Keeping track of story information

When you're writing a novel, it can be hard to keep track of all the details. This is especially true if you have a complex story world (maybe you're writing historical fiction, for example, or fantasy) and/or lots of different characters. But even with just a few characters, it can be easy to lose track of story information along the way. This might look like forgetting a character's eye colour, or mixing up the spelling of a character's name.

One way to help keep track of all this information is to create a book bible for your novel. This is similar to what us editors call a style sheet, but while a style sheet includes information like whether an em dash or spaced en dash should be used to signal an interruption, a book bible focuses more on the story world.

It contains all of the most important information about the story and characters. For example, character information such as their names and your preferred spelling, physical characteristics, likes and dislikes, where they're from, etc.

It's so easy to lose track of fine details like this while writing, so having it all in one place can be really helpful. This can also make the self-editing process easier, as well as helping your editor later on (which will save you time and money).