Chronos
The shape of the whole book in one view: what happens where, which threads run through it, and where every character turns.
Updated
Chronos lays your book out along a single axis. Chapters run across the top, each as wide as the number of scenes it holds, so a dense chapter genuinely looks dense. Beneath them run the threads you already track — your main plot, your subplots from the Plot Grid, and every character arc — so you can see a subplot go quiet for six chapters, or two arcs turn in the same scene.
✦Quick start
- 1Open Chronos from the Story menu, or run it from the command palette.
- 2Read across the top: each chapter column is as wide as its scene count, and each scene is a filmstrip as wide as its shots.
- 3Read down: Main plot, then your subplots, then one lane for each character arc.
- 4Drag an arc beat onto a chapter — or onto a specific scene — to anchor where that turn happens.
- 5Use Isolate to show only what a single character touches.
Reading the Timeline
- Chapter columns are sized by scene count and scene filmstrips by shot count — width is weight
- Main plot and subplot lanes come from your Plot Grid columns; nothing is duplicated
- Character-arc lanes place each beat where it has been anchored, and an unplaced beat stays visibly unplaced
- Connection strands tie a beat to the scene it belongs to, so a turn is never left floating
- Double-click to travel to a chapter or scene — a single click only selects, so exploring never throws you out of the view
Working In It
- Drag an arc beat to re-anchor it to a chapter or a specific scene; the Arc Map follows immediately
- Open a beat to see its external event, belief state, choice, cost, relationship effect, evidence on the page, and notes
- Isolate one character to show only the scenes, beats, and threads they touch
- Open in Plot Grid, or Open character, to jump to the tool that owns that row
- Go fullscreen for a whole-book read, or pop Chronos out into its own window beside the manuscript
✦
Chronos is a reading instrument, not a second copy of your plan. Everything on it belongs to the Plot Grid, Scene Designer, or a character’s Arc Map — change it here and you have changed it there, because it is the same record.