Part 2️⃣: How to Use Sudowrite – Getting Started with A Story
Welcome to Day 2 of the Sudowrite Beginner Series! Today, the focus shifts to one of the most powerful and creative features of Sudowrite: the Story Bible. Whether you’re a fantasy world-builder or crafting an intimate character-driven novel, the Story Bible helps you organize, outline, and develop your narrative efficiently.
🚀 Why the Story Bible is Essential
A Story Bible is like a behind-the-scenes guide for your story. It ensures consistency, tracks character arcs, and organizes world-building elements. In Sudowrite, the Story Bible takes this concept further by integrating AI to generate, refine, and streamline ideas into coherent elements.
This post will walk you through:
- Brain Dump: How to lay the foundation for your story.
- Synopsis: Generating and refining your story’s blueprint.
- Character Creation: Crafting dynamic, unique characters that stand out.
🧠 Brain Dump: Pour Your Ideas Out
What is the Brain Dump?
The Brain Dump section allows you to input everything you know about your story. It’s a 2,000-word space where you outline major plot points, character dynamics, and unique story elements.
Why It Matters
The Brain Dump directly influences the Synopsis, ensuring it aligns with your vision. It can also subtly affect features like Beats (scene breakdowns).
How to Use Brain Dump Effectively
- Stick to Key Points: Outline the “what,” “why,” and “who” of your story, avoiding scene-level details.
- Include Unique Elements: Add specifics like tone, genre, and standout features (e.g., “rival kingdoms,” “magic users”).
- Test Prompts: If you’re unsure, experiment with simple inputs like “a horrifying retelling of Pinocchio with a tragic ending.”
📝 Pro Tip: Use square brackets for instructions (e.g., [Genre: Fantasy]) and parentheses for contextual notes the AI should consider but not write into the prose.
✍️ Synopsis: Your Story Blueprint
Generating a Synopsis
The Synopsis feature condenses the Brain Dump into an 800-word overview of your story. It provides a clear direction for your narrative while leaving room for refinement.
Key Tips for a Great Synopsis:
- Be Specific: Add plot details to avoid vague outputs.
- Rewrite When Necessary: Use the “Rewrite Synopsis” button to refine outputs, specifying what to include (e.g., “add more details to the climax”).
- Edit for AI-isms: Look out for clichés like “piercing blue eyes” or “unwavering determination” and replace them with unique phrasing.
🎭 Character Creation: Building Dynamic Personas
The Character Card
Character Cards hold essential details about your characters, including physical descriptions, personality traits, and relationships.
How to Customize Cards
- Click Customize to add or remove traits specific to your story.
- Rearrange traits to keep frequently updated ones at the top (e.g., emotional state, physical changes).
- Use tools like Quick Chat to refine traits, dialogue styles, and arcs.
Generating Characters
Sudowrite offers three ways to create characters:
- Generate All Characters: Automatically creates a full cast based on your Synopsis or Brain Dump.
- Generate Character: Produces one character at a time, with optional instructions.
- Add Character: Creates a blank template for manual input.
Key Tips:
- Avoid Spoilers: Ensure character cards don’t reveal plot points the reader shouldn’t know yet.
- Use Sample Dialogue: Add unique lines of dialogue to differentiate characters’ voices.
- Update Continuously: Reflect changes like injuries, emotional growth, or relationships.
🔧 Troubleshooting and Bugs
Sudowrite is powerful but not perfect. Here’s how to handle common issues:
- Traits Not Saving: If newly added traits don’t appear, report the bug through the Report a Bug feature in Sudowrite.
- Blank Character Cards: Use the “Fill This In” button to populate blank fields manually.
📚 Homework for Day 2
- Add your story premise to the Brain Dump and generate a Synopsis. Refine it to align with your vision.
- Create and customize your Character Cards. Eliminate AI-generated clichés and add personal touches.
- Experiment with different methods like fairy tale retellings or first-draft outputs to inspire your narrative.
❓ FAQs
1. What is the purpose of the Brain Dump?
The Brain Dump is where you input key story ideas, tone, and plot points. It informs the Synopsis, Outline, and Beats features.
2. How do I avoid AI clichés in my Synopsis?
Edit each step and replace generic phrases with your unique voice. Use the “Rewrite Synopsis” button to refine outputs further.
3. Can I import existing character details?
Yes! Use the Import option to upload character details from spreadsheets or documents.
4. What if traits don’t save in Character Cards?
This is a known bug. Report it via the Report a Bug feature and update manually as needed.
5. Can I edit character traits during the story?
Absolutely! Update traits as characters evolve to maintain consistency in your narrative.
Wrapping Up
Day 2 of the Sudowrite series dives deep into creating a robust Story Bible. By mastering the Brain Dump, Synopsis, and Character Cards, you’ll have a solid foundation to craft engaging and consistent stories. Tomorrow, we’ll tackle World-Building and Outlining for an immersive storytelling experience. Stay tuned! 🎉
Top AI Tools For 2025
Hailuo’s Minimax, : One of the best text and image to video generators.
