PHASE ONE COMPLETE!!!!

I can’t express how excited and nervous I am about phase two!

Nervous, because while phase one was all about building a website generator, which was new territory on its own for me, phase two is building a desktop app and that is something I’ve never ever done before. I’ve wanted to, sure, but the coding knowledge was just a step too far in regards to time and energy. Things change, though, and now I have a pro coder at my beck and call, named “Claude.” I am READY!

I knew the generator and the demo website had to come first because that would tell me everything the desktop app needs. Now that’s done, it’s time for me to dive into creating the part of the project that will make it more accessible to more writers. They will still have to find a way to host the site (although I’ll provide instructions on that) but it will be much easier to use the Keely App even if you have no idea what a markdown file is or why you need them. 

So, yes, this will be a lot harder to build. It will take longer. It will need a lot more finessing and test driving. 

But what IS it, exactly?

This early mockup shows what's in store!

It will be the interface for inputting the information you want on your Keely reader site, including story, metadata, and wiki entities (characters, locations, and more!). I have to stress that this is not a writing app, so there won’t be much by way of the kind of tools you get in Scrivener and Ulysses and other writing software, such as writing stats, outlining, etcetera. This is for building your serialized story website, specifically. I’m not opposed to adding writing tools down the road, but it seems redundant when there are so many great options already out there. 

To start, scenes will have to be cut-and-pasted into the app. That’s not ideal, but an import feature is definitely on the roadmap where you could export/compile a scene as a markdown file and then import it into Keely. 

I also hope to refine the wiki side for authors to be able to set permissions on entries, so that not all of them will be defaulted to public, but honestly, that’s probably a phase three feature (for more about phase three, check out the Roadmap!). 

I’m not fooling myself with this project, since I know only a small number of authors want (much less need) this kind of app to build this kind of site for their readers. Yet, those who want it REALLY REALLY want it, and I’m one of them. Which means I’m super amped to start work on the desktop app at last!