Core Workflows

Core workflows are a reference for ongoing use. For first-time setup, see Onboarding-Fresh-Vault or Onboarding-Existing-Vault.

Planning Your Novel

• Act Structure: Scenes are organized by act (default 3 acts, configurable in Settings → Acts). Acts come from the scene frontmatter Act: field.
• Subplot Tracking: Each ring represents a different subplot. Keep scenes in a single subplot or spread them across multiple subplots to capture common themes, topics, characters, etc.
• Story Beats: Use story beat systems (Save the Cat, Hero's Journey, Story Grid, or Custom) to lay out the momentum scaffolding. Custom systems let you name beats, assign them to acts, reorder via drag-and-drop, and merge changes into existing files. See Settings#story-beats.
• Backdrop & Micro-backdrops: Mark major plot backdrop events using the special context ring placed below the outer ring in Chronologue mode. For lighter-weight context — eras, seasons, or historical milestones — use micro-backdrop rings configured in Settings with a title, color, and date range.

Creating Scenes

• Book Designer: Use Book Designer to generate a full manuscript scaffold (acts, subplots, optional beat notes).
• Create basic scene note: Command palette → Radial Timeline: Create basic scene note (uses the Base YAML template).
• Create advanced scene note: Command palette → Radial Timeline: Create advanced scene note (uses the Advanced YAML template, including any Advanced YAML editor customizations).

Publication Mode and Tracking Progress (formerly Subplot)

• Scene Status Colors: In Publication Mode, scenes are color-coded by status: Todo = plaid, Working = pink, Overdue = red, Complete = publish stage color. In Narrative and Chronologue modes, scenes display their subplot color.
• Publishing Stages: Track manuscript through Zero → Author → House → Press.
• Completion Estimate Mark: Plugin calculates target completion date based on your recent writing pace. The calculation is most accurate when the Due date is updated to the day of scene completion.

Modes: Publication 2 Settings: Publishing stage colors

Exporting a Manuscript

Manuscript export — filter, order, and select a range of scenes

When you're ready to read through your work or send it to an editor, use the Manuscript export command.

1. Open the command palette (Cmd/Ctrl + P) and select Radial Timeline: Manuscript export.
2. Subplot Filter: Optionally filter to compile only scenes from a specific subplot.
3. Order: Choose from Narrative, Chronological, Reverse Narrative, or Reverse Chronological ordering.
4. TOC: Select Markdown, Plain Text, or No Table of Contents.
5. Range: Use the drag-bar slider to visually select a specific range of scenes to include (useful for generating a single act or particular range of scenes).
6. Output: A new file is created in the Export folder (default Radial Timeline/Export) containing the compiled text of all selected scenes.

Zero Draft Mode

Prevents edits to completed zero-draft scenes. Click completed scene → modal for pending edits → save ideas for later revision. Keeps you progressing to new scenes instead of endlessly revising. See the Settings for details.

Zero Draft modal — capture edit ideas without breaking flow

Settings: → Radial Timeline → Zero draft mode