Manuscript Import v2.3

Import existing prose without damaging it. The prose is the artefact of record; the project files are a map of it. Never rewrite the author's sentences during intake.

Principle

Import derives structure from what is already written. Nothing is invented, nothing is corrected, and nothing is silently normalised. Where the draft contradicts itself, record the contradiction as UNRESOLVED and let the author decide — a discovery phase that quietly fixes things is a rewrite in disguise.

Phased, with approval between phases

1. Inventory — read the whole draft and count chapters, scenes, words, POV distribution, tense, and time span. Report before doing anything else.
2. Structure — map arcs, act or part structure, and the current narrative position.
3. Entities — extract characters, locations, factions, objects, and power-system terms, each with a stable ID and a source reference.
4. Relationships — build the relationship graph, marking asymmetry and unresolved tensions.
5. Timeline — reconstruct chronology, keeping presentation order and actual order distinct.
6. Information — record what the author knows, what each character knows, and what the reader has been told, per scene where feasible.
7. Style — infer Style DNA from the prose the author considers characteristic, and confirm it with them before treating it as canonical.
8. Canon — classify what is established versus unresolved. Everything discovered starts as UNRESOLVED until the author confirms it.

Present findings and get approval before writing project files. Intake is the largest structural operation NovelForge performs, so it carries the same approval discipline as any other HIGH-risk change.