Where a character appears

Scenes where a character is named or mentioned with @ are listed under Scene appearances on their profile, with the role they play in each.

It’s easy to lose track of exactly which chapters a character has actually shown up in, especially in a longer manuscript. Endra Studio tracks it for you.

How appearances are tracked

When you type a character’s name in a scene, the name links to them on its own and the scene is added to the Scene appearances list on the character’s profile. Mentioning them with @ does the same. You don’t tag anything manually.

Scenes are checked for names when you open them. If a character’s appearance list looks short, open the scenes you expect them in.

A chapter’s only scene is listed under the chapter’s name. A scene among several carries its chapter too, as in “Chapter II · Scene 1”, so two scenes both called “Scene 1” never look alike.

Add a scene to a character yourself

Select Add a scene appearance below their Scene appearances list. Pick the scene, then their role in it, and select Add.

Set a character’s role in a scene

Each appearance carries a role. You pick it when you mention a character with @, and a name that links on its own starts as Mentioned. Change it later from the scene’s Characters tab in the info bar or from the character’s appearance list. Every place you choose a role explains it:

• POV: the scene is told through their eyes, usually one per scene. Pick a new POV in the scene’s Characters tab and the previous one becomes Primary.
• Primary: the scene is about them. They drive what happens, or it changes them.
• Secondary: on the page and taking part, but the scene isn’t about them.
• Mentioned: named or talked about, but not in the scene.

POV and Primary are often the same person, but not always. A narrator watching someone else’s crisis is the POV. The person in crisis is Primary.

See every place they’re named in a scene

Open a scene and select the Characters tab in the info bar. Each character shows how many times they’re named in the scene. Select the arrow beside a character to list each place, one line of text per place. The first five show, and Show N more lists the rest. Select a line to jump to it in the scene. The paragraph and the name are highlighted briefly.

Take a character out of a scene

Select the remove button beside a scene in their Scene appearances list, or beside their name in the scene’s Characters tab. They stay out of that scene: their name stops linking there, even where it’s still in the text. To put them back, mention them with @ in the scene, or add the scene to their Scene appearances again.

Use appearances during a continuity pass

Before a rewrite or a continuity pass, a character’s appearance list is a fast way to answer “does this character actually show up enough to justify their subplot?” or “which chapters do I need to check if I change something about them early on?” without rereading the whole manuscript.