diff --git a/examples/timeline-variables.html b/examples/timeline-variables.html
index de5ae930be..ac226f4568 100644
--- a/examples/timeline-variables.html
+++ b/examples/timeline-variables.html
@@ -11,10 +11,29 @@
   <body></body>
   <script>
 
+    const metadata_options = {
+      randomField: "this is a field",
+      author: {
+        "John Cena": {
+          name: "John Cena",
+          givenName: "Sammy Salami",
+        },
+        "Darnell": {
+          givenName: "bob",
+        }
+      },
+      variables: {
+        "trial_type" : {
+          description: {
+            "chat-plugin": "this chat plugin allows you to talk to gpt!",
+          }
+        }
+      },
+    }
+
     var jsPsych = initJsPsych({
-      on_finish: function() {
-      
-        metadata.generate(jsPsych.data.get().json());
+      on_finish: function() {      
+        metadata.generate(jsPsych.data.get().json(), metadata_options);
  
         // metadata.saveAsJsonFile();
         jsPsych.data.displayData();  
diff --git a/packages/metadata/src/AuthorsMap.ts b/packages/metadata/src/AuthorsMap.ts
index f5205c89ce..8d0bc9f698 100644
--- a/packages/metadata/src/AuthorsMap.ts
+++ b/packages/metadata/src/AuthorsMap.ts
@@ -62,16 +62,18 @@ export class AuthorsMap {
       this.authors[fields.name] = fields.name;
       return;
     }
+    const new_author: { [key: string]: any } = {}; // Define an empty object to store the variables
+    new_author["name"] = fields["name"]; // to ensure that name is always first
+    delete fields["name"];
 
-    const new_variable: { [key: string]: any } = {}; // Define an empty object to store the variables
     for (const key in fields) {
       // Check if the property is defined and not null
       if (fields[key] !== undefined && fields[key] !== null) {
-        new_variable[key] = fields[key];
+        new_author[key] = fields[key];
       }
     }
 
-    this.authors[new_variable.name] = new_variable;
+    this.authors[new_author.name] = new_author;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/packages/metadata/src/index.ts b/packages/metadata/src/index.ts
index 20f0c430b9..9fa08f59fd 100644
--- a/packages/metadata/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/metadata/src/index.ts
@@ -248,21 +248,50 @@ export default class JsPsychMetadata {
   }
 
   // passing in authors mapping and variables mapping and then goes through each variable
-  generate(data) {
+  generate(data, metadata = {}) {
     // have it so that can pass in a dict of object that the researcher wants to do
     if (typeof data === "string") {
       data = JSON.parse(data);
     }
 
-    // observations can be thought of as rows
     for (const observation of data) {
-      console.log("NEW OBSERVATION ----");
       this.generateObservation(observation);
-      // console.log(this.getMetadata());
     }
 
     // iterate through this dict and figure out best way to handle variable updates and formatting the object
 
+    for (const key in metadata) {
+      const value = metadata[key];
+
+      if (key === "variables") {
+        if (typeof value !== "object" || value === null) {
+          console.error("Author object is not correct type");
+          continue;
+        }
+
+        // all of the variables must already exist because should have datapoints
+        for (const variable_key in value) {
+          const variable = value[variable_key];
+
+          for (const parameter in variable) {
+            const parameter_value = variable[parameter];
+            this.updateVariable(variable_key, parameter, parameter_value);
+          }
+        }
+      } else if (key === "author") {
+        if (typeof value !== "object" || value === null) {
+          console.error("Author object is not correct type");
+          continue;
+        }
+
+        for (const author_key in value) {
+          const author = value[author_key];
+          if (!("name" in author)) author["name"] = author_key;
+          this.setAuthor(author);
+        }
+      } else this.setMetadataField(key, value);
+    }
+
     return this.getMetadata();
   }
 
@@ -287,7 +316,6 @@ export default class JsPsychMetadata {
     // probably should work in a call to the plugin here
     const description = this.getPluginInfo(pluginType);
     const type = typeof value;
-    console.log(type);
 
     // probs should have update description called here
     const new_var = {
@@ -299,8 +327,6 @@ export default class JsPsychMetadata {
 
     this.setVariable(new_var);
     this.updateFields(variable, value, type);
-
-    console.log(this.getVariable(variable));
   }
 
   // hardest part is updating the description
@@ -330,6 +356,8 @@ export default class JsPsychMetadata {
     }
   }
 
+  private createAuthor() {}
+
   private getPluginInfo(pluginType) {
     // fill in with logic on how to call plugin api and unpkg
   }
