'Threads' or 'Questions & Answers' that need to either be answered or asked

Feature Requests
#1

I’m yet to find a decent method of tracking either open questions in the story narrative or when/where they were asked. For example, I might write a character as having to take some medication, but why is it needed? This is an open question that I (may) need to answer somewhere in my story. Currently I just have to note it down somewhere and refer back to it. This ends up being a list of text in Scrivener, and not present at all in AT. I also have situations where I’ve answered a question at some stage, but need to remember to go back to the narrative and ask the question (or plant the seed) somewhere earlier in the story.

If we had some sort of object support in AT that allows for information ‘pairs’, then we could have a view that allows us to track those that are still open/incomplete. Whatever they are called (Question & Answer, Start & Finish, Open & Close), it could present as a sort of to-do list of inclusions and ensure we’re not leaving loose threads.

Does that make sense?

2 Likes
#2

Hi @Kalibre46. This is possible already. Create a custom item type called ‘Questions’ and then create two custom properties which are associated with this item type. One for an Answer, which would be a paragraph type property to accept text for the answer. And another property as a drop-down list called ‘Question Answered’ and have the drop down list items as Yes and No. Then you can add a whole load of questions as items within the ‘Questions’ item type and complete answers to these questions as you go. Has the character taken their meds? Provide an answer in the text box you created and tick off whether you have answered. You can then apply a filter to the item type ‘Questions’ and filter on any questions which have a ‘Question Answered’ property of No to give you a list of loose ends. You can even add these questions as relationships to events to provide detail to a scene as necessary.

I use this method to track clues in my crime story timelines. Has a clue been discovered? Who by? What is the outcome? It works really well and showcases the power of AT3 to bend to the user’s needs.

If you need any help setting up the above check out the knowledge base. Or I can help if needed.

All the best

Andrew

7 Likes
#3

You’ve just unlocked a world of possibilities that I’d overlooked previously, many thanks! Worked like a charm.

2 Likes
#4

Pleased to have been able to help and glad that it did what you needed it to.