Creating stories
Stories
When you create the story you will be taken to the story's Story Overview page. You can return here at any time by clicking Story Overview in the left-hand menu.
Here you can edit the title, description and a cover image for your story. You can also update the premium features available on your story, add and edit collaborators, generate your API key and switch licences.
The cover image for your stories will only be displayed on the My Stories page.
Narrative Elements
You can start building Scenes and Subplots for Web Comic stories, Subplots for Pro stories, and Characters by clicking on them in the left-hand menu.
Creating Scenes
Scenes are used to break your story up into manageable chunks. Each scene has its own Story Graph. Although these graphs are infinite, we recommend creating several shorter scenes over one long one, to make editing simpler. Scenes start automatically in sequential order.
- Create a scene by clicking Add new scene under Story on the left-hand menu and writing a scene name.
- Edit your scene name by clicking the
…icon and clicking Rename.
Creating Subplots
Subplots can be accessed from any scene and each subplot has its own Story Graph. You can create folders to help organise your subplots - click on the folder icon next to Subplots. You can jump into a subplot from your scene using the Subplot node. And you can return to the scene from the subplot by exiting the subplot through the Graph Exit node.
- Create a subplot by clicking Add new subplot... under Subplots on the left-hand menu and writing a subplot name.
- Edit your subplot details by clicking the
…icon next to the name of the subplot, you can bring up the pop up menu. Here you can edit, duplicate, delete the subplot or edit the subplot conditions. This last feature can control to enter or not to enter the subplot based on the conditions set by you. There are two conditions you can add to the subplot:- Last character to speak
- Player is on or not in a particular scene
Creating Characters
In Charisma, Characters are the life-blood of your stories. You can have as many as you like throughout your story. Don’t hold back!
- Create a character by clicking Characters on the left-hand menu, then clicking Add new character....
- Name your character. This will be displayed in-app on every character bubble, so keep it short.
- Add character image. Add an image for your character. It'll be displayed in any feeling effects pop-ups in the app!
- Choose a voice. Select from the dropdown list of existing voices for your character. You can preview the voice and adjust the pitch, rate and volume.
- Moods and relationships. Hit next, and you'll now be able to adjust your character's baseline mood and relationship values. For more info on how these work, see Emotions.
Avatar Builder
This feature is available only to Web Comic stories.
After creating your characters, you can bring them to life using the Avatar Builder.
Click on Avatar Builder in the sidebar to open the customization tool. Once you've customized your character's appearance, you can export them to your Media library by clicking Export to Library within the builder.
Once your avatar is saved in the Media library, return to your graph and open the Media Manager from one of your Character nodes by clicking the Media Manager icon. In the Media Manager, under Visuals, click Add Landscape Layer or Add Portrait Layer, then click the image icon. This action will open your Media Library where you can select your avatar from, select your avatar by clicking Select. This will add the avatar to the Preview window on the right.
You're ready to start your story. Happy writing!
