Who can do this?
The core theme belongs to the project. The owner and the co-authors of the project can see and change it. Guests cannot see it.
Core theme of a project
The core theme records the theme of your project and shows where your characters are heading in relation to it.
What is it for?
Every story revolves around a theme, such as freedom versus security. In the core theme you set this theme for the whole project: the core theme itself, two poles as the ends of a scale, and the arc of development you want to reach.
After that, you place your characters on this scale in the scenes. From this, the curve chart shows you one line per character across the chapters. At a glance you can see whether your characters develop the way you planned.
The chart is a reading aid, not an assessment. The Illuminatio Engine check for thematic deviations, however, only runs if you have entered a core theme. Without a core theme it stays off.
How it works
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Open your project, choose the “Thematics” section and there “Core theme”.
What you see afterwards: The page “Core theme” opens with four fields.
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Enter “Core theme”, “Pole A”, “Pole B” and “Target arc”.
What you see afterwards: The fields accept free text.
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Save your entries.
What you see afterwards: “Saved.”
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Position your characters in the scenes on the scale between the poles, in the scene dialog under “Thematic position”.
What you see afterwards: The curve chart shows one line per character.
Your data
Illumentis stores the core theme and the target arc encrypted in the project. Both are part of the data that is exported with the project. They are not tied to your account.
Limits
The core theme and the target arc have at most 10,000 characters, the poles at most 255. A position on the scale lies between −5 and 5. The chart does not rate anything. Without positions it shows “No chapters with recorded thematic positions yet.”
Frequently asked questions
Does “theme” here mean the look of the interface?
No. You set the theme with light and dark in the account settings. The core theme describes the theme of your story.
When does the Illuminatio Engine check the theme?
Only if a core theme is entered for the project. It then reports, for example, a scene written without a thematic purpose and strong jumps on the scale.