Series Bible Builder

Saved series and source review — September update

The walkthrough above shows the current saved-workspace workflow. Follow the written steps below at your own pace.

Select a series, or open Manage series and backups, enter a name and choose New series. Existing generated sections are recovered into a separate workspace for you to name. Older notes stay available in their original storage.
Use Manage Books in the sidebar to name your books. Choose Import into book before uploading. For a Suite manuscript, explicitly choose Import current Book DNA manuscript; verify any upstream import limits against your original file.
Choose TXT, Markdown, DOCX, EPUB or PDF. All EPUB spine items are read in publisher order. PDF image-only text needs OCR; inspect the reading order and import warnings.
Choose your provider and model, enter its key, and select Analyze / resume selected sources. Analysis sends one saved text segment at a time to your selected provider; provider charges apply. Pause finishes the current request. Reopen the app and resume any pending segments after an interruption.
Review suggestions with View source. A highlighted quote shows its location in the retained extracted text. Approve supported facts, dismiss incorrect suggestions, or add an author correction as a review note. Different approved values for the same named subject and property are flagged for your review; this is not an exhaustive contradiction detector.
Existing blueprint, world, character, relationship, arc and style sections remain editable. AI-expanded prose is a draft and does not automatically become canon. Manual notes, cards and generated sections autosave with the selected series.
Use Export approved facts for a cited reference. Compile All Sections also appends the approved facts to your draft reference. Download a series backup to preserve notes, sources, analysis progress and review decisions without API keys.
Import a backup as a new series to keep the existing copy intact. Save a recovery version before major edits; the last eight workspace checkpoints are retained in this browser. If another tab changes the workspace, download a backup of your current series before reloading.

Direct approved-canon handoffs to other story tools are a later update. Use the approved-facts export for now. Existing tool and membership access is unchanged.

Watch the updated Series Bible Builder walkthrough

5:03 · Eight chapters · Actual app captures · Prepared fictional example · AI narration · English captions

Read the walkthrough transcript

Start with a saved series
Series Bible Builder now keeps a saved workspace for each series. This walkthrough uses The Glass Archive, a prepared fictional example, to show the current controls. These are real app screens, but the example facts were prepared for teaching, not produced by a live model call. Start by opening Manage series and backups. Enter your series name, then choose New series. Your notes, books, imported sources, and review decisions stay together in this browser.

Choose the book and source
Add or name your books with Manage Books. Before importing a manuscript, check Import into book. This keeps evidence attached to the right installment. Choose File accepts text, Markdown, Word documents, EPUB, and readable PDFs. Scanned pages need text recognition first. Book DNA import uses the manuscript already available there, which may have its own omissions. After import, check the source name and extracted word count rather than assuming every page was readable.

Understand analysis coverage
Choose your writing provider and model, and connect your own key only when you want AI analysis. Provider access and charges depend on your account. Analyze or resume selected sources processes saved text in segments. The progress line shows how much extracted text was analyzed. Open Source coverage by segment to inspect processed and pending sections. Pause after this segment stops between requests. Completed segments are retained, so interrupted analysis can resume. Processing is not the same as approving the resulting facts.

Review the supporting passage
Open Suggestions in the Review menu. Each card names a subject, an attribute, a proposed value, and its supporting quotation. Here the suggestion says Mara carries a brass key on a blue cord. Choose View source to read the highlighted sentence in context. The app checks that a quotation exists in the source. You still decide whether it supports the interpretation. A pronoun, a memory, or another character’s claim can need a closer reading.

Approve only what you trust
Add a review note when a fact needs context. Choose Approve only after checking the evidence, or Dismiss a suggestion you do not want. The Approved canon view now includes our reviewed key detail alongside Mara’s eye color. You can return an approved fact to suggestions. Different approved values are prompts for review, not proof of a continuity error; a character may change over time. Export approved facts gives you a text reference containing the approved material and its citations.

Keep designs separate from facts
The Character Weaver connection is optional. Export approved canon for Character Weaver creates a reference file for that app. In the other direction, import an approved character dossier here and read the preview before adding it. The Add reviewed dossier button creates an editable character card without replacing existing cards. An approved design is still a design. It does not become a manuscript-verified fact just because you imported it.

Compile a useful reference
The chapter buttons organize your blueprint, world, characters, relationships, book arcs, and style sheet. Keep your own notes there and treat AI expansions as editable drafts. Full Bible and Compile All Sections bring the reference together, including the approved source-backed facts. Read the compiled document before sharing it or using it to plan another book. Compilation is an organizational step, not an automatic proof that every draft statement is correct.

