Manuscripts

 

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Manuscripts is the novel-writing software of World Anvil. You can use it to write, edit, and even publish your stories with a seamless integration with your world. This page will guide you through the process of creating, editing, and publishing a Manuscript on World Anvil.  

Writing interface

The Writing interface looks like this:     The top bar has some options to toggle the sidebars, a button to add new chapters ("folders"), scenes ("texts"), or images. There's also a search bar (for both the Manuscript and your world's contents) and then some buttons to toggle between write, review and read (more on these two later).   The left sidebar is the list of all chapters and scenes of your Manuscript. Click on any scene to edit it, and click on a chapter to get a detailed list of scenes. Clicking the Manuscript name will take you to the Manuscript's settings. Drag and drop any element of this sidebar to change its position in the structure tree.   The right sidebar contains options for each of the elements of the Manuscript. Depending on the elements you have selected (Manuscript, chapter, or scenes) the available options will change.  

Configuring your Manuscript

Click on your Manuscript title in the left sidebar to see all of the settings available, which will appear in the central section of the interface; use them to change the Manuscript title, the summary, the cover, and more. Use the Access tab to change who can see the Manuscript, and the Labels tab to set labels that you can then use to organize your scenes (note that these labels are only visible to you —they are meant to be used for organization purposes).     In the right sidebar, you can also have several options and utilities:

• Interface settings —change the font size, line height, and more. This will affect the text editor, not the Manuscript's presentation.
• Stats: including current manuscript word count, likes, and comments.
• Monetization options: use them to set your Patreon and Ko-fi pages, as well as a custom access denied and marketing messages.
• Exporting. You can use this to export your Manuscript in HTML format. You can also get a BBCode tag to embed the Manuscript anywhere on World Anvil.

 

Chapter settings

When you click on a chapter, the central section of the page has a list of the chapter's scenes with some details (such as word count and labels). The right sidebar has three tabs:  

• General information: change the chapter title, the synopsis, and some notes for yourself. You can also embed rich media (such as audio or videos), add a label (which you can configure in the Manuscript settings), set the POV character, and some tags.
• Chapter details: you can specify some details about the chapter, such as the time of the day, its importance in the plot, and others.
• Other settings: choose who can see this chapter. You can also use this tab to move the chapter to the trash.

 

Scene settings

The main body of this interface has the text editor, where you can write the scene itself. The right sidebar has four tabs with different options:  

• General information: change the scene title, synopsis, and notes.
• Tags and related article: use the second tab to change the tags, labels, and POV character of the scene. You can also add related article to the scene, such as characters and locations.
• Scene details: similar to the chapter details, add the time of the day, importance to the plot, etc.
• Settings: change if the scene will be private or public and get a BBCode tag to link to this part. You can also use this tab to move the scene to the trash.

 

Review interface

Click the Review button on the top right to access this interface. The goal of this interface is to let you quickly organize your Manuscript's content structure. When you click on a chapter or on the Manuscript as a whole, you get a list of all of its contained elements. For a chapter, it's all of its scenes; for the Manuscript, it's all of its chapters:     You can use this list to edit the synopsis of each elements and set their labels. Clicking the pencil button will take you to the write interface for the selected scene, and the trash button will move the scene to the Bin. Use the buttons below to create new texts or folders within the selected element.  

Read interface and publishing your Manuscript

This mode is pretty self-explanatory. Simply click any folder or text to read it! The text you read in this interface will look very similar to how your readers will view it, so use it as a preview before publishing the Manuscript!  

Publishing your Manuscript

You can't publish your Manuscript all at once. Instead, you will have to do it chapter by chapter. When you publish the first chapter, your Manuscript will also be published and a notification will be sent to all of your followers. Keep in mind that publishing can't be undone —once it's published, it's published forever (until you delete it). To publish a chapter, use the green Publish Chapter button in the Settings tab of the chapter (right sidebar).   Note that published does not mean public: if the Manuscript is set to Private in its access settings, nobody will be able to see it (unless you assign subscriber groups). Likewise, you can make individual chapters private or available to subscriber groups —perfect for monetization opportunities! If you set a subscriber group for the Manuscript as a whole, you don't need to set one up for each chapter individually. Additionally, note that you will have to send the view link of the Manuscripts to your subscribers, as they won't be able to see the Manuscript in your profile.   This is how your Manuscript will look like when you publish it:     Let's quickly unpack each of the highlighted section:

• Custom marketing message (red): you can set this text in the manuscript settings, under the Monetization tab. It will appear under the manuscript cover and also right before the comment section when you read a specific chapter.
• Quick Manuscript data (orange): under the Manuscript title you can see quick data, namely the Manuscript's world, completion status, views, likes, comments, and a word count.
• Backcover summary (purple): you can set that in your Manuscript's settings, under the Basic Details tab.
• Tags (cyan): set these tabs in the Manuscript's setting too. Language tags are displayed in cyan, and NSFW tags are automatically displayed in red.
• Table of contents (green): this is the list of folders (chapters) of the Manuscript. Each chapter all of its scenes, one after the other. If a chapter is set to private, it will have a padlock icon —clicking the chapter will take the reader to the access denied page.