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Writing a thesis or a book

A thesis or a book is written the same way as a single piece — a writing brief, plan cards, cards that ask for your material, a read-through at the end (see writing with a writing brief). The difference is the shape: it lives in a folder, with one overview and a file per chapter.

Step 1: start the project in the assistant​

Describe it in the assistant: “I am writing my thesis on remote teams and decision-making”, with the material to draw on (@ a folder) and, roughly, how long it should be. Long projects are set up from the assistant; a writing brief in an ordinary document writes a single piece.

It creates a folder named after the book and plans the overview, 00-Overview.md. Nothing is drafted yet. If the reader, the main claim or the material are unclear, it asks.

Step 2: work on the overview​

The overview is where you argue with the structure of the whole book:

  • A book brief at the top — the same lines as any brief: task, what the reader should agree with, reader, voice, stance, materials, sources, length.
  • One ## heading per chapter, a sentence on what that chapter does in the book, and the sections under it as a list.

Edit it freely: rename, reorder, add or delete chapters and sections. Ask the assistant to restructure it (“split chapter three in two”) and the edits come back as tracked changes.

Step 3: start a chapter​

Chapter files are created when you start a chapter, not before. In the outline panel, hover a chapter in the overview and click the open icon, or ask in the assistant (“write chapter three”).

The new chapter file opens with its own chapter brief and a heading and plan card per section. It is planned from the overview and from what the earlier chapters actually say:

  • Builds on — what earlier chapters already established, so this one does not argue it again. If an earlier chapter was misread, correct this line.
  • Leads into — how it should hand over to the next chapter.
  • Chapter materials and Length — the material this chapter draws on, and its share of the book’s length.
  • Sometimes a Suggestion line, if it thinks a section in the overview overlaps an earlier chapter. It keeps your sections as listed; the decision is yours.

The section list moves from the overview into the chapter file at this point. Afterwards the overview shows the chapter’s sections read-only, with their status — edit them in the chapter file.

Press Write this chapter on the chapter brief when the plan looks right.

Step 4: write the book​

  • Write this chapter writes the chapter’s sections in order, then reads the chapter through.
  • Write the whole book (on the overview’s brief, and at the top of the outline panel) goes chapter after chapter, planning each one as it reaches it. Stop it any time; starting again carries on from the first chapter that is not finished.
  • In the outline panel, the overview’s chapters and each chapter’s sections show whether they are unwritten, being written, partly written, written, or waiting for your material.

If earlier chapters change after a chapter was planned, its brief shows Earlier chapters changed · update beside Builds on / Leads into. Lines you edited yourself are never updated without asking. If you change a chapter’s job in the overview before it has any text, it is re-planned for the new job when you start writing it; once it has text, you are only told.

Step 5: read the book through​

When at least two chapters are written, the overview’s brief menu offers Read through the book. It reads the overview with each chapter’s summary, claims and terms, looking for two chapters doing the same job, a step the book’s argument is missing, and chapters that contradict each other. These arrive only as comments on the overview’s chapter headings — changes across chapters are yours to decide.

Where the files live​

Why Teams Decide Slowly/
  00-Overview.md
  01-Two kinds of delay.md
  02-Who owns the call.md
  …

All of it is plain Markdown. A chapter’s link to the overview survives renaming the chapter or the file. Delete a chapter file and it goes to the trash; that chapter in the overview goes back to having no file.

What it will not do​

  • Write the book unattended from one sentence. You shape the overview; the chapters follow it.
  • Write fiction. It does not track characters, plot or a story's timeline.
  • Rearrange text between chapter files on its own. Splitting or merging chapters is done by you, or by the assistant as tracked changes.

Next​

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