Add and edit locations

Your story's locations, the places where it happens, live in its Locations tab. You can add each one yourself, which uses no credits, or ask Ando to suggest some, which uses AI credits. Either way, nothing is added until you say so, and you can change every location afterwards.

Locations help Ando keep your world consistent. When Ando writes a chapter, it reads your locations and only names places your story already has, so a lighthouse you've described stays the same lighthouse from chapter to chapter.

Add a location yourself

1. Open your story and select the Locations tab.
2. Select Add location.
3. Fill in Name and Description: what the place is like and why it matters to the story. Those two are needed; everything else can wait.

4. Add whatever else you already know:

   • Type: what kind of place it is, in a word or two, such as "lighthouse", "ship" or "apartment".
   • Atmosphere: how it feels to be there, its light, sound, weather and mood.
   • Story significance: why your story needs this place.
   • Rules or history: anything that governs the place, or happened there before your story starts.
5. Select Add location at the bottom.

Let Ando suggest locations

On the Creator and Pro plans, Ando can suggest locations from your story's plot. Each suggestion uses AI credits at the Balanced price. On the Free plan, the suggest buttons show a lock and open Plans.

A first set of locations

While your story has no locations, the Locations tab offers Suggest locations beside Add location.

1. Select Suggest locations. Ando's locations appear as they're written, each with a name and a short description. To stop, select the X beside Suggesting….
2. Read them through, then select the Add button, such as Add 4 locations, to add them all, or Discard to throw them all away.

You can't pick some and leave others, but you can edit or delete any of them once they're added. Suggested locations come with a name and a description; add their type, atmosphere and the rest yourself.

One more location

1. Select Add location, then Suggest a location.
2. Ando fills in Name and Description. If you'd already typed either, Storiando asks first: Keep mine leaves your words alone, Replace makes room for the suggestion.
3. Change anything you like, add the other details, then select Add location. Nothing is saved before that: Cancel leaves without adding anything.

If you stop the suggestion, or Ando can't finish it, the name and description go back to what you had.

Improve a description

Below Description, Improve asks Ando to rework what you've written. It works on every plan and uses AI credits.

1. Write a description, then select Improve.
2. Ando's version appears in Improve your text. You can edit it there.
3. Select Replace my text to use it, or Discard to keep yours.
4. Select Add location or Save changes to save the location.

Edit a location

1. In the Locations tab, select the location's name.
2. Change anything in Edit location.
3. Select Save changes.

If you close the form before saving, Storiando asks whether to Keep editing or Discard changes. If a save doesn't go through, your changes stay in the form: check your connection and select Save changes again.

The Still to decide column shows which of Type, Atmosphere and Story significance a location is still missing, and says Detailed once they're all filled in.

Ask Ando to change a location

You can also ask Ando. In your story, select Ando and say what you'd like, such as "Give the lighthouse an atmosphere and a reason the story needs it". Each reply from Ando uses AI credits, and Ando says how many under its reply.

Ando answers with a card showing each detail it would change, Now and After this change. Your location doesn't change until you select Apply changes. Reject throws the proposal away, and Ask for changes lets you tell Ando what to adjust. Once applied, Undo puts back what was there, as long as you haven't changed those details since. The card works the same way as for characters, shown in Add and edit characters.

Ando can change a location's details, but can't add or delete locations: do that in the Locations tab.

Delete a location

1. In the Locations tab, select the three dots at the end of the location's row.
2. Select Delete location, then Delete location again to confirm.

Deleting a location can't be undone. It's also taken out of the chapters in your outline that listed it. The words in your chapters stay exactly as you wrote them.

Related

• Add and edit characters
• Turn a brainstorm into a story
• Choose Swift, Balanced or Deep