The 5 Core Notebooks

Writers Factory accepts exactly 5 structured notebooks. No more, no less.

Why Only 5?

Writers Factory’s AI agents need structured input to function. The Foreman queries specific categories. If you have 50 messy notebooks, the AI drowns in noise.

The 5 Core Notebooks are your API contract with the Factory.

The Distillation Pipeline

Before registering notebooks, understand the 3-stage pipeline:

Stage What It Is Where It Lives
Stage 1 Raw brainstorming - podcasts, articles, “vibes” Your private NotebookLM notebooks (NOT registered)
Stage 2 Distilled, structured data Your 5 Core Notebooks (registered in Writers Factory)
Stage 3 Canonical Story Bible content/ directory in Writers Factory

The Factory only sees Stage 2 and 3. Stage 1 is your private creative chaos.

The 5 Notebooks

1. CHARACTER (One Notebook for ALL Characters)

DO: Put ALL characters in ONE notebook DON’T: Create separate notebooks per character

Why together? The AI needs to see Protagonist vs Antagonist in the same context to:

  • Detect if their goals properly conflict
  • Understand the cast hierarchy
  • Map relationships

What to include:

  • Protagonist profile (Fatal Flaw, The Lie, Arc)
  • Antagonist profile (Motivation, Goal)
  • Supporting cast list
  • Relationship map

Label clearly: The AI specifically looks for “Fatal Flaw” and “The Lie” markers.

2. WORLD (One Notebook for ALL World-Building)

DO: Put ALL world aspects in ONE notebook DON’T: Create separate notebooks for “Magic” vs “Politics”

Why together? The AI needs to see how systems interact:

  • Does magic conflict with politics?
  • Are there logic errors? (If magic is rare, why is every leader a wizard?)

What to include:

  • Hard Rules: Physics, magic limits - CANNOT be broken
  • Soft Lore: History, culture - can flex
  • Locations: Key places with significance
  • Secrets: What’s hidden from readers/characters

Critical: Clearly label which rules are HARD (immutable). The AI uses these for conflict detection.

3. THEME (One Notebook for ALL Philosophy)

DO: Put ALL thematic ideas in ONE notebook DON’T: Create separate notebooks per theme

Why together? The AI needs conflicting ideas to find the central argument:

  • Thesis vs Counter-thesis
  • The story’s philosophical debate

What to include:

  • Central Question (phrased as a question, e.g., “Can redemption exist without sacrifice?”)
  • Arguments FOR (thesis)
  • Arguments AGAINST (counter-thesis)
  • Symbols and their meanings
  • How protagonist embodies the theme

Key: Frame theme as a question, not a statement. “Honesty matters” is weak. “Can authenticity survive in a world of masks?” creates story.

4. PLOT (One Notebook for Structure)

What to include:

  • 15-beat structure (Save the Cat format)
  • Midpoint type (False Victory / False Defeat)
  • Scene ideas
  • Subplot outlines

Required beats (at minimum):

  • Catalyst (inciting incident)
  • Midpoint (false victory or false defeat)
  • All Is Lost (lowest point)
  • Finale (climax)

5. VOICE (One Notebook for Style)

What to include:

  • Passages from authors you admire
  • Dialogue patterns to emulate
  • Rhythms to match
  • Anti-patterns to AVOID (clichés, forbidden phrases)

Special case: Voice doesn’t produce a Story Bible file. It triggers Voice Calibration - the tournament system that tunes AI writing to match your style.

Setting Up Your 5 Core Notebooks

Step 1: Organize Your Raw Research

Go through your existing NotebookLM notebooks. Sort content into 5 mental buckets:

  • Is this about characters? → goes to CHARACTER distillation
  • Is this about the world? → goes to WORLD distillation
  • Is this about theme? → goes to THEME distillation
  • Is this about structure? → goes to PLOT distillation
  • Is this about style? → goes to VOICE distillation

Step 2: Create 5 New NotebookLM Notebooks

In NotebookLM (notebooklm.google.com):

  1. Create: “Novel Name - Characters”
  2. Create: “Novel Name - World”
  3. Create: “Novel Name - Theme”
  4. Create: “Novel Name - Plot”
  5. Create: “Novel Name - Voice”

Step 3: Distill Into Each Notebook

Use the Distillation Prompts to transform raw research into structured notes.

For each raw notebook:

  1. Open it in NotebookLM
  2. Copy the relevant Distillation Prompt
  3. Paste and run
  4. Copy the output to the appropriate Core Notebook

Step 4: Register in Writers Factory

  1. Open Writers Factory
  2. Click NOTEBOOK button (top-right toolbar)
  3. Paste NotebookLM URL or ID
  4. Assign correct category

Common Mistakes

Mistake Problem Solution
One notebook per character AI can’t see relationships Combine into ONE Character notebook
Mixing Stage 1 and Stage 2 AI gets noise with signal Keep raw research separate from distilled notebooks
No Hard Rules labeled AI can’t enforce world consistency Explicitly mark which rules are immutable
Generic theme AI can’t find conflict Frame theme as a QUESTION with opposing sides
Registering raw notebooks Extraction fails constantly Distill first, then register

Graceful Failure

If the Foreman can’t find structured data in your notebook, it will:

  1. NOT hallucinate - won’t make up a Fatal Flaw
  2. Diagnose - explain what’s missing
  3. Offer help - provide the specific Distillation Prompt to run

This is the system working correctly. It’s asking you to distill before it can extract.

The Flow

Stage 1 (Raw)              Stage 2 (Core)            Stage 3 (Bible)
-------------              -------------             ---------------
Podcast notes    →  Character Notebook  → Protagonist.md
Random ideas     →  World Notebook      → Rules.md
Vibes notebook   →  Theme Notebook      → Theme.md
Book highlights  →  Plot Notebook       → Beat_Sheet.md
Style refs       →  Voice Notebook      → Voice Bundle

     [Distillation]         [The Foreman]

Created for Writers Factory Distillation Pipeline