Storyteller Comic Drafter

An Obsidian plugin for drafting comic scripts out of drag-and-drop blocks instead of retyping PAGE, PANEL and CHARACTER: over and over, then exporting the script to an editable Word file for the final pass.

Scripts are .comic files (JSON) that open in their own editor, not the regular Markdown view. The editor and the Word export both follow Greg Pak's comic script template:

• Courier 12pt, with one blank line before every paragraph and 0.75" margins
• a bold title and PAGE ONE
• Panel 1: running straight into its description
• dialogue written as 1. CHARACTER (off): with the line hanging at 2"

Features

• Pages → panels → blocks. Drag the grip handle (shown on hover) to reorder pages, move panels between pages, or move blocks between panels. PAGE ONE, Panel 3: and lettering balloon numbers (1., 2.…) renumber themselves whenever anything moves.
• Block palette. Drag Page, Panel, or any block type from the left palette into the script, or click it to add to the panel you're working in. Each panel also has a quick-add row (+ Dialogue, + SFX…) that appears on hover.
• Palette sections. Organise the palette into your own sections, for example "Main cast", "Sound & FX" or "Recurring captions". Use + New section to create one. Right-click a section header to rename, reorder or delete it (its blocks move to another section). Click the arrow to collapse it. To file blocks, drag them between sections, or right-click a block and choose Move to section. Drag a block from the script into a section to save it there as a reusable block.
• Resizable palette that becomes an editor. Drag the palette's right edge to resize it, or double-click the edge to switch sizes. Past 300px, each block becomes an inline editor: name, colour, layout, balloon numbering, default speaker, fixed speaker and default text for block types, and name, type, speaker and text for saved blocks. Changes apply to the script straight away. When the palette is wide, drag a card by its ⠿ grip.
• Freestyle block. For anything that isn't a description or dialogue, like title cards, TO BE CONTINUED, notes to the colorist or lists. It has no label, speaker or balloon number, and never joins the “Panel N:” line. Click into it for a small toolbar (align left, centre or right; indent to the dialogue column; a box around it; smaller or larger text), or right-click and choose Freestyle format. Bold, italic, underline and highlight work inside it, and the layout carries through to Read mode and Word. Freestyle is also a layout option for your own block types.
• Custom block types. Use + New block type for anything you like (radio chatter, flashback captions, editor's notes…). Pick a colour, a layout (description, lettering or freestyle), whether it gets a balloon number, and a default speaker such as CAPTION or SFX. Types are saved in plugin settings and work in every script.
• Saved blocks. Right-click a block and choose Save as reusable block to keep it, content included, in the palette for reuse.
• Collapse pages and panels with the chevron or by double-clicking the header. Toolbar buttons collapse or expand everything at once.
• Right-click anything (a page heading, a panel, or a block) for Note or comment, Highlight, Pin, Mark for revision, Lock, Change type, Insert below, Duplicate, Move up/down and Delete. Shift + right-click gives you the normal text menu (spellcheck, paste).
• Comments, Google Docs style. Choose Note or comment to open a comment card in the margin to the right of the paper, level with the item you commented on. Cards can be edited (⋮ → Edit), resolved (✓) and deleted. Collapse the margin to small markers with the » button. The toolbar's comment button can also show resolved comments.
• [[Links]] to your notes in comments. Type [[ in a comment, or click its link button, and a list of your vault notes appears and filters as you type. Pick one with the arrow keys and Enter, Tab or a click. If nothing matches, you can link to a new note. Posted links open the note when clicked (Ctrl+click for a new tab), Ctrl+hover shows Obsidian's page preview, and links to notes that don't exist yet appear faded and create the note when clicked. In the Word export, links become plain text ([[Maya bio|Maya]] becomes “Maya”). Obsidian only indexes Markdown files, so these links don't show up in backlinks or the graph.
• Lock a page, panel or block so it can't be edited, moved or deleted. Locking a page also locks everything inside it.
• Mark for revision. Flagged items get a red marker and appear in the Revise tab of the right-hand panel.
• Highlight any page, panel or block in one of five colours.
• Pin items to the Pinned tab so you can jump to them in one click.
• Speaker field. Type MAYA (off) and the plugin splits it into the speaker and the modifier. Names autocomplete from the ones already in the script. For SFX and CAPTION blocks, type the modifier in brackets: SFX (BIG).
• Animations. New items fade in, moved and reordered items glide to their new place, deleted items fade out, and comment cards slide in from the margin. They animate only what changed and use the cheapest kind of animation, so long scripts stay responsive. Turn them off in Settings → Animations. They are always off if your system has reduced motion turned on.
• Dark mode. Choose Word-style dark paper (a charcoal page with a thin outline on a near-black backdrop, light text, and a matching comment column) or light paper. Auto (the default) follows Obsidian's light/dark theme as you switch it. Click the sun/moon button in the toolbar to flip between light and dark, and right-click it to go back to Auto. You can also set it under Settings → Paper style. The Word export always uses normal black-on-white.
• Help is one click away. The round ? button in the bottom-right corner (or pressing ? outside a text box) opens a help window with three tabs: a 7-step Getting started guide, every Shortcut, and Tips for features that are easy to miss.
• Pages panel. A list of every page sits to the left of the script, showing each page's number, panel count and first line. A red dot means the page needs revision; an amber dot means it has open comments. Click a page to jump to it (long jumps are instant), drag pages in the list to reorder them, or type in Go to page #. The current page is highlighted as you scroll. The « button collapses the list to a slim rail of page numbers (hover for a preview); this is remembered. Alt+PageUp / Alt+PageDown step between pages. It works in Read mode too.
• Swap or move pages without dragging. Right-click a page heading, or a page in the Pages list, and choose Swap with page… or Move to position…. A picker lists every page with its first line. Type a number or a word to filter, then press Enter or click. Locked pages are skipped, the pages glide into place, and the notice has an Undo button. Both actions are also commands that act on the current page.
• Read mode. Click Read in the toolbar (or press Ctrl+E) to see the finished script as it will print. Editing controls, the palette and comments are hidden, formatting shows without its ** markers, empty blocks are left out, and each comic page sits on its own sheet like the Word export. Your place on screen is kept when you switch. Double-click any line to jump straight back to editing it.
• Text formatting. Select text and press Ctrl+B (bold), Ctrl+I (italic), Ctrl+U (underline) or Ctrl+Shift+H (highlight), or use the small bar that appears above your selection. Press the same shortcut again to remove the formatting. Bold then italic gives bold italic, the Greg Pak template's emphasis. Formatting shows as you type, with the ** markers faded, and exports to Word as real formatting. Ctrl+Z inside a field undoes it.
• Status at a glance. The toolbar shows Saved / Edited / Saving…, and Undo and Redo grey out when there's nothing to undo or redo.
• Mistakes are easy to undo. Deleting a page, panel, block or comment, or clearing revision marks, shows a notice with an Undo button.
• Write from the keyboard. ↑/↓ at the start or end of a field moves to the previous or next field. Enter moves on from the title and byline. Alt+↑/↓ moves the current block, crossing into the next panel at the edges. Esc leaves the field so Ctrl+Z undoes structural changes. Palette chips work with Tab and Enter.
• Shortcut list. The keyboard button in the toolbar, Ctrl+/, or the Show keyboard shortcuts command lists every shortcut and gesture.
• Undo/redo with Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z when the cursor isn't in a text field.
• Export to Word. Click Export .docx to save <script name>.docx in an Exported folder at the root of your vault; the folder is created the first time you export. The file then opens in your computer's default app for .docx (usually Word) so you can check it straight away. Turn this off under Settings → Open after export. The notice that appears also has a link to show the file in your file manager. You can change the folder in settings, or clear the setting to save next to each script. The export includes:
  • the template's layout, including its ACTION and DIALOGUE paragraph styles, so the file stays easy to edit in Word, with a page break before each comic page;
  • unresolved comments as Word margin comments;
  • a red [REVISE] before flagged items;
  • your highlights, plus ***bold italic***, **bold**, *italic*, __underline__ and ==highlight== in block text formatted to match.

