What do you do if your character is suddenly possessed partway through the story? Or there is now a prominent scar on their face? You want to add this to your codex entry, but you know that if you add it in when setting up the codex that the AI might mention said scar before the character gets it!
So what do we do?
This is where codex progressions come in.
Think of these as addendums to your codex entry, that will only be "seen" by the AI when you are working on a scene on/after the addition has been created. If you need to go back to the earlier scene, then it is not brought up in the prompt!
Anatomy of a Codex Progression
Move the codex addition within a scene
Choose the codex entry the addition is associated with. This can be any type of codex entry, not just characters.
Delete you addition.
Type in your addition.
This addendum will then show up within the codex entry, along with an identification of where this occurs.
Adding a Codex Addition to your Story
Firstly, to do an addition, you need to be in the write interface of Novelcrafter. From there, you can either;
Use the slash-command /addition or,
The >> shorthand to bring up the additions box.
From there, you can select the entry in context via the “Select” dropdown to associate the addition with entry inside the current scene.
What to include
The additions are for major progressions or changes in your story. They are not meant to replace plot points as those should be included in the scene summaries and/or beats.
Examples for additions are:
A character gets married/divorced
A location gets ransacked by a local gang/mafia
A character gets a new job position (CEO, manager, etc.)
A character changes their physical appearance in a significant way (gets a tattoo, etc.)
An important item gets lost during shipping