Reference · Book Settings
Book Settings — Book
Book Settings is where you set the shape of the whole book: its genre and tone, how long it is, how it’s told, and how it’s structured. It opens as the Structure step (step 4 of setup) and has four tabs — Book, World, Style and Author Style. This page covers the Book tab: the top-level choices that steer every chapter the pipeline plans and writes.
What’s on this page
- The four Book Settings tabs — Book · World · Style · Author Style. This page is the Book tab.
- The basics: genre, tone, chapter count, word target, POV mode, narrative style, ending, and the book’s dominant emotion.
- Themes — with an “AI Suggest” button (quality tiers + coin cost) that drafts them from your story.
- An “Advanced settings” drawer: structure framework, scenes per chapter, tension curve, event density, stakes, central mystery, and structure rules.
How to use it
- 1Set genre and length first — they anchor everything downstream (the pipeline sizes chapters to your word target).
- 2Pick how it’s told (POV mode + narrative style) and the ending/emotion you’re aiming for.
- 3Open Advanced only if you want to shape pacing and structure directly — the defaults are sensible.
The four tabs
Book Settings opens as the Structure step and splits into four tabs. Book (this page) sets the book’s shape. World sets the rules of the setting (genre, technology, magic, society). Style tunes how the prose reads. Author Style shapes the narrative voice and its bans. Each has its own Reference page — the others are on the way.
How these reach the book. The Book-tab choices are saved as your project’s book-level settings and read by the pipeline when it plans the structure and writes each scene — so a change here ripples through every chapter the next time you build. They set direction; the actual plot lives in your Synopsis, StoryGraph and Canon Facts.
The Book tab, field by field
The tab shows the basics up front and hides the finer structure controls behind “Advanced settings”. Genre is the only required field; everything else has a sensible default, so you can set two or three things and move on.
The basics
The top-level shape of the book. Genre is required; the rest have sensible defaults.
Genre
bp_genre · selectThe book’s primary genre. Required.
AffectsThe strongest single steer — it shapes the writing style, the metaphors, and the world-building defaults, and it flows through structure planning into every scene. Choosing it also pre-fills matching World-tab defaults you can override.
Options
Fantasy / Sci-fi / Cyberpunk / Steampunk / Post-apospeculative worlds — invented rules, tech or magicDetective / Thriller / Horror / Noirplot-driven tension and dreadLiterary fiction / Realism / Historical / Romance / Dystopiagrounded, character- or theme-forward
Use itPick the closest primary genre; keep it consistent with the World and Author Style tabs.
Tone
bp_tone · selectThe overall mood of the book.
AffectsFed to the writing — one of the book-level settings the pipeline reads when it plans the structure and writes each scene. Colours the narration’s mood across chapters.
Options
dark · tense · melancholic · gothicheavy, foreboding moodslight · whimsical · comedic · satiricallighter, playful moodsepic · intimate · philosophical · dreamlike · ironicregister and distance of the telling
Chapters
bp_num_chapters · numberHow many chapters to plan (5–100).
AffectsStructural — sets how many chapters the skeleton lays out, which (with the word target) drives total length and pacing.
Example
20Words (target)
bp_target_total_words · numberTarget word count for the whole book (10k–500k, in 10k steps).
AffectsStructural — the pipeline sizes chapters and scenes to hit it. With the chapter count it sets the average chapter length. (Per-scene length also has a finer lever on the Style/Structure side.)
Example
90000A word target far out of step with the chapter count yields very long or very short chapters — keep the two in balance.
POV mode
bp_pov_mode · selectHow many viewpoints the book follows.
AffectsFed to the writing — one of the book-level settings the pipeline reads when it plans the structure and writes each scene. Shapes how the structure assigns scenes to viewpoint characters.
Options
Single POVone viewpoint throughoutDual POVtwo alternating viewpointsMulti POVseveral viewpointsOmniscienta narrator above any single character
Narrative style
bp_pov_style · selectThe grammatical person and depth of interiority the narration uses.
AffectsFed to the writing — one of the book-level settings the pipeline reads when it plans the structure and writes each scene. Sets how close the prose sits to a character’s inner life.
Options
1st persontold as “I” — closest interiority3rd limitedthird person, anchored to one character at a time3rd omniscientthird person with a wider, all-seeing view
Ending
bp_ending_type · selectThe kind of ending you’re aiming for.