Keyboard shortcuts

Keys	Action
Ctrl/Cmd + B / I / U	Bold / italic / underline the selection
Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + H	Highlight the selection
Alt + ↑ / ↓	Move the current block
Esc	Leave the field
Ctrl/Cmd + E	Switch between Edit and Read mode
Alt + PageUp / PageDown	Previous / next page
? or Ctrl/Cmd + /	Open help & shortcuts
Ctrl/Cmd + Enter	New block of the same type below
Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Enter	New panel below
Ctrl/Cmd + Z / Shift + Z	Undo / redo (outside text fields)

The command palette also has New comic script, Export current script to Word, Add page, Collapse all pages and Expand all pages and panels.

Privacy and permissions

• No network access, no telemetry and no tracking: nothing leaves your computer.
• Reads and writes only inside your vault (your .comic scripts and the Exported folder).
• After exporting, it asks Obsidian to open the new .docx in your system's default app. You can turn this off in settings.

Install (manual)

npm install
npm run build

Copy main.js, manifest.json and styles.css into <your vault>/.obsidian/plugins/storyteller-comic-drafter/, then enable Storyteller Comic Drafter under Settings → Community plugins.

For development, run npm run dev to rebuild on save, and npm run lint to run the same ESLint rules as Obsidian's plugin review (eslint-plugin-obsidianmd).

Create a script from the ribbon's book icon, the New comic script command, or by right-clicking a folder.

Tips

• Obsidian hides .docx files in its file list unless Settings → Files and links → Detect all file extensions is on. Your exports are still in the Exported folder either way. Click the export notice to open the folder.

• The editor uses Courier Final Draft or Courier Prime if either is installed, and Courier New otherwise. The Word file uses Courier New by default; change it to Courier Final Draft under Settings → Word font to match the template exactly.

• Hovering over a panel shows its lettering word count, which turns red above 35 words as a hint that the panel is getting crowded.

• Drag and drop needs a mouse. On touch devices, right-click (long-press) and use Move up / Move down instead.

• Scripts made with v0.1 that contain "Note to artist" blocks are converted automatically: each note becomes a comment on its panel.