Getting started with Threadbound
The short version. Threadbound's core is four things: plot threads, a Timeline, a Board and a to-do list. Create a thread for each strand of your story, add events to them, and look at the result as a timeline or a board. Everything else, including writing the manuscript and building a world, is an optional module you switch on when you need it.
Open it and look around
Threadbound runs in your browser at app.threadbound.ink, and you can install it as an app (see what a PWA is). Your 7-day free trial starts the first time you open it, with no card needed.
The first time you open it, you get a finished sample project, a plot of The Lord of the Rings, so you can see a populated timeline straight away. You can also open the sample project directly, and load it again later from the project menu at the top of the sidebar.
Projects
One project is one novel. The project menu at the top of the sidebar lists your projects, starts a new one, and opens "Manage projects", where you can rename or delete them. Each project has its own threads, events, to-dos and module settings, so switching novels never mixes anything up.
Threads: one per strand of the story
A thread is a plotline: the main quest, a romance, a mystery, a villain's plan. Add them from the sidebar, give each a colour, and mark it open or resolved as the story progresses.
- Click a thread to show only that thread. Ctrl-click (Cmd-click on a Mac) to add more threads to the selection, and use "Clear filter" to see everything again.
- Drag the handle on the left of a thread to reorder the list. The Timeline lanes and Board columns follow the same order.
Events: the things that happen
Use "+ New event" to add an event. Give it a title, notes and a date, and choose which thread or threads it belongs to. One event can sit on several threads at once, which is how you show a scene that moves two plotlines forward together.
An event doesn't need a date to exist. Undated events wait in an "unscheduled" row, so you can capture ideas first and place them later.
The Timeline
The Timeline lays events out in a lane per thread, in date order. Switch between Week, Month and Year zoom from the toolbar, scroll sideways with the mouse wheel, and use the small map beneath it to jump to any part of the story. Selecting a single thread scrolls the Timeline to that thread's first event.
The Board
The Board is the same events as columns, one per thread, with cards in date order. It is good for working through a thread's beats, and you can mark a thread resolved or reopen it from there.
The to-do list
A plain checklist for the writing jobs that don't belong on the timeline: fix the ending, check a surname, research how sailing ships tack. Finished items sink to the bottom, and you can hide completed ones.
Your own calendar
Timeline dates use a calendar you can change per project in Settings, so a story set in an invented world can have its own month names and lengths. If you need several calendars at once, the Multi-calendar module converts dates between them.
Deleting, restoring and backing up
- Recycle Bin. Deleted threads and events go to the Recycle Bin in the sidebar and stay for 30 days by default (you can change this). Restore one and it comes back with its links intact.
- Your data is on your device. Nothing is kept on our servers, so back it up. In Settings, Export saves your whole library as a single zip of plain-text files, and Import restores it. Restoring never wipes newer work without asking you first.
- Google Drive backup. Optionally, connect your own Google Drive in Settings and Threadbound backs up automatically after you edit. Tick "Encrypt backups with a passphrase" there and the backups are locked on your device before they upload, so Google can't read them. Keep your passphrase safe: nobody, including us, can recover it.
Modules: bigger when you want it
Settings has a Modules page where you can switch on extras for the project you're in: Manuscript for writing, Codex for characters and worldbuilding, Multi-calendar, Notebooks, Goals and Personalise. They're all included in the price. Switching one off only hides it, and your data stays put. Start with the Manuscript guide if you want to write in Threadbound.
A first session
- Open the sample project and click through the Timeline, Board and to-do list.
- Create a new project for your own novel.
- Add two or three threads: the main plot and a couple of subplots.
- Add the events you already know about, dated or not.
- Export a backup from Settings, so you know where your safety net is.
The quickest way to understand it is to click around a finished plot.
Try the sample project