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Introduction

The focus of the app will be to use templates and generators.

How it works​

I haven't decided yet whether this will be a web app or desktop app, it needs internet to download or share templates and generators, so needs a way to connect to the internet. To also assume some sort of ownership of works (templates, generators or even books), you will also need accounts and authentication, so most like a web app.

1. Create a account​

All we need is an email to sign up and recover data and maybe a username to reference the user.

2. Create a project​

This represent each work, for example a new story. In a project we have the following

  1. Config: a single file where all the project details will be saved. Things like name, references to cover image etc.
  2. Assets: this is a single where all external files will be saved. We will support saving all files like pdfs, docs, images, audios etc.
  3. Folders: this is user generated, and can be nested. It is where all the documents or files are placed.

Folders​

A typical folders may contain the following

  1. Another folder: This is meant for nesting folders
  2. Config: information about the folder, like folder name, folder position, folder descriptions, image etc
  3. Document: This is where all actual writing takes places, it contains rich text
  4. Template: This is where the power of the app will shine through. By default, a template is "blank", no frills. You can create template to pre-populate a new document

Template​

This is where you provide instructions on how a new document is created in a particular folder. By default all templates are blank, which means the blank documents will be created. But you can take it further.

1. Static content:

basic copy and paste. It sets up the content that will appear in the document the same way it does in the template. Example

Static template

# Character

## Name

## Physical description

## Relationships

2. Dynamic content:

Similar to embedded js like ejs, jade or handlebars. It allows users to insert code that will be run on creation. This will use generators to generate dynamic content. Not sure what the template script will be, it basically involves inserting variables into the template. It has three steps

  • Generate variables using generators
Declaring variables
country = generateCountry()
city = generateCity(country=country)
gender = generateGender()
pronoun = generatePronoun (gender=gender)
name = generateName(country=country, gender=gender)
age = generateAge(category='adult')
date = generateDOB(age=age, date='27/03/2025')
nickName = generateNickName(name=name, age=age)
background = generateBackground(name=name, gender=gender, age=age, period='medieval')
  • Now you can use it along with static content
# Character

{{name}} was born in the city of {{city}}, {{country}}.
{{pronoun.subject}} is {{age}} years old

## Background

{{background}}
  • So in short, you have two sections
    • The variables section
    • The content: where you can use both static and dynamic content

3. Generators

As you've probably noticed, there are some functions like generateCountry() and generateName(). This is what I would call generators, and will be used to generate dynamic contents. The app will provide wide arrays of generators that the user can use in their project to automate some aspect of the project.

The generators will use basic functions or even AI, and will be expected to grow as the app grows.

I also expect to allow users to create their own generators, the easiest way is to allow users to chain together various default generators to produce something more complex, for example

User created generators
generateBasicInfo:
  country = generateCountry()
  city = generateCity(country=country)
  gender = generateGender()
  name = generateName(country=country, gender=gender)
  : {{name}}({{gender}}) was born in the city of {{city}}, {{country}}.

3. Updating documents​

Documents are rich text editors that allows users to do what people do in documents, with one factor (apart from using templates). There will be a right sidebar with the following functionalities

  • AI integration: this will access to the current document, and can be used to do the usual prompting. You can even add more documents from your file for context e.g. for example, you are writing a chapter, you can add all the characters and the summary of the story so far, to let your AI write the next chapter. You can also do stuff like, create a wife or husband for this particular character.
  • Generators: You can quickly search through available/downloaded generators to generate stuff. This provides a UI interaction depending on the generator you provide to generate a new data e.g. generate name, you can select country, gender, input pattern etc.
  • More: I will add additional tools or even third party like Grammarly

Who will use it​

Authors​

I will expect to use it to auto-populate their work, especially non-major stuff like secondary characters, locations etc. While I do see everyone using default and public templates.

Coders​

They could also be authors, but willing to learn how to create templates or even generators. It will allow them to further customise it for their perfect use, or even share it with other people. Who knows, people can even sell their templates or we have a subscription fee with royalties paid out based on downloads.