Who can do this?
Owners and co-authors with write access to the chapter maintain the metadata. If a co-author is restricted to certain books, that applies only to those.
Scenes and scene metadata
Scenes come from scene dividers in the text; you maintain their metadata in the “Edit scene” dialog.
What is it for?
You do not create scenes separately from the text. They result from the scene dividers you insert in the chapter. Illumentis derives the scenes from them on the server. For each scene you maintain metadata: the POV character, goal, conflict and outcome, the world time, the location of the action, the characters present and the subplots.
These details are the basis of the Illuminatio Engine. It uses them to check locations, times, ages and states of knowledge, and the timeline and the matrix board evaluate the same data. The more details a scene has, the more meaningful the check is.
Everything is optional. You maintain what you need, directly in the widgets of the side panel or all together in the “Edit scene” dialog.
How it works
-
In the editor, insert a “Scene divider” using the toolbar and give it a title if needed.
What you see afterwards: The scene appears in the scene list of the side panel.
-
In the scene list, choose “Edit scene”.
What you see afterwards: The “Edit scene” dialog opens with several tabs.
-
Fill in the details tab by tab, for example under “General” the POV character, goal, conflict and outcome.
What you see afterwards: The details are saved.
-
Under “Location” and “Characters”, set where the scene takes place and who is present.
What you see afterwards: The scene list shows the number of locations and characters present.
Your data
Scenes and their metadata belong to the chapter and the project and are backed up and exported with it. If you remove a scene divider in the text, Illumentis marks the scene as deleted and does not delete it permanently.
Limits
Scenes can be created only through scene dividers in the text. Goal, conflict, outcome and thematic purpose have at most 10,000 characters each. Illumentis does not derive locations from the text: mentioned locations appear as a suggestion that you confirm with “This is where it happens”. Without an active calendar module, no age can be calculated.
Frequently asked questions
What does “Unreliable narrator scene (not canonical)” mean?
The engine treats the facts shown in this scene as the subjective perception of the POV character rather than as objective canon. Checks against the global record then hide the scene.
Why does the scene show a location only as a suggestion?
The location is mentioned in the text but not yet confirmed as the location of the action. With “This is where it happens” you take it over.
What is the physical requirement for?
You record what a scene requires physically, including the body part involved. The engine compares this with the status effects of the POV character.