Build a Source of Truth that keeps your series straight

Somewhere around book two, every series writer has the same moment: was her scar on the left cheek or the right? A Source of Truth is the answer: one place for every fact about your characters, places and world. (You may have heard it called a story bible.) The best ones are less work than you’d think.

What goes in it

• Characters: looks, age, family, the way they talk, what they want, and the small details you’ll forget.
• Places: layout, weather, what it smells like, who lives there.
• Things: the ship, the heirloom, the car that keeps breaking down.
• Lore: the rules of your world, from magic to local politics.
• Timeline: what happened when, especially anything off the page.

Write it down as you write it

The trap is spending a month on it before you write a word. Instead, add an entry the moment a fact lands on the page. If you invent a surname in chapter three, it goes in the Source of Truth in chapter three.

A Source of Truth should be a record of the book you wrote, not a plan for the book you meant to write.

Keep it next to the manuscript

Notes in a separate document go stale. In Salt of the Page, the Source of Truth sits beside the page and holds characters, places, ships, things and lore. Each entry counts how often it appears in the manuscript and where it first shows up, so you can check a detail in seconds.

Habits that keep it honest

• One entry per thing, so facts don’t split across two notes.
• Note the chapter where each fact first appears.
• Record changes on purpose: if a character dyes her hair, write down when.
• Before the final edit, read the Source of Truth against the book.

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