Core Concepts

Novellis is built on a fundamental shift in how creative writing software functions. Instead of a simple text editor with a sidebar, it is a narrative intelligence engine designed to understand your world as deeply as you do.

1. Intelligence Architecture

The "brain" of Novellis consists of three interconnected layers:

• The Series Bible (Knowledge Base): A structured repository of your characters, locations, items, and lore.
• The Storyline (Causal Graph): A non-linear map of arcs and events that defines what happens and why.
• The Manuscript (Draft): The actual prose where your world comes to life.

Unlike traditional tools, these layers are bi-directionally linked and evolve organically. You don't need to define your entire world upfront; as you draft your manuscript, the Intelligence Engine identifies new entities and arcs, suggesting updates to your Series Bible and Storyline.

2. Local-First Lore

Your creativity belongs to you. Novellis operates on a local-first philosophy:

• Zero-Cloud Storage: Your project files, lore, and drafts never leave your machine.
• Bring Your Own AI: You connect to your own LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, or local models via Ollama), ensuring you have full control over data privacy and costs.
• Offline Intelligence: With local models, you can write and brainstorm without an internet connection.

3. Narrative-Centric Design

Novellis encourages you to think in Arcs and Events.

• An Arc is a sequence of related events (e.g., "The Hero's Journey" or "The Mystery of the Missing Artifact").
• An Event is a specific moment in time occurring in a Chapter, involving specific Entities.

By focusing on these building blocks, the software can provide high-level analysis of pacing, character presence, and plot consistency. Critically, this structure grows with your novel. The more you write, the more "intelligence" the system gathers, refining its analysis of your world's internal logic in real-time.