Create a book: every field in the wizard

The reference version: what every card, field and checkbox in the create wizard does, and what exists on disk the second you press Start Writing. Creating your very first book? Create your first book walks you through it instead.

Where the wizard opens

Only from the bookshelf. On a desktop it's the ＋ Create New Work button above the My Works / Archive / Trash tabs; on a phone it's the round ＋ at the bottom right. There is no create entry inside the editor, and the old Script Studio no longer opens new works at all.

Step 1 — how you want to start

The dialog opens on Create New Work, subtitle Choose how you want to start, with three cards and You can always adjust later underneath.

Card	The dialog's own line	What it does
Create New Work	Name your work and start writing right away	Goes to step 2
Import Existing Content	Drag your document folder in and get started quickly	Swaps to the import panel
Restore Backup	Import .slima backup file	Closes the wizard and opens the restore dialog

Two steps, and that's the lot. There is no studio to choose — everything you create here opens in the Writing Studio.

Step 2 — the form

Header Work Settings. Back returns to step 1; nothing is written until you press the button at the end.

Give your content a name · The only required field — Start Writing stays greyed out until it has something in it. This is the name on the shelf.

What type is this? · Seven chips, Fiction preselected. This is the one choice that changes what gets built, so it has its own article.

Advanced options (optional) · Collapsed. Open it and there are three things, all optional:

• Core concept or outline — free text. Whatever you type is saved as Outline.md at the root of the book, as a reference file, so it never counts toward your manuscript word count. Leave it blank and no file is made.
• Target Words and Target Date — the same two fields as Edit Work; see Set writing goals for what they drive.
• Create a "Writing Guidelines" file — off by default. Tick it and Writing Guidelines.md appears at the root, pre-filled with a template you edit. The AI Coach reads it as standing context — see Writing Guidelines.md.

What exists the second you press Start Writing

Work created Genre folders + first file Version Initial Editor opens

Four beats, all local, all instant. Nothing waits on the network.

1. The work itself, with your title, genre and goals.
2. That genre's folders, and the first file inside the manuscript folder: Chapters/Chapter 1.md — or, for Screenplay, Screenplay/Episode 1.script.
3. Outline.md and Writing Guidelines.md, if you asked for them.
4. Only on the very first work you ever create, a Getting Started file. It lands in the Notes folder if that genre has one (Fiction, Screenplay, General), otherwise at the root. Delete a work and create another and you won't get a second copy.
5. A version named Initial, so there is something to roll back to from minute one.
6. The editor, with the first file already open.

That is the entire list. The AI Coach does not open a conversation, does not draft an outline and does not create chapters for you.

The import card, in detail

Drag a folder or files onto the drop zone, or click it to pick files, or use Select entire folder for a whole directory tree. Then:

• Work Name fills itself in — from the first folder's name, or from the first file's name with the extension stripped. Edit it if you like; import won't start while it's empty.
• The panel counts what it found (n folders · n files) and lists the first eight.
• If nothing you dropped is a supported format, it says so instead of silently doing nothing.
• .zip is not accepted here. A .zip of a whole book is a backup — that's the third card.

Two things about the book you get, both deliberate and both surprising the first time:

• No starter folders. You brought your own structure; Slima doesn't add an empty Chapter 1 on top of it — otherwise the editor would open on the blank template instead of your manuscript.
• Genre is set to General, and everything imported is marked as manuscript so it counts toward your word count straight away. Change the genre afterwards in Edit Work if you want the label to match.

Full walkthrough: Create + import in one step.

Restore Backup

This card doesn't have a step of its own — it closes the wizard and opens the restore dialog, which takes .slima files and can take several at once. See Restore books from a backup.

The same dialog in AI Beta Reader

AI Beta Reader uses this wizard too, but opens it straight on the import panel: no method cards, no Back, no genre. You're giving a reader something to read, not starting a manuscript.

After you land: where new files go

New files arrive named Untitled with the rename box already open, so type the real name and press Enter. More: File tree operations.

Changing your mind later

What	Where
Name, genre, description, goals	Edit Work — Edit a work
Folders you didn't get	Right-click in the file tree → New Folder
A screenplay inside an existing book	Right-click a folder → New Script
Getting the work off the shelf	Archive, Trash, restore

Changing the genre later only changes the label. It does not build the folders you would have had — those are created once, at creation.

Related

• Seven genres and the folders each one builds
• Create + import in one step
• The file tree · Manuscript vs reference
• Create your first book