How to Use Story Forking

You're at a crossroads in your story. Two possible directions and you want both. Or a chapter went sideways and you want to try again without deleting what you wrote. That's what forking is for.

Forking Creates an Independent Copy

Forking creates a complete copy of your story up to the point you choose. You get two versions: the original and the fork. Both are fully independent. Changes to one don't affect the other.

Think of it like saving a game before a big decision so you can come back and try the other option.

How to Fork

Open your story and look for the Fork option in the story menu. You have two choices:

Duplicate Story

Creates an exact copy of your entire story with all its chapters. You get a second story in your library that you can continue in a completely different direction.

Use this when you want to branch off from the current point and write a different future for the same setup.

Copy and Continue

Creates a copy and immediately generates a new chapter based on instructions you provide. This is the faster option when you already know what you want the fork to do differently.

You'll see a prompt asking what should happen next in the forked version. Write your instructions, and RedQuill creates the copy and generates the next chapter in one step.

When to Fork

Exploring alternate choices: Your characters are at a decision point. In one version, she stays. In the other, she leaves. Fork at that chapter and write both paths.

Trying a different approach: The last chapter went in a direction you're not sure about. Fork the story and continue the fork differently. If the new direction works better, keep it. If not, your original is untouched.

Experimenting with tone or pacing: Want to see how the same setup plays out as slow-burn vs. fast-paced? Fork and apply different writing style components or instructions to each version.

Reimagining a chapter: Use Fork and Reimagine to create a copy where a specific chapter gets regenerated with new instructions. Same story, different version of a key moment.

Building a Choose Your Own Adventure: Some users fork at every major decision point, building a tree of story paths. Each branch is its own complete story you can continue independently.

What Carries Over

When you fork, the new copy includes:

• All chapters up to the fork point
• All Lorebook data (summaries, characters, components)
• Story settings and metadata

The fork is a true snapshot. Everything the AI knows about the story carries over to the copy.

What Doesn't Carry Over

• Future chapters you write in the original won't appear in the fork (they're independent)
• Edits to the original's Lorebook after forking don't affect the fork
• The fork is a separate story in your library with its own URL

Get the Most Out of Forks

Fork early, fork often. Forking is free (you only spend quills when you generate new chapters). Don't be afraid to fork whenever you're curious about an alternate path.

Name your forks. After forking, rename the story to something that helps you remember which path it represents. "The Cabin – She Stays" and "The Cabin – She Leaves" is a lot easier to manage than two identically-named stories.

Use forks to test ideas. Not sure if a plot twist will work? Fork, write it, and see. If it's terrible, you haven't damaged your main story. You can also tweak how the AI handles your story in one fork while keeping the other as-is.

Forks are great for long stories. If you're 30 chapters in and want to try something risky, forking lets you experiment without risking a story you've invested hours in.

Quick Reference

Action	What Happens
Duplicate Story	Full copy, you continue both independently
Copy and Continue	Full copy + new chapter generated with your instructions
Fork and Reimagine	Full copy with a specific chapter regenerated differently

Your story, your rules, as many paths as you want.