Core Workflows

Planning Your Novel

• Story Beats: Use any story beat system (Save the Cat, Hero's Journey, Story Grid, or Custom) to lay out the story momentum scaffolding.
• Act Structure: Create and distribute scenes by act (1-3) to see your three-act structure take shape as scene ideas come to you.
• Subplot Tracking: Each ring represents a different subplot—see how plot threads interweave.
• Beat Templates: Generate complete story beat sets like Save the Cat using Settings → Story beat system.

Command: Create template scene note Settings: Story beat system

Tracking Progress

• Status Colors: In Subplot Mode, scenes are color-coded by status (Todo = plaid, Working = pink, Overdue = red, Complete = publish stage color customizable in settings). In Narrative and Chronologue modes, scenes display their subplot color.
• Completion Estimates: Plugin calculates target completion date based on your recent writing pace.
• Capture actual completion dates: When you mark a scene as Complete, update its Due date to the day you finished. Those timestamps power the completion estimate calculations, so keeping them current improves the forecast.
• Publishing Stages: Track manuscript through Zero → Author → House → Press.
• Subplot Mode: Switch to subplot mode (navigation top right via page icon or keyboard 2) for a per-subplot view (no combined outer ring) that emphasizes publication progress and Todo/Working/Overdue status patterns.

Modes: Narrative (key 1) or Subplot (key 2) Settings: Publishing stage colors

Zero Draft Mode

Prevents edits to completed zero-draft scenes. Click completed scene → modal for pending edits → save ideas for later revision. Keeps you progress to new scenes instead of endlessly revising. See the Zero Draft Mode guide for full details.

Settings: → Radial Timeline → Zero draft mode

Manage Subplots in Bulk

Need to rename or delete a subplot across dozens of scenes? Use the Subplot Manager command (command palette → “Radial Timeline: Open Subplot Manager”). The modal lets you:

• Rename a subplot and automatically update the frontmatter of every scene using it.
• Delete a subplot and strip the tag from all scenes in one action.

This is especially helpful after reorganizing your B/C plots—you no longer have to hunt through every note manually.

Reordering Scenes

Scenes in Radial Timeline can be reordered in two ways: by renaming the scene title or by dragging scenes in Narrative Mode (newer versions).

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Method 1: Reorder by Scene Title (All Versions)

Radial Timeline uses the leading number in the scene title to determine order.

Example:

1 Tom rides a bike

• 1 = scene order
• Tom rides a bike = scene title

To move the scene, change the leading number:

3 Tom rides a bike

The scene is now treated as Scene 3.
Only the number controls ordering—the text after it is the title.

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Acts and Scene Order

Scene order is act-specific.

If you change the scene number but do not update the Act, the scene will move to the new position within its current act.

Example YAML:

Act: 1

If you rename a scene to the highest number in the manuscript but leave Act: 1, it will become the last scene of Act 1, not the last scene overall.

To move a scene to a different act, update the YAML:

Act: 3

Always update both:

• the scene number in the title
• the Act field in YAML, if changing acts

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Method 2: Drag & Drop (Narrative Mode Only)

In recent versions of Radial Timeline:

• Switch to Narrative Mode
• Drag the numbered scene squares on the outer ring (cursor becomes double arrow)
• Drop the scene into its new position on the numbered scene square
• Confirm the change when prompted

This method automatically updates ordering for you.

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Summary

• Scene order is controlled by the number at the start of the title
• Scene order is scoped to the Act
• Changing acts requires updating the YAML Act: field
• Narrative Mode supports drag-and-drop reordering