Introducing Subtxt's New Feature: Narrative Agents

Steamlining your story development journey from idea to treatment

At Narrative First, our goal has always been to simplify the often complex and daunting process of storytelling. With that in mind, we're pleased to introduce a key feature that's been in the works since the beginning of the year: Narrative Agents. Designed to bring clarity and structure to your creative process, these agents work in concert with Subtxt's intuitive framework to guide you through crafting your story from start to finish.

Choose Your Path

When you log in to Subtxt now, you'll notice a new screen that offers two paths. The one on the left is designed to introduce beginners to Narrative Agents, while the path on the right is tailored for more seasoned writers with our interactive story development chatbot, Subtxt Muse (And if you just want to jump to your existing stories, there's a quick button for that as well in the new Story Central section).

What are Narrative Agents?

Think of Narrative Agents as AutoGPT but for storytelling. They're like your personal team of AI-based story developers. They brainstorm in isolation, check each other's work, and collaborate together to help bring you a vibrant and engaging narrative. These agents are perfect for beginners or those who like to chart out their stories meticulously before diving into the writing.

Step 1: Your Story Idea

When you begin with Narrative Agents, you'll be taken to a screen that has a box for your Story Idea. If you're feeling stuck, don't worry; we've got a "Generate a Random Story Idea" button.

If you've opted for a random idea, here's where things get interesting. The Brainstorming AI generates a quick synopsis that you can easily add to your Story Idea box with a simple click of the "Add" button. Not a fan of the generated ideas? No worries! You can close that dialogue and generate another "Random Story Idea" until you find something that resonates with you.

Step 2: Generate a Complete Story

Regardless of whether you've crafted an idea on your own or utilized one of Subtxt's random ideas, tap "Generate a Complete Story" to kick off the next phase. This action will engage available Narrative Agents, who will delve into your idea and begin to intelligently construct the deep thematic elements of your story.

Behind the Scenes

Subtxt's Narrative Agents for building a Complete Story from scratch go through a basic two-step process:

1. The Supervisor pulls the appropriate Storyform.
2. The Agents start generating the thematic content for a Complete Story.

The Narrative Supervisor begins by pulling the appropriate Storyform for your idea. Once set in place, the Supervisor then organizes various different Agents--each with their own specialty in narrative and storytelling--and sets them on the task of developing your story's unique thematic message.

Narrative Agents collaborate, checking each other's work and brainstorming sources of conflict and key story points, all based on your initial Story Idea.

Once the process is complete, simply tap on the title, and voila, your story is ready to be examined and fine-tuned according to your artistic sensibilities.

Keeping You in the Loop

It's important to note that what Subtxt and its Narrative Agents generate is not the end product: you're not delivering these thematic elements to your readers or viewers. You're using them to help focus and guide your writing process, to help you stay on track, and avoid any eventual writer's block by writing yourself into a corner. You could, conceivably, send these generations off to your writer's group or agent for review, but you'll always want to go over them and make sure they speak to your unique vision of the world.

Subtxt's output is for you, the Author, not the Audience.

For example, the Agents automatically assigned the sea witch Marina as the Obstacle Character--the character responsible for challenging the Main Character to grow emotionally throughout the story.

If you wanted someone else to provide that alternative perspective for Emily, the Main Character in the story you can easily scroll down to the appropriate Throughline, make the adjustment by inventing a new character (or use Subtxt's Narrative Agents to help you brainstorm one), and then re-run the blending process to align the narrative with your imagination.

The storyteller should always be a part of this development process. You'll always want to check and align what the Agents have generated with your vision each and every step of the way.

All that to say: don't expect the Narrative Agents to do all the heavy lifting. While we could automate the entire process, there are too many variables and nuanced aspects of storytelling that demand human touch. Therefore, we've broken the agents up into specific categories to help guide you through each stage of the development process.

From Here on Out

We've got four major sections you'll traverse next: Imagining, Illustrating, Plotting, and finally, Writing. In the Imagining stage, you can modify the Throughlines or blend them together. The same goes for the general Plot and significant Players, the emotional Character Arcs, and the Pivotal Elements and Premise of your story.

Illustrating and Plotting

Once you've collaborated with the Narrative Agents to construct your story's backbone, it's time to move on to the Illustrating phase. This is where you dive into the nuanced intricacies of your story's theme, far beyond general ideas like "greed leads to self-destruction."

From here, you transition into the Plotting stage. At this point, you're not just laying out events; you're weaving a complex, harmonious tapestry of theme, character arcs, and plot points that will make your story not just readable, but memorable.

By deeply understanding and exploiting these intricate thematic elements, you're setting the stage for a story that's both compelling and emotionally resonant. And remember, you can always reach out to Subtxt Muse (that pop-up button in the lower right) at any stage to help explain anything and to make sure that what the Agents are generating stays aligned with your artistic intention.

When you're satisfied, Subtxt compiles all this into a neat, downloadable Treatment. Then it's time to write!

The Power of Narrative Agents

We've come a long way, and there's still more to do. We're continuously working behind the scenes to make Narrative Agents more intelligent and user-friendly. We're striving to make this platform as versatile as possible, catering to different styles of writing.

Thanks for being part of this journey. We hope you're as excited about Narrative Agents as we are here at Narrative First. They provide a new level of approachability and usability that we've never had before.

So go ahead, dive in and let your story unfold.

Multiplied exponentially, of course, by Subtxt's Narrative Agents.🤖