Back up before moving devices
Manage series and backups includes Download series backup, recovery versions, and Import backup as a new series. Download a backup before changing browsers, clearing browser data, or moving devices. A text reference is useful for reading; the JSON backup preserves the editable project. Local saves do not automatically synchronize across devices or editions. For your first practice session, import a short excerpt, inspect one quote, approve one fact, and download both the reference and the backup.

Download transcript · Download video

What it does: Series Bible Builder creates a master reference document for your book or series. It tracks the premise, world rules, characters, relationships, book-by-book arcs, tone, motifs, style rules, and continuity details in one place.

Best used when: you are planning a series, revising an existing book, preparing to write the next book, working with an editor or assistant, or trying to stop continuity details from multiplying in twelve different notebooks.

Using Series Bible Builder in the Suite

Open the Darkling Suite from the classroom link.
Select the correct active book or project on the Suite dashboard.
Go to Writing & Story Architecture and click Series Bible Builder.
Choose your AI engine and confirm your API key is entered.
Select the correct Series Bible workspace and explicitly import the current Book DNA manuscript if desired. Switching book scope does not overwrite your notes.
Use Manage Books if you need to rename books or add more books to the series.
Work section by section, then compile the final bible from the Full Bible tab.

The Suite version is best when you want the bible to sit alongside your other project tools and benefit from the active project’s saved Book DNA.

Using Series Bible Builder Standalone

Open the standalone Series Bible Builder link provided in the classroom.
Select your AI engine and paste your API key if needed.
Use Choose File if you want to import a manuscript, then click Analyze / resume selected sources.
Review each source-backed suggestion before approving it. Analysis preserves your existing section notes and cards.
Add characters, relationships, and book cards as needed.
Generate the sections you want expanded.
Use Export Bible, Copy to Clipboard, or Download .txt when you are done.

The standalone version is best for a single author bible, a client project, a backlist series audit, or a project that is not already loaded into the full Suite.

Recommended Workflow

Start with the manuscript import if you have a draft. Let the tool extract a rough map of the book.
Clean the Blueprint first. Fix the title, pitch, genre, heat level, tropes, target reader, and tagline before expanding anything else.
Then clean the World section. Make sure rules, locations, and glossary terms are accurate. This is where continuity problems often hide.
Add or correct the Character Vault. Include major POV characters, love interests, villains, mentors, recurring side characters, and anyone whose details matter later.
Map the relationships. Add romance, rivalries, family ties, betrayals, alliances, and found-family dynamics.
Build the Arcs & Books section. Add each book’s protagonist, conflict, emotional arc, ending type, and where it leaves the series thread.
Finish with the Style Sheet. Record POV, tense, narrative tone, recurring motifs, aesthetic words, and words or phrases to avoid.
Compile the Full Bible last. Export only after the sections have been generated and reviewed.

What Each Section Is For

Series Blueprint: the sales-level and story-level foundation: pitch, genre, heat, tropes, target reader, book count, and tagline.
The World: setting, world rules, key locations, magic or social systems, and glossary terms.
Character Vault: names, roles, physical descriptions, personality, backstory, and series arcs.
Relationship Map: romantic, rival, family, enemy, mentor, and alliance dynamics across the series.
Arcs & Books: the overarching series conflict plus each book’s role in the larger journey.
Style Sheet: POV, tense, voice, motifs, aesthetic language, and words or habits you want to avoid.
Full Bible: the compiled document you can copy, download, or hand to an editor, assistant, co-writer, formatter, or future you.

Book Scope and Character Tags

The left sidebar lets you view the Entire Series or a specific book. Use Manage Books to rename Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, or add more titles.

Character and relationship cards include Appears in checkboxes. Use those carefully. If a character only appears in Book 2, tag them for Book 2 instead of every book. This makes the bible much more useful when you are checking continuity for a specific installment.

How to Use the AI Buttons

Expand with AI: turns your notes into polished reference prose for that section.
Generate All Character Profiles: builds fuller profiles from the character cards you entered.
Write Relationship Summaries: turns relationship notes into useful dossiers.
Write Series Arc Overview: clarifies the emotional and plot movement across the whole series.
Write Style Guide: creates an editorial reference for voice, motifs, tone, and language habits.
Compile All Sections: gathers the generated sections into one finished bible.

Common Fixes

The analysis missed important details: add them manually before generating the expanded sections.
The bible sounds too generic: replace broad words like “dangerous world” with specific rules, locations, costs, and consequences.
Characters are blending together: add sharper wounds, goals, physical details, secrets, and role differences before generating profiles.
Relationships feel thin: add the starting point, source of tension, what changes between books, and what each person refuses to admit.
The series arc feels vague: make each book’s conflict and ending more specific. The tool needs the handoff between books to build a strong arc.
The style sheet is not useful: add concrete voice rules, repeated phrases to avoid, POV limits, and motif rules.

Suggested next tool: Dev Edit Lite