# The manuscript and scenes

> How a book is organised in Author: parts, chapters and scenes, their status and mode, time and place, word counts, and the four places of a book.

Source: https://author.geenius.io/docs/writing-scenes/

## The tree

A book is a tree of **parts**, **chapters** and **scenes**, in reading order. Each node has a title, a synopsis and a **status**: idea, outline, draft, revised or final. Word counts are kept per scene and per book. You can move a node, and you can shift a node's scenes (and the timed events that go with them) in story time.

## A scene

A scene's text is Markdown. Besides the text a scene can carry:

- **When**: a start and an end or a duration, or a relative time ("the next morning", an offset from another scene).
- **Where**: a place, from your cast.
- **Point of view**: a character. The check for point of view warns if that character is not in the scene.
- **Present**: the characters in the scene.
- **Weather**: a weather entry and its state.
- **Mode**: present, flashback, dream or memory. Flashbacks, dreams and memories do not count for the presence checks.
- **Assertions**: facts the scene states, such as an age or a weekday, which the checks compare with the calendar and the story.

## Four places in a book

| Place | What it is for |
|---|---|
| **Write** | The scene page, with an inspector for time, place and cast |
| **Story** | The timeline, the board of strands against chapters, the outline and the events |
| **Bible** | The cast and the places, as cards or a ruled list |
| **Share** | Versions, readers and export |

Your place is kept in the address, so a refresh or a shared link returns you to the same scene or view.

## Time

Story time is text in the book's calendar: `2024-03-04 18:00`, `2024-03-04`, `1923-04`, `1923`, or `Day 3 14:05` for relative calendars. A leading `~` marks it approximate. Durations are minutes (`90`) or `1h 30m`, `2d`. See [Events and state](/docs/events-and-state/).

## Writing with care

- Save a [version](/docs/versions-and-diffs/) before a big rewrite.
- Mark what happens as events instead of keeping it in your head: the state and the checks work from them.