---
title: Initial Relationships
category: Characters
tags: characters, relationships, starting-state, secrets, continuity
contextKey: characters.initialRelationships
micro: Define how characters relate to each other before the story changes them.
quickTitle: What are Initial Relationships?
quickSummary: Initial Relationships set the baseline for family ties, friendships, rivalries, secrets and other bonds before later scenes change or reveal them.
screenshot:
---

# Overview

Initial Relationships describe the starting point between two characters. They answer the question: "What is true about these characters before the story changes it?"

Use this section for relationships that already exist at the beginning of the project, the beginning of a book, or before the character first appears. This includes obvious connections, such as parent, friend or employer, and hidden connections, such as a secret affair, concealed family tie, mistaken identity or undercover role.

# How This Helps Continuity

The initial relationship becomes the baseline for current relationship state, relationship events and later continuity checks. If a scene changes trust, hostility, awareness or emotional intensity, that change should usually be recorded as a Relationship Event rather than by rewriting the initial relationship.

Initial Relationships can also separate story truth from reader knowledge. The writer may know two characters are related long before the reader does.

# Understanding the Fields

| Field | What it means | Example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Related character | The other character in this relationship. | If you are viewing Annie Fletcher, choosing Beth means you are describing Annie's relationship to Beth. |
| Relationship type | The kind of bond or role between them. | Parent, friend, rival, employer, secret lover, suspect. |
| Awareness | Who knows about the relationship or understands its true nature. | The writer knows Beth and Maggie are sisters before the reader does. |
| Initial book | Where this relationship baseline begins. | Book 1 if the bond exists from the start; Book 2 if the character enters the series later. |
| Confidence / intensity | How strong, certain or emotionally charged the relationship is. | 10 for devoted family or intense hatred; 2 for a weak acquaintance. |
| Reciprocal | Whether PlotDirector should also create the reverse connection. | If Annie is Beth's parent, Beth is Annie's child. |
| Reader initially knows | Whether the reader knows this relationship at the starting point. | Untick for hidden family ties, secret affairs or delayed reveals. |
| Notes | Extra context, hidden history or author-only explanation. | "The reader thinks they are strangers, but Annie is Beth's mother." |

# When To Use Initial Relationships

Use an initial relationship when the connection is already true before the relevant story action begins. Use a Relationship Event instead when the bond changes during a scene, becomes known to someone, or gains new emotional weight.

# Example

A detective and a suspect may begin as strangers in public, while the writer knows they had a private meeting years ago. The initial relationship can record the hidden past, Reader initially knows can stay off, and a later relationship event can mark the scene where the truth is revealed.

# Writer Tip

Be honest about the baseline. If the story is hiding something from the reader, do not hide it from your planning record; use the reader knowledge and awareness fields to track the secret cleanly.

# Common Mistakes

- Adding duplicate relationships instead of editing the existing baseline.
- Using Initial Relationships for changes that happen inside scenes.
- Leaving Reader initially knows ticked for a secret relationship.
- Treating intensity as only positive; hatred, fear and rivalry can also be intense.

# Related Guides

- [Current Relationships](/Help/Article/characters.currentRelationships)
- [Relationship Events](/Help/Article/characters.relationshipEvents)
- [Character Details](/Help/Article/characters.details)
