Planning
How to organize characters and relationships without freezing the story
Use profiles, images, relationships, and mentions to track what matters in each scene without writing biographies that never reach the manuscript.
Inkthar · Published · Updated · 7 min read
Record decisions that affect scenes
Start with narrative function, desire, obstacle, contradiction, and voice. Appearance and backstory belong when they have consequences. In Inkthar, characters share the entity catalog with places and objects; fields and images aid recognition but need not be complete before drafting.
A short profile updated during the draft is often more reliable than a biography written months before the scene.
- What the character wants now
- What they cannot admit
- Who blocks or enables them
- What changes after the scene
Use relationships to find tension
Record relationships when they expose asymmetry: one person trusts while another suspects; one protects while the other feels controlled. The graph makes isolated groups and repeated connections easier to see.
After an important revelation, revisit affected relationships. If trust, information, or behavior does not change, the consequence may not yet be visible.
Return from profiles to the text
In the editor, use Mention entity or drag an entity into the text to create an explicit link. Only linked mentions appear in counts and maps; typing the name as plain text is not enough. Reread each result to distinguish presence, memory, and comparison.
For each main character, choose an initial state, irreversible decision, and final state. Revisit those scenes and align the profile with the text—or the text with the arc you intend to keep.