| # Writing.com Archive - TSV Data Format |
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| This document provides a reference for the column structure and data formats used in the shared Writing.com Interactive Stories |
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| ## File Specification |
| - **Format:** Tab-Separated Values (TSV) |
| - **Encoding:** UTF-8 (with BOM) |
| - **Headers:** Included as the first line |
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| ## Column Definitions |
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| | Index | Column Name | Description | |
| | :--- | :--- | :--- | |
| | 1 | `STORY_TITLE` | The overall title of the story/book. | |
| | 2 | `CHAPTER_TITLE` | The specific title of the chapter or node. | |
| | 3 | `AUTHOR_DISPLAY` | The display name of the author of this entry. | |
| | 4 | `AUTHOR_HANDLE` | The raw username/handle of the author. | |
| | 5 | `CONTENT` | The body text of the chapter. (See [Content Formatting](#content-formatting)). | |
| | 6 | `CHOICES` | Delimited list of branching options. (See [Choices Formatting](#choices-formatting)). | |
| | 7 | `DATE_POSTED` | The date the entry was originally posted (usually `MM-DD-YYYY`). | |
| | 8 | `MAP_ID` | **Crucial unique identifier.** (See [Understanding MAP_ID](#understanding-map_id)). | |
| | 9 | `STORY_URL` | The original Writing.com URL for the story. | |
| | 10 | `COVER_IMAGE` | **(See Warning below)** URL to the story's cover image. | |
| | 11 | `SYNOPSIS` | **(See Warning below)** The summary/description of the story. | |
| | 12 | `RELATED_URL` | Secondary or related external links. | |
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| > [!WARNING] |
| > **Metadata Consistency:** To maintain data integrity and reduce redundancy, the `SYNOPSIS` and `COVER_IMAGE` columns are generally only populated in rows where the `MAP_ID` indicates an **`-Intro`** chapter. Since these values are the same for every chapter in a story, you should look to the Intro row as the primary source for this information. |
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| ## Understanding `MAP_ID` |
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| The `MAP_ID` is the most important field for organizing, linking, and deduplicating the data. It follows a specific hierarchical format: |
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| **Format:** `[STORY_ID]-[CHAPTER_ID]-[UNIX_TIMESTAMP]` |
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| * **`STORY_ID`**: A unique numeric ID for the entire story (e.g., `1234567`). |
| * **`CHAPTER_ID`**: The identifier for the specific chapter node. |
| * **The Intro**: The starting node of any story is marked with `-Intro` (e.g., `1234567-Intro`). |
| * *Note:* You may find multiple Intro entries with different timestamps. This is intentional and allows the archive to preserve different variations of a story's introduction as they evolved over time. |
| * **Branches**: Subsequent chapters have numeric or alphanumeric IDs (e.g., `1234567-1411`). |
| * **`UNIX_TIMESTAMP`**: A versioning suffix. Because the archive may contain multiple "snapshots" of the same chapter over time, this timestamp tells you which version is the most recent. |
| |
| **Deduplication Strategy:** When processing this file, if you encounter multiple rows with the same `STORY_ID` and `CHAPTER_ID`, you must prioritize the one with the **highest timestamp**. |
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| --- |
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| ## Technical Details |
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| ### Content Formatting |
| The `CONTENT` column may contain: |
| - Raw plain text. |
| - HTML snippets (e.g., `<br>`, `<div>`). |
| - JSON-encoded HTML objects, e.g., `{"html": "Body text here..."}`. This format is used to preserve complex formatting or handle special characters. |
| |
| ### Choices Formatting |
| The `CHOICES` column contains the options available to a reader at the end of a chapter. Multiple choices are separated by a double-pipe delimiter: `||||`. |
| *Example:* `Go through the door||||Wait in the hall||||Run away` |
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| --- |
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| ## Processing Recommendations |
| 1. **Deduplication First**: Filter the dataset by `STORY_ID-CHAPTER_ID` (the first two parts of the MAP_ID) and keep only the entry with the largest timestamp. |
| 2. **Global Metadata**: Link story-level information (`SYNOPSIS`, `COVER_IMAGE`) from the `-Intro` chapter to all other chapters belonging to that same `STORY_ID`. |
| 3. **JSON Handling**: Be prepared to parse JSON in the `CONTENT` column to extract the underlying HTML/text. |
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| license: mit |
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