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Arc Tracker

The Arc Tracker lets you chart a character's emotional journey across your story. Plot intensity values per scene, mark key milestones, and use AI analysis to identify gaps in character development.

When to Use the Arc Tracker​

Use the Arc Tracker when you want to:

  • Verify emotional pacing — does your protagonist's tension build consistently, or are there flat stretches?
  • Find development gaps — identify scenes where a character disappears or has no emotional progression
  • Compare your intent vs. output — run AI analysis to see if the emotional arc the AI detects in your prose matches what you intended

The Arc Tracker is most valuable after you've written several chapters of prose. It complements the Consistency Checker (which finds factual contradictions) and Story Analysis (which reviews pacing and structure).

Selecting a Character​

Choose a character from the dropdown in the sidebar. The view updates to show that character's emotional arc data.

Emotional States​

Each scene can have an emotional state that records the character's emotional condition at that point in the story:

FieldDescription
IntensityEmotional intensity on a scale (plotted on the Y axis)
LabelThe emotion or tone (e.g., "hopeful", "devastated", "resolute")
NotesYour notes about why this state matters
SourceWhether the state was set by you ("author") or by AI ("ai")

A progress indicator shows how many scenes have emotional states assigned (e.g., "12 / 24 have emotional states").

Adding / Editing States​

  • Click a scene button in the scene list grid to open the editor for that scene
  • Click a data point on the chart to edit an existing emotional state
  • Fill in intensity, label, and optional notes, then save

Chart​

The emotional arc is plotted as an interactive line chart (powered by Recharts):

  • X axis — scenes in story order
  • Y axis — emotional intensity
  • Data points — click to edit the emotional state for that scene
  • Milestone markers — vertical lines at key story beats

Milestones​

Milestones mark important structural beats in the character's arc. Add them to the chart for visual reference:

Milestone typeColor
SetupSlate
GrowthBlue
ClimaxAmber
ResolutionEmerald

Click Add Milestone to create a new milestone at a specific scene. Milestones appear as labeled vertical markers on the chart.

Gap Detection​

The Arc Tracker automatically identifies development gaps — stretches where a character has no emotional state data between scenes. Each gap has a severity level:

SeverityMeaning
MinorSmall gap — character is briefly absent
ModerateNotable gap — character arc may feel uneven
MajorLarge gap — character disappears for a significant stretch

Gaps help you find sections where a character's development needs attention.

AI Arc Analysis​

Click Analyze Arc to have the AI read every scene that contains prose and automatically populate emotional states. The AI provides:

  • Intensity — estimated emotional level
  • Label — the detected emotion
  • Evidence — a quote from the prose supporting the assessment
  • Reasoning — why the AI chose this intensity
  • Confidence — how certain the AI is (0–1)

AI-generated states are marked with source "ai" so you can distinguish them from your own annotations. You can edit or delete any AI-generated state.

Tooltip Details​

Hovering over a data point on the chart shows a tooltip with contextual details:

  • Evidence excerpt — for AI-generated states, the tooltip displays a highlighted prose quote that the AI used to determine the emotional state
  • AI reasoning — an explanation of why the AI chose this intensity and label
  • Low confidence warning — if the AI's confidence is below 80%, a yellow "Low confidence" badge appears so you know to double-check
  • Author notes — for manually-set states, your notes are displayed in the tooltip
tip

Write scene content before running AI analysis — the AI needs prose to analyze. Scenes with only beat text will be skipped.

Next Steps​