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🧵 Topics

A topic is a starting point readers can follow, and it is either a thread of stories joined by choices or a series of dated entries. This page will guide you through creating a topic, writing its opening story, choosing its type and reading the topic cards in the Studio.

Creating a topic​

  • Open "Topics" from the navigation and press "New topic".
  • Type a "Topic name", such as "Sustainable Cities", and press "Create topic".
  • Write the opening story. The Studio takes you straight to it. Readers start the topic there.

The opening story is a story like any other, with a title, hook and body. It also holds the settings for the whole topic, such as the topic type.

The topic cards​

"Topics" shows each topic as a card. A card shows:

  • Whether the topic is live.
  • How many stories are published, planned and in draft.
  • A trail of its main path, so you can see the route most readers take.

Press "Open structure" for the topic's structure, or "Edit intro" to edit its opening story. See Maps and story structure.

Choosing thread or series​

On the topic's opening story, the "Topic type" section in the settings panel has two choices, "Thread" and "Dated series". Switching keeps every story and choice, and you save to apply it.

  • Thread: readers follow stories one choice after another, with steps along the main path. See Threads and choices.
  • Dated series: readers get the latest entry first and an archive, newest first, ordered by each story's covers date. Stories show previous and next day instead of choices. See Series.

Choose the type before you publish. This ensures readers meet the topic the way you planned it, rather than seeing its layout change later.

Every story needs a topic​

A story must belong to a topic before it can be published or scheduled. A story joins a topic when it is placed under another story in that topic, through "What comes next", or when it is an entry in a series. A story outside any topic has no public page and is on no map, and the Studio marks it "Needs a topic". See Drafts and publishing.

Publishing a topic​

A topic goes live when its opening story is published. Stories in an unpublished topic are not on the site until the topic is, even if they are published themselves. To publish a topic together with all its drafts, see Publishing a whole thread.

Best Practices​

  • Name topics plainly: a topic name is a signpost, so readers should know what it covers at a glance.
  • Make the opening story stand on its own: some readers read only that one.
  • Pick the type early: a series and a thread are planned differently.