Story templates
A story template is a ready-made starting point for a new story — a structure of parts, chapters and scenes, along with story notes, characters and locations, all set up in advance so you can begin writing instead of scaffolding. When templates are available, you can pick one instead of starting from a blank story.
Templates only appear when an admin has enabled the feature and published at least one template. If you do not see the options described here, they have not been turned on for your community.
Choosing a template
When you create a new story, and templates are enabled, the new-story page offers a Start from a template button alongside the usual blank story form. You can always ignore it and fill in a blank story instead.
The template gallery
Start from a template opens a browsable gallery of published templates. Each is shown as a card with its name and a rich description explaining what the template is for and what it contains. Two buttons sit on every card: Preview and Choose this.
Previewing a template
Preview opens a modal showing everything the template includes, so you know exactly what you are getting before you commit. The preview lays out, in order:
- the template title
- its description
- story notes
- characters
- locations
- frontmatter
- the structure (parts, chapters and scenes, with any planning notes)
- endmatter
What happens when you choose a template
Choose this carries the template into the new-story form, where a banner confirms which template you are starting from (with a link to start blank instead if you change your mind). When you create the story, DragonWriter scaffolds it from the template as a one-time, independent copy:
- the full structure of parts, chapters and scenes is created, keeping the template's order
- chapter and scene planning notes are carried over
- story notes, frontmatter and endmatter, characters and locations are copied in with their formatted text
- scene bodies start blank — the template gives you the shape and the plan, and you write the prose
- if the template has a starred story note, it is carried over as your story's default note
Because the copy is independent, later changes an admin makes to the template never touch a story you have already created from it. Your new story is entirely yours to edit.