Entering Overviews
Every node in the tree — from Act down to Beat — can have an overview that describes its purpose and content at that level of abstraction.
What Overviews Are
Overviews are summaries or descriptions written at each level of the hierarchy. They serve as the generation layer input — the instructions that guide how content is created at lower levels.
- Act overview — The dramatic movement this act covers, its arc, its purpose
- Chapter overview — What this chapter accomplishes in the narrative
- Scene overview — What happens in this scene, the conflict, the change
- Beat notes — What this specific moment achieves
How to Enter an Overview
- Select a node in the document tree
- Open the Properties panel
- Navigate to the Generation tab
- Write your overview or beat notes
Why Overviews Matter
Overviews feed into AI generation. When Writan generates prose for a beat, it uses the beat notes along with the scene overview, chapter purpose, and act arc to understand the full context. The more specific your overviews, the better the generated output.
See What Data Feeds Into Generation for the complete picture.