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🔀 Crossroads

A crossroad is a choice that leads to a published story somewhere else on the site, rather than to a story placed under the current one. This page will guide you through adding a crossroad, which stories you can link to, how readers see one and how crossroads help you build a whole thread before it goes live.

Adding a crossroad​

  • Open the story in the editor and find "What comes next".
  • Press "Link to any story on the site". A picker opens.
  • Search by title or topic and press a result.

The crossroad takes one of the story's three choice slots, like any other choice. You can reorder or remove it in the same way. See Threads and choices.

The picker lists any published story in any topic, including each topic's opening story. Each result says where it lives, such as "Opening story of Cities" or "In Cities".

Some stories are shown but cannot be picked:

  • Stories that come before this one, so a path never loops back.
  • Stories this one already links to.

A disabled result shows the reason, so you know why it cannot be linked.

How readers see a crossroad​

Readers see a crossroad as a "Take a side road" card, with a "Take the side road" button. When it leads into another topic, the card names that topic. On the map, a crossroad shows as a "Shortcut".

A crossroad is not a child of the story, so it does not change the shape of the tree. A story whose only choice is a crossroad still counts as an ending of its own topic, and reaching it earns the gem. See Endings and gems.

Crossroads inside an unpublished topic​

While a topic is still unpublished, a crossroad can also lead to a draft story in the same topic. This lets you build side roads that rejoin the main path, and publish the whole thread together. Readers never see a link to a story that is not published yet. See Publishing a whole thread.

warning

Unpublishing or deleting a story that crossroads lead to breaks those choices. The Studio warns you and lists the links first, so check them before you confirm.

Best Practices​

  • Use crossroads to connect topics: a story about transport in "Sustainable Cities" can lead into a transport topic.
  • Say where it goes: the reader leaves the current path, so the hook should explain why.
  • Do not replace the main path with a crossroad: keep the topic's own route first.