Introduction

If you haven't checked out the About page already, you can see the philosophy behind it. Essentially I wanted an app that would finally help me finish my story. To achieve this, it needed to do a few things:

1. Be focused: No feature bloat, and allow toggling of features.
2. Modern: Utilise the benefits of modern technology and languages, patterns and UI.
3. Workable offline: It needed to – at its foundation – be offline. Online features should be optional and secondary.
4. Clean: The UI needed to be inspiring, and help me write. No needless cognitive load.

As a developer I had gotten used to modern tools and UI, so I was not willing to compromise. I wanted something that would not distract me from the goal Completed work. I also did not want to do double work, everything should build towards something. This meant, that everything should circle back to the core concepts within Writality.

"No double work" ~ Bara

This guide takes you from initial setup to a manuscript you can read and export. This is how I use the app, but the app is flexible and supports many workflows. The guide should help you wrap your head around the core concepts. From there, will naturally discover a system that works best for you.

You can follow the examples or use your own story. I wouldn't worry too much about getting the right setup to start with. Your setup should naturally change to fit you as you continue using the app.

We'll start by making a project. In my case I will call it Epitaph of the Undying. We'll create a character and a city as concepts and assign them types. Explore some of the features within concepts, and then write a segment using these concepts. Finally, we will add the scene to our manuscript and then export it. By the end, you'll have a small manuscript you can read from beginning to end.

We will also touch on chronology, and the map making feature to get you familiar.

Start with your first project, then find your way around and continue from there.

1. Chapter 1 · Getting started

   1. 1.1 Your first project
   2. 1.2 Finding your way

2. Chapter 2 · Worldbuilding

   1. 2.1.1 Concepts
   2. 2.1.2 Sidebar and Types
   3. 2.1.3 Adding more concepts
   4. 2.1.4 Relationships

3. Chapter 3 · Writing

   1. 3.1.1 Segments
   2. 3.1.2 The segment sidebar
   3. 3.1.3 Organising with folders
   4. 3.1.4 Scenes and chapters
   5. 3.2.1 Setting up your editor
   6. 3.2.2 Modes
   7. 3.2.3 Formatting your writing
   8. 3.2.4 Mentions and references
   9. 3.3.1 Assembling a manuscript
   10. 3.3.2 Reading your manuscript
   11. 3.3.3 Exporting your work

4. Chapter 4 · Workspace

   1. 4.1 Themes and appearance
   2. 4.2 Notes
   3. 4.3 Tags
   4. 4.4 Versions
   5. 4.5 Backups and recovery

Keyboard shortcuts help you navigate the app quicker. You should familiarise yourself with the basic shortcuts, it will save you lots of time.

If you've already made a project, start with concepts. Use the people, places, and ideas you already have; you don't need to rewrite your draft to follow along.

If your concepts are in place, move on to segments. For editor customisation, go to editor setup.

When a question calls for it, explore relationships, put your places on a map, or work with chronology. When the writing is ready, assemble a manuscript and export a copy.