📌Boards

Put everything in perspective.

The Boards tool in Fortelling offers a visual and interactive way to map out your story. Think of it as a detective wall: you can pin characters, locations, sticky notes, images, and more, then draw meaningful connections between them. It’s perfect for both structured thinkers and chaotic creatives alike!

An example of a pinboard within Fortelling.

What can you place on a board?

You can add a variety of elements to the board to represent parts of your story visually:

• Story elements: Characters, locations, items, etc.

• Sticky notes: Great for reminders, plot points, or brainstorming ideas.

• Images: Add visuals that inspire or clarify your world.

• Floating text: For quick labels or thematic titles (note: you can’t link to these).

Each item can be scaled by dragging the small blue dot in the bottom-right corner, giving you total control over your board layout. Items also snap to the grid automatically to help keep things tidy, but if you prefer freeform, you can disable this in the top menu’s context settings.

Linking elements

One of the most powerful features of Boards is the ability to create custom links between elements, just like drawing a red string between push-pinned photos! There’s no limit to how many links you can create. Go wild!

How to create a link

1. Select the first element you want to link.

2. Tap the link icon from the pop-up menu.

3. Tap the second element to complete the connection.

4. A customization pop-up will appear.

Link customization options

You can personalize each link to fit your story’s tone and structure:

• Name the link (e.g. “Mentor”, “Enemy”, “Secret Parent”).

• Add two perspectives: what each side thinks or feels.

• Line style: Choose between solid or dotted.

• Arrow settings: Show or hide arrows on either end.

• Color: Pick any color to represent your link.

Pro tip: Use a consistent color scheme to visually organize your relationships. E.g., pink for love, red for conflict.

Managing labels on links

The name of the link is displayed as a bubble between the two connected elements. You can drag this label to any position on the board. This is especially handy if there are multiple links between two elements. Arrange the label bubbles in parallel to avoid visual clutter.

All links you create on a board are automatically listed in the link overview of the story element’s page. This makes it easier to cross-reference connections while working elsewhere in Fortelling.

Other elements

Sticky notes and images can also be added to the board to enrich your visual storytelling:

Sticky notes

• Scale and color them to your liking.

• Use them for:

  • To-do lists

  • Development notes

  • Quick scene summaries

Images

• Drop an image onto the board.

• Select the image and tap the edit icon to write a description.

• Once it has a description, the image takes on a polaroid-style look.

Tips & tricks

• Use Boards to brainstorm character webs, political hierarchies, or crime scene layouts.

• Organize links visually using parallel label placement for overlapping relationships.

• Color-code your connections for instant recognition of themes or story dynamics.

• Use sticky notes for outlining plot arcs or pinning dialogue ideas.

• Resize and space elements for better readability and aesthetics.