How to Use Iffly: A Quick-Reference Guide for Writers

Iffly is designed to get out of your way and let you write. No code, no complicated menus — just you and your story, in a flow. That said, there are a handful of keyboard shortcuts and tools to get you going, and once you've got them down, you'll fly (pun intended).

Here's everything you need to know to get started (bookmark this page for reference!).

The Three Most Important Things

If you remember nothing else from this guide, remember these. They're the heart of how Iffly works.

Create a Content Block: Ctrl/Cmd + Enter A content block is a passage of your story — the text your reader sees. Every scene, every moment, every line of narrative lives in a content block. This is where you write.

Create a Button: Shift + Enter This command will create a button below wherever you are. A button is a choice. When your reader reaches a button, they click it to move to the next part of the story. Buttons are how you create branching; they're the "what happens next" of interactive fiction.

Pan Around the Canvas: Space + Drag Your story will grow, and so will your canvas. Hold Space bar and click & drag to move around and see the bigger picture of your story as it takes shape.

That's the whole loop: write in a content block, add buttons to give your reader choices, keep writing into new content blocks. Everything else in Iffly supports that core flow.

All the Keyboard Shortcuts

Once you're comfortable with the basics, these shortcuts will make your workflow even smoother:

Connecting Your Story with Tracking Lines

As you write and create buttons or content blocks, Iffly automatically adds tracking lines connecting to them from wherever you typed the command. But if you ever want to adjust a connection or add a new tracking line manually, here's how:

Right-click any element to open the context menu, then select Start Tracking Line. When you're ready to connect, just click the element you want the line to go to. You’ll see the tracking line form and that's it — your button is now linked to its destination.

To delete a tracking line, select it and hit Shift + Delete.

The Right-Click Menu

Right-clicking any element opens a handy context menu with the following options:

• Start Tracking Line — begin connecting this element to another
• Create Button — add a button to this block
• Create Content Block — add a new content block
• Preview in Reader — Jump to reader mode from this particular content block
• Delete Block — remove the element (this can't be undone, so use with care!)

Testing Your Story: Reader Mode

Want to see your story the way your readers will experience it? Click Reader Mode at any time to preview your story from the beginning, just as a player would see it. It's a great way to catch anything that feels off before you publish.

Click back to “writer mode” whenever you're ready to keep writing.

Setting Up Your Story: Story Details

Before you publish, head to Story Details to set everything up. Here's what you can fill in:

• Cover image — the first thing readers see; make it count, and make sure to include the actual title (not just an image).
• Title and description — tell readers what your story is about
• Tags and category — help readers find your story on the platform
• Copyright information — optional as all your work is automatically owned by you, but some folks like to add this in.
• Price — if you'd like to sell your story, you can set a price here (you'll need to connect your account to Stripe first).
• Mature content flag — if your story contains mature themes, you can mark it as such here so readers know what they're getting into.

Publishing

When your story is ready to go, hit Publish and confirm on the pop-up. That's it; your story is live on the Iffly platform, ready for readers to find and play.

Got questions? Have a feature idea? Find a bug? We'd love to hear from you.

Want to learn more about writing interactive fiction? We got you.

Happy writing!