Exactly what happens to your manuscript
Short version: Fictorial reads a copy of your book so it can talk with you about it. It doesn’t write in it, sell it, or train on it. Here’s the longer version, step by step.
You upload a copy
You upload a Microsoft Word file. Don’t worry if you don’t use Word, every writing program should easily export to a DOCX format. Your real manuscript stays where it is, in Word or Scrivener or whatever you write in. This is by design to protect you. Fictorial will never touch that file and can’t change it.
Fictorial breaks your manuscript into pieces it can search
Your book is split into chapters and passages and stored in your account, in a project only you can open. Fictorial also builds an index of those passages so it can find the right lines when you ask a question. Your Storymap, your Notes, and your Workshop conversations are stored with the project too.
When you ask a question, some of your book goes to an AI model
This is the part most companies are vague about, so I’ll be plain. Fictorial runs on large language models (LLMs) from Anthropic and OpenAI. When you ask something, the passages that matter to your question are sent to one of those models along with your question and the proprietary prompts I’ve built to get the sharpest possible responses relevant to a writer. These responses come back along with referenced citations to your book.
Fictorial uses these companies’ business services, not their consumer chat apps. Under their business terms, they don’t train their models on what we send them. You can read the specifics of their policies at the following links:
Nobody trains on your book
Not those companies, and not Fictorial. I don’t build models. I don’t sell data, and there are no ads here.
Who can see it
Only you and anyone you share your login with can see the data you share with Fictorial. Your book is encrypted when it’s stored and whenever it moves, whether that’s between you and Fictorial or between Fictorial and the AI model. I won’t read or access your book or conversations with Fictorial unless you contact us for support in which case we will ask permission to view your data as a necessary step to help troubleshoot an issue.
When you delete it, it’s gone
Delete a project and the manuscript goes with it, along with everything Fictorial made from it: the index, the Storymap, notes and conversations. This is a legal requirement of GDPR and we comply with it.
Questions
Email me at ben@fictorial.app. A person answers. Usually me or my daughter, Ash.