Chronologue Mode

Constructing Your Story Timeline

Chronologue Mode walkthrough
Full video on YouTube

Chronologue is one of four modes within the Timeline view. It is essential for constructing and visualizing the chronological backbone of your story — particularly valuable for non-linear narratives, mysteries, thrillers, or any story where when events happen differs from when you reveal them. The palette matches Narrative mode (subplot colors only) so the timing comparisons stay clean while Progress mode retains the Todo/Working/Overdue and progress-stage overlays.

Core Workflow

1. Add chronological metadata: As you create scenes, fill in the When field (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM) and Duration field (e.g., "2 hours", "3 days", "1 week").
2. Switch to Chronologue mode (keyboard 3 or top-right navigation): Scenes rearrange to show story-world event order across the full 360° circle.
3. Activate the Shift sub-mode (keyboard Shift or click shift button or use Caps Lock): See the bones of your story's temporal structure for all scenes and subplots.
4. Compare elapsed time: In the Shift sub-mode, click two scenes to see the elapsed story-time between them with the duration arc. Keep clicking more scenes as needed.
5. Analyze time gaps: Also in the Shift sub-mode, discontinuities (large time jumps) appear with an infinity symbol — identify gaps that might need bridging scenes.

Minimum metadata: Chronologue only needs a year in the When field to place a scene. Year-only (When: 2045), year+month (When: 2045-07), or textual month+year (When: July 2045) all work — missing pieces default to the 1st of that month at noon. Month-only, day-only, or time-only values are ignored and treated as "no When" until you add at least the year.

Drafting calmly: Red "Missing When" number squares only appear once a scene's Status is Working or Complete, so Todo scenes can stay quiet while you're still sketching. When a date is missing, the hover synopsis displays the dates of the immediately preceding and following scenes (in narrative order) to help you pinpoint the correct timing.

Why this matters

Some authors choose to organize scenes in manuscript/narrative order, but Chronologue mode lets you construct and verify the underlying chronological scaffolding without the constraints of the 3 acts or title ordering. You can spot:

• Pacing issues (too much/too little story time between events)
• Flashback positioning opportunities
• Timeline consistency problems
• Missing transition scenes

Mode: Chronologue (key 3) Sub-modes: Shift (key Shift), Alt (key Alt), Runtime ✦ (click RT) Settings: Duration arc cap, Discontinuity gap threshold (Chronologue section)

Discontinuity infinity symbols in Chronologue mode

Duration marks in Chronologue mode (red, orange, and normal)

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Sub-modes

Chronologue mode includes three sub-modes, each rendering a distinct wireframe overlay. Only one sub-mode can be active at a time.

Shift sub-mode (bones view)

• Toggle with Shift (or Caps Lock) to strip the overlays and see the raw chronological scaffold.
• Gray wireframe. Click any two scenes to measure elapsed story time; keep clicking to update the arc.
• Discontinuities (infinity gaps) stay visible so you can spot missing bridges fast.

Shift sub-mode — gray wireframe view

Alt sub-mode (alien/planetary overlay)

• Use Alt to enter the planetary wireframe for your active local time profile.
• Alt+Shift mirrors the Shift sub-mode but tinted red for alien time — great for comparing Earth vs local calendars.
• All scene timings still derive from Earth timestamps; the overlay is a translation layer.

Alt sub-mode — planetary wireframe overlay

Runtime sub-mode ✦ Pro

The Runtime sub-mode replaces elapsed story time with runtime duration arcs — showing how long each scene takes to read or perform rather than how much story time passes.

• Toggle with the RT button in Chronologue mode (requires Runtime Estimation enabled in Settings → PRO)
• Blue wireframe overlay distinguishes it from Shift (gray) and Alt (red)
• Duration arcs scale to show relative scene runtime — longer scenes have larger arcs
• Use the runtime cap slider to adjust maximum arc size, emphasizing shorter or longer scenes
• Click scenes to compare their runtime visually

Use cases:

• Screenplay pacing — Verify act timing and scene balance for screen time
• Audiobook planning — Estimate chapter and scene durations for narration
• Podcast structure — Plan episode segments with time awareness

Runtime sub-mode — blue wireframe with scene duration arcs

How to use:

1. Enable Runtime Estimation in Settings → PRO
2. Configure a runtime profile matching your content type (Novel or Screenplay)
3. Switch to Chronologue mode (keyboard 3)
4. Click the RT button to enter the Runtime sub-mode
5. Adjust the cap slider to tune the visualization

Note

Runtime estimates appear in scene hover tooltips when Runtime Estimation is enabled. See Settings#runtime-estimation for configuration and Pro for full Pro documentation.

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Backdrop Notes & Micro-backdrop Rings

Chronologue mode offers two ways to layer contextual information behind your scenes.

Backdrop Notes

Backdrop notes visualize major contextual events — historical wars, planetary alignments, or seasonal changes — that drive your plot but aren't specific scenes.

• Create: Use Radial Timeline: Create note… and choose Story world → Backdrop to generate a file with start/end times.
• Visualize: These appear as a dedicated ring in Chronologue mode, grounding your scenes in their temporal context.
• Overlaps: Two backdrops may overlap partially, shown with a visual plaid pattern.

Micro-backdrop Rings

For lighter-weight context that doesn't need its own note file, micro-backdrop rings are configured directly in Settings. Each micro-backdrop is a thin colored ring segment with a title and date range.

• Use cases: Eras, seasons, political regimes, historical milestones, or any contextual time span you want visible at a glance.
• Configure: Settings → Core → Backdrop → Micro backdrops. Add a title, pick a color, and set start/end dates.
• Appearance: Micro-backdrops render as compact rings below the backdrop ring, keeping the timeline clean while still providing temporal context.

Note

The backdrop ring can be hidden in Settings → Core → Backdrop → Show backdrop ring. When disabled, the ring space is reclaimed for subplot rings. Micro-backdrop rings follow the same visibility toggle.

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Planetary Time

For sci-fi and fantasy authors, Chronologue mode includes a Planetary Time system. While Radial Timeline requires Earth time (Gregorian calendar) for its internal logic and physics, you can create custom "Local Time" profiles to translate these dates into your world's calendar.

Features:

• Settings: Define custom planetary profiles with specific astronomical facts:
  • Hours per day (e.g., 26 hours on Bajor)
  • Days per week (e.g., 5-day week)
  • Days per year (e.g., 400 days)
  • Epoch Offset: Shift the start date of your calendar relative to Earth's Unix Epoch (1970-01-01).
  • Custom Labels: Define custom names for months and days of the week.
• Synopsis Hover: In Chronologue mode, hover over a scene to see its date converted to your active planetary profile.
• Calculator: Use the command palette (Cmd/Ctrl + P) and search for "Radial Timeline: Planetary time calculator" to open a calculator. Enter any Earth date/time to see the corresponding planetary date/time.

Planetary Time calculator — convert Earth dates to your world's calendar

* **Alt sub-mode**: The Alt+Shift red-tinted wireframe reveals the alien timeline and elapsed time between scenes — a mirror of the standard Shift sub-mode for your alien location. * **Active profile**: The selected profile in Settings controls which calendar is used for hover and conversion outputs.

Note: You must still plan and enter metadata using standard Earth format (When: 2045-05-20). This feature provides a "translation layer" to help you write scene content (e.g., "The sun set at 19:00 local time") without breaking the timeline's chronological structure.