How character and location extraction works

Every time Magic Chapters finishes writing a chapter, a second AI reads it and looks for people and places that are not in your library yet. New ones are saved as characters and locations with a full profile, so they look and behave the same way the next time they appear.

This guide explains what gets extracted, why some names are skipped, how to prevent duplicates, and how to make sure the people and places you care about are picked up.

Where to find it

Extraction is on by default. You can turn it off for characters and locations separately under Content Preferences → Advanced, in the Automatic extraction section.

Extracted entries appear in your Characters and Locations pages under the AI Generated tab. Each one is attached to the story it came from, and to that story's Writing Pack if it has one. Open an entry to see a First appeared in link back to the chapter.

Extraction runs in the background after the chapter is finished, so new entries can take a minute to show up.

What gets extracted

Characters

A character is one named individual who is present in the chapter and acts, speaks, or is spoken to. This can be a person or a non-human being with a mind of its own, such as a vampire, an android, or a dragon that talks.

The profile is built only from what the chapter says. It includes appearance, personality, role, and, when the chapter provides them, background, abilities, weaknesses, and motives. A portrait is generated automatically.

Not extracted as characters:

• Unnamed people. "The waitress" or "a man at the bar" has no name to save. Give them a name in your prompt if you want to keep them.
• Groups. "The guards", "the twins", or "the Hendersons" are never one character. If one member is named and acts on their own, that member is extracted instead.
• Animals without speech, such as a pet or a horse, even when they have a name.
• People only mentioned in passing who are not present in the scene. Someone who is talked about but never appears is skipped until they show up.
• Places and organizations with a name that sounds like a person. These go to locations instead, when they are described as a setting.
• Anyone under 18. Minors are never saved as characters.

Locations

A location is a place where a scene happens or that is described in enough detail to picture: a room, a building, a venue, an outdoor area, a town, a region, or a vehicle whose interior serves as a setting, such as a yacht or a train carriage.

The profile includes a description, the atmosphere, notable features, and history when the chapter provides them. A thumbnail is generated automatically.

Not extracted as locations:

• Objects and furniture. A bed, a sofa, or a car is a thing, not a place. The room that contains it is the location.
• Vague references. "The city", "somewhere downtown", or "a park they passed" has nothing to describe. A specific place inside it, such as a named cafe, can be extracted.
• Organizations and events. A company, a faction, or a gala is not a place. Its building or venue can be, when the chapter depicts it.

How duplicates are avoided

Before anything is saved, the AI receives the list of characters and locations already in the story, together with their nicknames and alternative names. It is told to treat short forms, surnames, titles, and obvious variations as the same entry. On top of that, every candidate name is compared against your library one more time, so "Sam" is matched to "Samantha Reyes" and "the cabin of Theo" to "the cabin of Theo and Mira" without any help from you.

If the story belongs to a Writing Pack, candidates are compared against the characters and locations in that pack. Otherwise they are compared against your whole library.

When you still get a duplicate

Duplicates happen when a name in the chapter shares no words with the saved name. A character saved as "Alexandra Petrova" who is called "Sasha" throughout a chapter can come back as a second character, because nothing connects the two names.

The fix is to tell the AI about the other name:

• Characters have a Nicknames field. Add every name the character goes by, separated by commas, for example "Sasha, Lexi".
• Locations have an Alternative names field. Add nicknames, short forms, or a name in another language, for example "The Manor" for "Blackwater Hall".

You do not need to add grammatical variations. "Lena's studio", "the studio of Lena", and "Lena's place" already match a location called "Lena's studio".

Keep nicknames and alternative names specific. A generic entry like "the boss" or "the house" makes the AI treat every boss or every house in your stories as that one entry, and new ones will never be created.

When a duplicate has already been created, merge the useful details into the entry you want to keep, add the extra name to its nicknames or alternative names, and delete or archive the copy.

How to make sure something is extracted

• Name them in the prompt. "Lena, the owner of the vineyard, greets him at the gate" gives the AI a name to save. "The owner greets him" does not. See Writing story prompts for more on naming people and places.
• Give them something to do. A character is saved when they act, speak, or are addressed in the scene. A place is saved when a scene happens there or the chapter describes it.
• Add a few details. A location with no description in the chapter is treated as a passing mention. One sentence about how the place looks or feels is enough.
• Check the toggles. Extraction can be turned off separately for characters and locations under Content Preferences → Advanced.
• Check your limits. Free accounts can hold 2 characters and 1 location, and extraction stops once the library is full. Premium accounts have no library limit and extract up to 10 new characters and 3 new locations per chapter.
• Create it yourself. If a character or location matters to you, creating it by hand before writing is always the most reliable option. The AI then uses your profile instead of guessing.

After extraction

Extracted entries are a first draft. Open them and correct anything the chapter left vague, such as age, hair color, or the role in the story. Once saved, the profile is what the AI reads in every later chapter, so a few minutes of editing pays off for the whole story. Learn more in How to use Writing Packs.

Entries you do not want can be archived or deleted from the AI Generated tab. Archiving keeps them out of your lists without losing the data.

If a character or location keeps being described differently from chapter to chapter, see the Troubleshooting guide.

Final tip

When a character or location is missing after a chapter, the most common reason is that the chapter never used a name for them. Add the name to your next prompt, and they will be picked up as soon as they appear again.