# What is a step?
A step is the fundamental unit of your interactive story. It represents a specific moment in the narrative: a scene, a dialogue, a description, or a situation where the reader must make a choice.
Simple analogy
Think of your story as a Choose Your Own Adventure book. Each step corresponds to a numbered paragraph that the reader can be redirected to based on their choices.
# Types of steps
Steps are characterized by their position in your story's tree structure:
- Starting step — The entry point of your story, marked with a green icon. There can only be one.
- Intermediate step — The scenes that make up the body of your narrative, with incoming and outgoing connections.
- Ending step — The conclusions of your story, with no outgoing connections. You can have multiple different endings.
# Anatomy of a step
Each step is composed of several elements that you can configure:
| Element | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Content | The narrative text displayed to the reader | Yes |
| Description | An internal note to help you navigate | No |
| Associated player | In multiplayer mode, who sees this step | No |
| Parent links | The steps that lead to this one | No* |
| Starting point | Marks the beginning of the story | No |
Watch out for orphans
A step without a parent link (except the starting point) will be inaccessible to readers. The validation system will alert you about these "orphan" steps.
# The content editor
The rich text editor allows you to format your content with:
- Formatting — Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough (Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, Ctrl+U, Ctrl+Shift+S shortcuts)
- Headings — Paragraph, H1, H2, H3 via a compact selector
- Lists — Bulleted or numbered
- Block styles — Quote, Narrator, Info callout, Warning callout
- Insert menu ✨ — Variables, conditional text, reader/player gender, character/item mentions
- Alignment — Left, center, right, justify
- Bubble menu — Appears above selected text for quick formatting
No external links
The editor doesn't allow inserting external links — we want readers to stay immersed in your story. To navigate between your steps, use the parent links system.
# Parent links
Parent links define how readers arrive at this step. Each link includes:
- The source step — Where the reader comes from
- The link text — What the reader clicks (e.g., "Open the door")
- Conditions — Optional: when the choice is available
Best practices
The link text should be a clear and engaging action. Avoid vague wording like "Continue" and prefer "Cross the bridge" or "Talk to the merchant".