The book's folder

A book is an ordinary folder. Everything in it is a Markdown text file that any app can open, and the folder still makes sense if Plot Device is gone.

• Directorythe-salt-orchard/

  • Directorycharacters/

    • bea.md
    • ilka.md
    • noel.md
  • Directorymanuscript/

    • a-scene-for-later.md
    • epilogue.md
    • frost.md
    • prologue.md
    • the-crossing.md
    • the-ledger.md
    • the-orchard-gate.md
    • what-the-trees-gave.md
  • Directorynotes/

    • loose-ideas.md
    • salt-research.md
    • timeline.md
  • Directoryoutlines/

    • beas-path.md
    • main-story.md
    • the-arc-of-ilka.md
  • Directoryplaces/

    • ferry-landing.md
    • marrow.md
    • salt-orchard.md
  • CONTENTS.md
  • project.md

CONTENTS.md

# The Salt Orchard

- [Prologue](manuscript/prologue.md)
- Part One: Arrival
  - [The Crossing](manuscript/the-crossing.md)
  - [The Orchard Gate](manuscript/the-orchard-gate.md)
  - [The Ledger](manuscript/the-ledger.md)
- Part Two: Salt
  - [Frost](manuscript/frost.md)
  - [What the Trees Gave](manuscript/what-the-trees-gave.md)
- [Epilogue](manuscript/epilogue.md)

File or folder	What it holds
project.md	The book’s title, author, language and a few settings. Anything you write under them is yours.
CONTENTS.md	The reading order and the parts. See Chapters and the contents.
manuscript/	One file per chapter.
outlines/	One file per outline. See Outline files.
characters/, places/, notes/	One file per page. See Character, place and note pages.
Other folders of pages	The book’s own kinds of pages, such as factions/, written like any other page.

Plot Device keeps nothing else in the folder: no hidden database, no settings, no backups. Those live on your computer, outside the book. Copy the folder, sync it, or put it in git; it’s complete.

Kinds of pages in project.md

A book with kinds of its own lists them in project.md, in the order Plot Device shows them. Kinds of pages changes this list for you; it’s here so the file makes sense when you read it.

kinds:
  - folder: characters
  - folder: factions
    one: Faction
    many: Factions
  - folder: places
  - folder: notes
manuscriptUnit:
  one: Session
  many: Sessions
suggestedTags: [Player character, Villain, Ally]

• folder is the kind’s folder; one and many are what Plot Device calls it. Characters, places and notes need no names.
• manuscriptUnit is what the book calls its chapters. Without it, they’re chapters.
• A book without kinds has characters, places and notes. A folder of pages that isn’t listed shows as “Not sorted yet”.
• suggestedTags are offered by + Tag before any page uses them. A book from a template may have some; any book can.

The main outline and outlines set aside

mainOutline: outlines/main-story.md
setAside: [outlines/old-plan.md]

• mainOutline is the outline whose sections name the timeline’s columns. Without it, the first outline is.
• setAside lists outlines you set aside: off the timeline, listed apart, and never deleted.

Opening it elsewhere

• Obsidian: open the folder as a vault. Links between pages work there too.
• A text editor, GitHub, or VS Code: every file reads as plain Markdown.
• git: each change is a small, readable difference in a text file.

To bring in notes or a draft you wrote elsewhere, see Moving an existing book in.