YAML Frontmatter

This page covers scene properties (core and advanced), beat notes, and backdrop notes. Radial Timeline reads these from Obsidian properties at the top of each note. If you prefer to keep things light, you can start with only the minimal properties and fill in the rest later.

Core Scene Scaffold

ID: scn_00000000          # Auto-generated stable scene reference
Class: Scene              # Type: Scene
Act: 1                    # Which act (1-3)
When:                     # Story chronology date (YYYY-MM-DD 12:34pm)
Duration:                 # How long the scene lasts (e.g., "45 seconds", "45s", "45sec", "2 hours", "3days")
Chapter:                  # Optional chapter marker for publishing and perimeter placards
Synopsis:                 # Concise present-tense snapshot for hovers/outlines (1-3 sentences)
Summary:                  # Extended scene expansion (events, emotional turns, subtext, outcome)
Pending Edits:            # Notes for next revision (especially for zero draft mode)
Subplot: Main Plot        # Single subplot (or use array format below for multiple)
Character:                # Characters in the scene (use array format below for multiple)
POV:                      # blank, first, you, third, omni, narrator, two, all, count
Words:                    # Optional word count/statistics
Runtime:                  # Optional runtime estimate or override
Publish Stage: Zero       # Progress stage (Zero/Author/House/Press)
Status: Todo              # Scene status (Todo/Working/Complete)
Due:                      # Target completion date (YYYY-MM-DD). When setting Scene to Complete, change this to that day's date for better novel completion estimate
Pulse Update:             # AI-generated scene pulse analysis flag
Summary Update:           # Summary refresh flag

Book Designer and Create note generate the core scaffold above. ID is inserted automatically for stable scene citations, and the scene properties editor can maintain the current core and advanced field order.

For multiple subplots or characters, use YAML list format:

Subplot:
  - Main Plot
  - Subplot 1
Character:
  - "Protagonist"
  - "Mentor"
  - "Child One"
Place:
  - "Castle"
  - "Forest"
  - "Planet Nine"

Obsidian links are supported in properties. Use the double-bracket wikilink format inside quotes if you want a field to link to a note.

POV Keywords

• pov: first — first listed character gets a ¹ marker.
• pov: second / pov: you — inserts You² ahead of the cast.
• pov: omni — shows Omni³ to signal an omniscient narrator.
• pov: objective — shows Narrator° for camera-eye scenes.
• pov: two, pov: 4, pov: count, pov: all — highlight multiple carriers.

You can control how POV is displayed in Settings → Core → Point of view.

Advanced Scene Properties

Advanced scene properties add optional fields for deeper workflows (Dramatica, custom analysis, and more). This profile is customizable.

ID: scn_00000000
Class: Scene
Act: 1
When: 2085-01-01 1:30pm
Duration: 6 hours
Chapter:
Synopsis: What happens in a few lines.
Summary: The longer scene summary.
Pending Edits:
Subplot:
  - Subplot 1
  - Subplot 2
Character:
  - "Character 1"
Place:
  - "Earth"
Publish Stage: Zero
Status: Todo
Due:
Pulse Update: No
Summary Update:
Words:
Runtime:
Iteration:                            # Edit iteration count (deprecated: was "Revision")
Type:                                 # Optional scene role or classification
Shift:                                # Optional value shift or polarity change
Questions:                            # Analysis Block
Reader Emotion:
Internal: How do the characters change?
Total Time:

Scene Properties Editor

The Scene properties editor lets you tailor the advanced scene properties while keeping required base keys intact. Add, remove, or reorder optional fields to match your workflow.

• Enable Settings → Core → Scene properties → Scene properties editor.
• Required base keys stay locked and auto-included in order.
• Optional keys can be drag-reordered, renamed, deleted, or added.
• RT-managed maintenance only governs the core and current advanced scene-property fields.
• External or foreign YAML properties are preserved and are not deleted by scene-property maintenance.
• Reorder keeps foreign keys attached to the RT-managed item directly above them instead of pushing them into a generic end block.
• Use the restore icon to revert to the shipped defaults.

Beat Notes (YAML)

Class: Beat                   # Formerly Plot, Deprecated
Act: 1
Purpose: Why this beat exists in the structure (1-2 sentences, avoid retelling scene events).
Beat Model: Save The Cat
Range: 0-20
Gossamer1: 12                 # First trace (oldest) - Up to 30 saved traces
Gossamer1 Justification:
Gossamer2: 21                 # Second trace (most recent in this example)
Gossamer2 Justification:

Beat semantics: Beats are structural, not temporal. They do not use the When field — ordering comes from Act assignment and filename prefix (sceneInteger.minor, for example 7.01).

Beat notes have their own Beat properties editor in Settings → Core → Story beats system. Use it to add custom keys and choose which fields appear in beat hovers. Beat properties are stored per beat system.

Backdrop Notes (YAML)

Class: Backdrop                   # Used for special context events that move the plot. Appears as a dedicated ring in Chronologue mode. See also micro-backdrop rings for lighter-weight context.
When:                             # Start Date time (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM)
End:                              # End Date time (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM)
Context: Static world context this backdrop represents (no scene-level unfolding).

Backdrop notes can be extended using the Backdrop properties editor in Settings.

YAML Managers in Settings

• Scene properties editor: In Settings -> Core, customize advanced scene properties and hover metadata.
• Beat properties editor: Customize beat note fields and beat hover metadata.
• Remap frontmatter field keys: In Settings -> Advanced -> Configuration, map your existing keys to Radial Timeline keys without rewriting your files.

See Scene properties, Configuration, and Story beats system for configuration details.

Remap Frontmatter Field Keys

If your vault already uses different property names for scene notes, you can map them to Radial Timeline's system keys in Settings -> Advanced -> Configuration with Remap frontmatter field keys.

Example: If you use Timeline: 2024-01-01 instead of When: 2024-01-01, create a mapping from Timeline to When.

Backwards Compatibility

The plugin automatically recognizes legacy field names, so you don't need to update existing scene notes when field names change:

Current Name	Legacy Names (still work)
Iteration:	Revision:, Iterations:
Purpose:	Description:
Context:	Synopsis: (Backdrop only)

Beat notes do not use When: — they are ordered structurally by Act and filename prefix. Recommended format: fixed-width decimal minors (1.01, 1.02, ...).

Existing notes with old field names will continue to work. Only new notes created from the built-in property profiles will use the current field names.