Exploration — Plot Mode by node

The exploration pane is a side panel that opens next to your editor. It's where you have a conversation with AI about your writing — not to generate prose, but to think through your story.

Plot Mode is the default. It's analytical. The AI reads what you've written and responds with observations, suggestions, and questions. It doesn't write for you. It thinks alongside you.

## Opening the exploration pane

Click the exploration icon in the editor toolbar (or use the keyboard shortcut). The pane opens on the right side. Type a question or prompt, or just say "look at what I've written" and the AI will respond.

## The response tags

The AI responds using structured tags. Each tag type serves a different purpose:

**`<thread>`** — Story direction suggestions

These are short labels for directions your story could go. "Elena confronts her father," "The letter is never sent," "Time skip to winter." Click a thread to explore that direction further. Think of them as forks in the road.

**`<craft>`** — Writing and structural observations

The AI notices things about your technique. Pacing shifts, tonal inconsistencies, dialogue patterns, structural choices you may not have made consciously. These aren't corrections — they're observations. "The dialogue in chapter three is faster-paced than the surrounding narration" or "The secondary plot hasn't been referenced in twelve pages."

**`<character name="Name">`** — Character insights

Observations about specific characters. Motivations the AI has inferred from their actions, contradictions in their behavior, relationships that have shifted. Draws from your text and the characters, locations, and other story elements you have defined for your book.

**`<location name="Name">`** — Setting details

Insights about places in your story. Atmosphere, sensory details the writing emphasizes (or neglects), how settings relate to character states.

**`<creature name="Name">`** — Creature or entity details

For speculative...