AffectsFed to the writing — one of the book-level settings the pipeline reads when it plans the structure and writes each scene. Guides the final act’s shape.
Options
Resolvedthreads tied offOpendeliberately unresolvedTragica downfall endingBittersweeta win with a costAmbiguousread-it-both-ways
Book emotion
bp_dominant_emotion · selectThe dominant emotion you want the reader to feel throughout.
AffectsFed to the writing — a book-level emotional target the enrichment stage leans scenes toward (hope, fear, rage, wonder, despair, love, and more).
Example
Rage — a book that burns with grief turned outward.Themes
themes · tagsThe recurring ideas the story explores. Draft them with “AI Suggest”, or remove any you don’t want.
AffectsFed to the writing — the themes are injected into structure planning (as a THEMES section) so the plot returns to them. “AI Suggest” drafts them from your story at a chosen quality tier for a coin cost (or your own key).
Example
the cost of creation · freedom through destruction · identity vs. powerThemes are drafted from your synopsis — fill the Synopsis first for the suggestion to be on-target.
Advanced — structure
AdvancedUnder “Advanced settings”. Shape the pacing and structure directly; the defaults are sensible.
Structure
bp_structure_type · selectThe narrative framework the book is built on.
AffectsStructural — sets the beat pattern the skeleton and outline follow.
Options
3-Actsetup · confrontation · resolution5-Acta finer five-part arcHero’s Journeythe departure–initiation–return monomythCustomno imposed framework
Scenes / chapter
bp_scenes_per_chapter · numberHow many scenes each chapter is split into (2–8).
AffectsStructural — sets the scene count per chapter the skeleton generates.
Example
4Tension curve
bp_tension_curve · selectHow tension rises and falls across the whole book.
AffectsStructural — steers how the outline distributes high- and low-tension beats.
Options
Gradual Risesteadily building to the climaxWavespeaks and troughs throughoutPlateau Burstscalm stretches broken by spikesConstantsustained pressure
Event density
bp_event_density · selectHow much happens per scene.
AffectsStructural — sparse and reflective vs. packed with events.
Options
Lowspacious, reflective scenesMediuma balanced paceHighevent-packed scenes
Stakes
bp_stakes_level · selectHow high the consequences run.
AffectsFed to the writing — one of the book-level settings the pipeline reads when it plans the structure and writes each scene. Sets the scale of what’s at risk.
Options
Personalone life or relationshipFamily / Communitya small circleNational / Globala society or the worldExistentialeverything
Central mystery
bp_central_mystery · textAn optional core question or secret that drives reader curiosity.
AffectsFed to the writing — one of the book-level settings the pipeline reads when it plans the structure and writes each scene. When set, the structure plants and paces it as a running hook. Optional.
Example
Who really survived the fall of the old capital — and why do they want the map back?Advanced — structure rules
AdvancedFiner levers on how chapters open, bridge and crest. Safe to leave at their defaults.
Scene position rules
sc_position_rules · toggleEnforce where key beats land within each chapter.
AffectsStructural — when on, the scene planner holds important beats to their intended positions.
Scene bridges
sc_bridges_enabled · toggleAdd connective scenes between chapters for smoother flow.
AffectsStructural — when on, the planner inserts bridging beats so chapters hand off cleanly.
Chapter hook style
sc_chapter_hook_style · selectHow each chapter opens to pull the reader in.
AffectsFed to the writing — steers the opening beat of each chapter.
Options
Open Questionstart on an unanswered questionRevelationopen with something revealedCliffhangerpick up mid-tensionShifta change of scene, time or POV
Crisis scene style
sc_crisis_style · selectHow crisis moments are paced.
AffectsFed to the writing — sets the rhythm of the book’s crisis beats.
Options
Compressed (fast pace)short, clipped, urgentExtendeddrawn out for weightInternalcrisis felt from inside the character
Through-line (central tension)
sc_through_line · textA single thread that runs through every chapter to keep focus.
AffectsFed to the writing — one of the book-level settings the pipeline reads when it plans the structure and writes each scene. When set, it’s carried across chapters so the book stays on one spine. Optional.
Example
Can she undo what she drew without erasing herself along with it?Advanced settings
Opening Advanced settings reveals how the book is built — the structure framework, the tension curve, how many scenes fill a chapter, how much happens per scene, and the structure rules that govern how chapters open, bridge and crest. These are documented in the two “Advanced” groups above. Most books never need them, but they’re the direct way to shape pacing without touching the plot itself.