VidNoz: Free Image to Video, Video Translator, Video Dubbing, Music Video Generator, Video Compressor and many more.
Jogg AI: Image to Video, URL to Video, AI Avatar, Photo Avatar, AI Ad Generator, Text to Speech
Turn simple text into polished, publish-ready videos with InVideo AI Video Generator. Perfect for marketers, creators, and businesses looking to streamline content production. Save time, boost engagement, and elevate your video game today! 🚀 This powerful tool:
✅ Generates scripts and matches them with video clips.
✅ Adds subtitles, music, and transitions seamlessly.
✅ Offers an intuitive editor for final touches.
✅ Allows video creation at scale with zero learning curve!
Opus Clip: Use AI to analyze a video, identify the most compelling parts, and rearrange them into short clips. It can also add captions, emojis, and other features. Incredible 7 day (no credit card) free trial then paid or free plan with 25 free clips per month. Also easily re-post with Repurpose IO. Also consider Vid AI, Munch,SubMagic, Klap, TubeMagic, Vizard AI, Vadoo TV, Arcads AI, Smart Short, Auto Shorts AI, ElevenLabs, Gravitywrite, Leonardo AI, and Big Motion AI as a top alternates and add-ons.
Aitubo : With AI Video Generator, Face Swap (free) Image & Video, Image to Video, Text to Video, Meme Generator, Anime Generator, Song Generator, Dance Generator, Image Generator, Background Remover, Script to Video, Video Captions, Avatar, Image Editor, Phantom, Headshot Generator, Upscaler, Girl Generator, Flux Image Generator, Ideogram Image Generator, Recraft V3 Image Generator, and more is an advanced AI-powered tool designed to help users craft creative images with remarkable ease.
Purchase Monitized Accounts for Youtube and TikTok
(Use coupon code “AISALESMARKET” for a 5% discount)
Vidau AI: Free Video Generator, Subtitle Remover, Video Translate, Video Translator, URL to Video, AI Image to Video, AI Avatars, Subtitle Translate, Subtitle Translator, AI Text to Video, Text to Speech, AI Voice Clone, Video to Video, AI Script Generator, AI Video Editor, Instagram Video Downloader, YouTube to MP3, YouTube Video Downloader, YouTube to MP4, TikTok Video Downloader, Twitter Video Downloader, Pinterest Video Downloader
- Jasper: Your AI Copywriting Assistant (🏆 free 20,000 words per month )
- WordAI: AI Text Rewriter (3 day free trial)
- Article Forge: High quality, AI content generator (5 day free trial)
- Copymatic: AI Copywriter & Content Writer
- Outranking: Content writing with SEO scoring
- Word Hero: Generate AI-powered content in 1 click.
- ParaphraserIO: Free and paid
- Humatar AI: Chatbot with free 60 page starte plan
- NeuroFlash: AI Writing (2,000 free words per month)
- RytR: Best AI Writer 🏆– Content Generator & Writing (free forever 10,000 characters per month)
- AI SEO Repurposer: Free and upgraded ChatGPT plugin (info).
- Writesonic: Generate & Publish, in a Click (free 10,000 words)
- AIWriter: The AI Text Generator built to be trusted (7 day free trial)
- Quillbot: Paraphrasing Tool (free basic forever)
- Frase: Best SEO Content Optimization Tool & AI Writer (5 day free trial for $1)
- Notion AI: Write and summarize (free plan for personal use)
- Unbounce’s SmartCopy: ideate, iterate, and write custom, high-quality, engaging professional copy (try free forever)
- Creaitor: Let the AI create for you (3 day free trial)
- Scalenut: AI Powered SEO & Content Marketing Platform (free forever 2,000 words)
- CopyAI: 🏆Best AI Writer ( free forever 2,000 words per month )
- WriterX: Your AI Writing Companion (7 day free trial)
- Sudowrite: Write your novel or screenplay faster (4,000 free words)
- Get Munch: Get Instant Social Posts Based on Your Video Content
- Simplified: All-in-one AI content. (try free forever)
- WriteCream: Create marketing content & sales emails in seconds (try free forever)
- Genie: AI research assistant for students (14 day free trial)
Other top products and addon tool ideas: ContentBot, OriginalityAI (AI checker), Canva, Twinr app creator,
SEO: SurferSEO, SemRush, Mangools Tools, RankerX, GrowthBar SEO (5 day trial); Voice Swap: VoiceAI
Video: InVideo, PictoryAI, FlexClip, vidIQ, TubeBuddy; Video FaceSwap: DeepSwapAI (multiple faces), Swap Face (free with watermark), Heygen (2 min. free);
Social Media Management: Radaar Voice: Descript AI , PlayHt; Email: GetResponse; Hosting: Elementor; Plugins: Elementor
Books: Sqribble Ebook in 5 minutes, BookBolt research design publish Amazon KDP, Reedsy,
Print on Demand: Printify