes:

• sets of characters your story moves together between places, and
• names your scenes mention that have no character profile yet, with crowds marked and listed first.

Nothing is grouped automatically. Tick the ones you agree with and approve them. You can give a ticked name its own character profile, or record it as another name for a character who already has one.

The Globe's Timeline tab#

The Timeline tab on the Globe shows the same timeline as the Timeline page, beside the map, so you can follow who was where, when.

Frames#

Frames are detailed maps nested inside the world: a region, a town, a battle map, the inside of a vessel. Use them when the story needs more detail than the Globe can show.

Terrain Import#

Terrain Import brings a map made in another tool into a frame. It currently reads Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator exports: the GeoJSON layers plus the burgs CSV. The preview is read-only; nothing is written until you commit.

Propose alignments uses your AI provider to match names on the imported map to places in your bible. It asks before it sends anything.

Arrangements#

Arrangements keeps several orderings of the same chapters side by side, such as the order events happen in and the order a reader meets them. The working arrangement is the book as it stands. Editing another arrangement changes nothing until you make it the working one. The working arrangement cannot be deleted; make another one working first.

Timeline#

Timeline shows your story's events in order. Open an event to edit it, including who is Present at this scene. The timeline also flags ordering conflicts, where your events cannot all be true in the order given.

Related#

• Reference tools
• Known limitations