# PlotDirector Story Intelligence Visualisation

## Design Vision (Future Phase)

**Version:** Draft 1\
**Status:** Future Feature\
**Priority:** High

## Purpose

Replace the traditional progress page with a live visualisation of
PlotDirector understanding the user's story.

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# Overview

The current Story Intelligence progress page successfully reports
progress, but it behaves like an engineering dashboard.

It shows percentages, counters and diagnostics. Although technically
informative, it does not demonstrate the value of PlotDirector nor
encourage the user to remain engaged during what may be a lengthy
analysis.

Instead, Story Intelligence should become an experience.

The objective is to allow users to literally watch PlotDirector build an
understanding of their story.

A living knowledge map rather than a loading screen.

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# Overall User Flow

Welcome → Project → Book → Word Companion → Scan manuscript → Review
chapters → Start Story Intelligence

The wizard ends here.

The user sees:

-   Story Intelligence has begun.
-   Analysis continues even if Word or the browser is closed.
-   Typical novels may take between 30 minutes and several hours.
-   We'll email you when analysis is complete.

Buttons:

-   Continue in Background
-   Watch Story Intelligence

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# Experience 1 -- Background Processing

Ideal for users who simply wish to import.

Analysis continues entirely server-side.

Completion provides:

-   Email notification
-   Notification inside PlotDirector
-   Resume button from the Projects page

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# Experience 2 -- Watch Story Intelligence

A dedicated full-screen experience.

Not part of the wizard.

Minimal chrome.

Mission Control for authors.

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# Visual Style

Dark theme.

Deep blues.

Subtle animated particles.

Glowing connection lines.

Calm motion.

Inspired by:

-   NASA Mission Control
-   Obsidian Graph
-   Neo4j Browser
-   Apple-quality animation

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# Screen Layout

Top: - PlotDirector - Story Intelligence - Current Book - Analysis
Status - Continue in Background

Centre: - Living knowledge graph

Left: - Progress - Latest discoveries - Live activity feed

Right: - Story observations - Knowledge threads - Interesting
discoveries

Bottom: - Current scene - Timeline - Recent scenes

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# Living Knowledge Graph

Initially almost empty.

As Story Intelligence progresses:

-   Characters appear.
-   Locations appear.
-   Assets appear.
-   Relationships appear.
-   Timeline events appear.
-   Knowledge threads appear.

Connections animate into existence.

The graph constantly grows.

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# Character Portraits

Initially use a built-in library of approximately 300--500 illustrated
portraits.

These are generic visual identifiers, not canonical artwork.

Categorised by:

-   Gender
-   Age
-   Hair colour
-   General appearance

Authors may later replace them.

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# Live Discovery Feed

Examples:

-   Character discovered: Rosie MacDonald
-   Location discovered: The Doweries
-   Relationship discovered: Beth ↔ Rosie
-   Asset discovered: Red TR6
-   Timeline event: 24 December 1982
-   Mystery thread: Who left the note?

Older discoveries gently fade away.

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# Story Observations

Examples:

-   Beth now appears in seven scenes.
-   Rosie has become central to the story.
-   Three names may refer to the same person.
-   A mystery thread has emerged.

These should feel insightful rather than like warnings.

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# Current Scene

Display:

-   Scene number
-   Short summary
-   Progress

Each completed scene joins the graph.

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# Timeline

A growing ribbon along the bottom.

Dates, scenes and events appear naturally.

Later this becomes the PlotDirector timeline.

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# Animation Style

Nodes gently appear.

Connections draw themselves.

The graph subtly rebalances.

The camera slowly pans.

Everything should feel elegant and calm.

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# SignalR

All updates are pushed live using SignalR.

No polling.

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# Completion

When analysis finishes:

Story Intelligence Complete

Your manuscript is ready for review.

Button:

Review Imported Scenes

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# Long-Term Vision

The same graph engine becomes:

-   Relationship Explorer
-   Character Explorer
-   Knowledge Explorer
-   Continuity Explorer
-   Timeline Explorer

During Story Intelligence it displays temporary AI discoveries.

After import it displays real PlotDirector data.

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# Design Goal

The user should feel:

'I can actually see PlotDirector understanding my novel.'

not

'I'm waiting for a progress bar.'

The visualisation should become one of PlotDirector's defining features
and something authors genuinely enjoy watching.
