Write stage directions

Use a Stage direction for what happens on stage, such as Robin opens the door. Use an Aside for a note about a particular speech, such as quietly.

Write the action

1. Place the cursor in the block for your stage direction.
2. Open Change block type in the toolbar and choose Stage direction.
3. Write Robin opens the door.

The words can be ordinary text. If Robin’s name should be linked to a character, insert a character reference with @ instead of typing an ordinary name.

At the end of a nonempty Stage direction, ⏎ Enter starts a Character block with the default settings. To write another Stage direction, choose that type for the new block. Continue writing explains the chooser available in empty blocks.

Adjust indentation

1. Place the cursor in the Stage direction you want to indent.
2. Press ⇥ Tab to add one level of indentation to that block.
3. Press ⇧ Shift + ⇥ Tab to remove one level.

You can add up to two levels. The indentation is added at the beginning of the block, even if the cursor is in the middle of its text. The text stays in the same block.

In Dialogue and Aside, ⇥ Tab changes the block type instead. Check the current type in the toolbar when the result differs from the indentation you expected.

Include references

For a character’s action, use character references. You can finish the reference and continue the sentence in the same Stage direction.

For music, type # to place a musical number in a Stage direction, then choose where its musical span ends.

Related tasks

• Choose or change the block type.
• Write a note within a speech.