Novelists Assistant

English | 简体中文

Enhance your novel writing experience with various writing tools to keep complex storylines organized.

Features

Default directory structure

• One-click creation of the Lore, Novel, and Outline folders (localized: 设定/正文/纲要 in Chinese UI) with settings auto-pointed to them; the outline folder holds synopses, detailed outlines, foreshadowing, and timelines
• Folders that already exist are detected on startup and linked automatically

Sidebar

• "Lore" and "Outline" tabs at the top with a search box filtering entries on the current page (a matching group name keeps the whole group); one level of groups plus an ungrouped area, Markdown files only
• Click an entry to preview it inside the sidebar with only a back button on top; vault changes refresh automatically
• Entries per row are configurable per tab under Settings → Sidebar (lore defaults to 4, outline to 1, range 1–10); multi-column and outline entries are centered with ellipsis
• The lore tab shows groups first with ungrouped notes last; the outline tab shows ungrouped notes first without a header, followed by groups

Novel typesetting

• First-line indent and line height for files in the novel folder, in both source and reading (preview) view
• Font family and font weight (100–900) are configurable separately for source and reading views; an empty font family inherits the theme font
• Reading view has an independent toggle and parameters; soft line breaks render as independently indented lines

Grid lines

• Dashed grid lines under each line of novel files in source view, like manuscript paper
• Dash length, gap, thickness, and opacity are all configurable

Quick menu

• New chapter (file menu): creates the next chapter in the novel folder with auto-incrementing numbers, supporting digits, Chinese lowercase, and Chinese uppercase, then opens it in the current tab
• New volume (file menu): creates the next volume folder at the novel root with a name-confirmation dialog (auto-numbered, editable)
• Dissolve volume (file menu, novel subfolders only): moves everything inside the volume to the novel root, skipping name conflicts
• Renumber chapters (settings): resequence existing chapters per the counting strategy with a confirmation preview
• Add to lore (editor menu): turns the selected text into a lore note inside a chosen lore subfolder
• Sync lore links / Clear lore links (editor menu): wrap or unwrap every lore name in the current note as wikilinks in one click
• Chapter / volume conversion (settings): batch-rename existing chapters or volumes between numbering formats

Punctuation

• Auto-completes the matching closing mark when typing an opening mark (Chinese IME friendly), skips over an existing closing mark, and deletes empty pairs with backspace
• Disabled inside code blocks, math formulas, and frontmatter; the IME candidate-replacement repair interval is configurable

Word count (file explorer)

• Per-file word count shown next to each file — markdown syntax is stripped before counting; CJK characters count individually, Latin letters and digits count as words
• Folder stats: the lore folder shows total lore notes and groups, the novel folder shows total words and chapters, and each lore subfolder shows its note count
• All units are configurable and can be hidden

Export

• Export to clipboard (file menu): copies the note's text with every Markdown marker stripped
• Export as txt file (file menu): saves that plain text through the system save dialog, so any folder and file name can be chosen
• Both items appear on Markdown files inside the novel folder; a note without body text is skipped with a notice
• Blank lines, a leading title, and keeping the Markdown markup can be configured under Settings → Export

Installation

Community plugins (recommended)

1. In Obsidian, open Settings → Community plugins
2. Turn off Restricted mode
3. Click Browse, search for "Novelists Assistant", and install

Manual

1. From latest release download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css directly
2. Place the files into Vault/.obsidian/plugins/novelists-assistant/

Settings

All features are grouped in the settings tab and can be toggled independently. The interface language follows your Obsidian language (English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese) and can be overridden.

Compatibility

• Obsidian 1.13.1 or higher
• Desktop only

License

This project is licensed under GPL-3.0-only — see LICENSE.